World Dance

Found this studio randomly on a short trip to Canada and I’m very glad I did. I’m an intermediate salsa student (male/​lead) from San Francisco. I also take hiphop classes regularly.
I’ve taken intermediate salsa classes with John & Liz of Salsamania in Alameda, California; Ava & Rodolfo of Symbolic Dance Fitness in San Francisco, California; and Latin Dance Pro in Southern California.
I have high regard for the quality of instruction from my California teachers; they’ve all had performance experience. But–
I learned more patterns in ONE class with Diego (?) at World Dance than I have in two years of classes in California. 11 patterns in one class, at Level 2! This is unheard of. I can’t imagine Level 3 and 4. Yes, he went fast, but he took enough time to explain what made each pattern work and what didn’t. Proper technique was a given.
I can’t say anything about the instructor’s ego /​attitude because I didn’t notice it if there was any that night. He seemed all right, if not a tad frustrated with a couple people in class who were a bit slow. I’ve had far worse (egocentric) instructors.
There was one thing, however, that was lacking – the quality of the followers. At Level 2, these ladies did NOT know how to follow, and yet there they were (several of them), telling me how to lead. There were around 20 ladies in class, and two AT MOST were halfway decent followers. How about you first do your job (follow) and let the leader lead, so we can dance properly?
I only wish I could take more salsa classes here. I’ll definitely come back next time I’m in Vancouver/​Burnaby, even if I have to endure the insufferable followers.

The ink isn’t completely dry on my review here; I’m roughly 4 weeks into the 8 week course for Salsa 1.
I will confirm that these classes are quite well attended. One thing to keep in mind is that, if danced correctly, I’ve noted that salsa does not occupy a big «footprint» on the dance floor. This means that crowding is not always a bad thing (and you need to get used to it if you’re going to go out dancing at clubs). If there are lots of people attending, you can be confident that you’ll have quite a few partners to practice the steps with.
I’ve been frustrated at times when I can’t see around people who have gathered in close when the instructor is demonstrating a step. This says more about the lack of manners of the people standing in front of me; ever heard the expression «take a knee?» It would be nice if the instructor would correct them.
What other people have noted about timeliness is completely true; if the class is listed as starting at 7, it’s probably going to start around 7:10 — 7:15. The only good thing is that it will also end at 8:10 — 8:15, so at least one doesn’t get shorted.
Others have also noted that at least 50% of each class is devoted to reviewing and practising previous steps taught in the course. This might be annoying at first for the quick-​study learner, but trust me, it can be very useful later on when you’ve got 30 – 40 steps under your belt and you’re wondering «um, how does that one step go again?»
Overall I would say that World Dance could be better, but at present, it’s the best in the area.

I fully agree with Raven’s review. I’m likely in the same intro to salsa class. Definitely too much attitude and ego in this studio.
I got really upset with the instructor last class.
during our first class he spent a LOT of time talking about the studio and how he was going to teach the classes.
It was explained the classes would be accelerated because of Christmas and also him going away with the performance team for some world championship competition.
The classes have been anything but accelerated and definitely not run like he described. There was much more review than than how he described would be done.
Part of it was likely due to his continuing to add «new» students after the first couple of classes.
We got told in our last class that, «sorry we won’t be able to cover off all the steps and you’ll miss about ½ the steps. Nothing I can do about it…»
Felt I wasted my time and money…
I won’t be going back. Glad I only paid Groupon pricing for this set of lessons.

I took an intro to salsa dance class
The dance classes here can’t start on time to save a life. The classes are also way too big and it’s very difficult to even dance without running into other people. The instructor is a little too stage flourishy also… he doesn’t have to be ON all the time, he can tone it down for a simple lesson.
Got in here on a groupon, definitely wouldn’t pay full price for lessons here. Won’t be continuing to the next level