Supershag Mega Dance Complex

My review is of the Waltham facility where we took a total of 30 private lessons.  They are a good marketing machine, but they fall short in a number of areas:

- My wife and I signed up for a ten lesson.  We knew nothing about what we were doing and the instructor recommended that we learn a few steps of eight different dance styles.  Net result is at the end of ten lessons, we didn't know enough of any dance style to be able to dance to anything (you need 8-10 moves to be able to dance to anything).  I would have preferred if the dance instructor had offered us the option to focus on one single dance style, but then again the goal is to have you keep signing up for lessons and not to have you become self sufficient.
- No effort was made to teach us the names of the various moves making it more difficult for us to practice on our own and create our own routine.  Again, I suspect the goal is to sell you more lessons.
- They have only two rooms: a large one and an attached smaller one with no door between the two.  That means whenever you have multiple lessons being given you hear everyone else's music.  Not good when you are just starting.
- They have a limited number of instructors and very few female instructors.  
- They had no availability for private lessons on weekends.  My wife and I both work and we are raising a family so getting away weeknights was tough.

On the plus side:
- we liked our instructor Daniel who taught us lessons 20-30.
- there are a lot of restaurants in the area so you can dinner following your lessons.

Dancing is fantastic couples activity and excellent exercise.  I recommend:
1) that you and your partner agree on a single dance style and focus on that until you have enough moves to be able to dance to a 3-4 minute song.
2) that the guy to take the initial lessons by himself until he is proficient as he will need to lead.  If your wife/girlfriend starts at the same time as the guy she will invariably try to lead and tell you what you are doing wrong even though she is learning herself.  The guy needs to know more than the gal for this to go well.
3) Learn either chachacha, hustle, or east coast swing (in that order).  At least 50% of pop tunes today are to a chachacha beat so you will be able to dance all night at clubs.  Hustle and swing beats are prevalent in music from the 80s and 90s.  If you are into Latin, learn salsa & meringue.

Have fun!

I started taking ballroom dancing lessons here several years ago and got hooked!  The instructors here are top notch and the studio wins best studio awards at almost all their national competitions.  With them I have progressively reached new levels of performance and, lest I get comfortable, my instructor makes sure I get challenged every time I return.  

There is a real family atmosphere here and they have regular shows and parties.  I have made so many great friends through this studio because we all have a major thing in common....we all love to dance!

For the longest time I thought my instructor, Dave, was the best, but it seems they keep getting new instructors, all of them great dancers and fun personalities.  Eric, not my instructor but always there working when I go in for classes, is a top-notch guy....really nice and such a great instructor!  (he taught a couple of group lessons when he first started).  Tibor, another instructor, is a crazy, fun guy but also very serious when it comes to taking care of his students and teaching others about ballroom and competitions.  

They have Friday night parties with mixers that ensure that every person gets to dance.  There is usually a show or more on Friday nights to allow competitors to have a trial run on their routines.  Then they turn on the lounge in the back room and the crowd really starts to let loose.  Free food and beverage and you realize what a great time you can have for short cash.  

They recently renovated the studio and it looks great!  The dressing rooms are bigger and they have competitions playing constantly on the big screen tvs.  

I took lessons at a very well-known ballroom studio before dancing with Supershag and I have to say that the Bronze level students here dance better than the gold level dancers there, so, if you love ballroom, this is the place to be in Boston!!!

I've been taking ballroom lessons at SuperShag for about 5 months, sometimes at the Charlestown location, sometimes here.  This spot is a lot bigger which can be good (more space) or bad (not as cozy) - I like both.  I was a spaz on the dance floor when I started and the staff went out of their way to make a newby comfortable.  The atmosphere is laid back and students are all ages and levels.