Steps On Toes

Laurie Ann is a very nice and patient instructor. She taught us some basic lessons because me and my partner won a free lesson. It was very nice and fun.

I’m sorry it has taken me so long to write this review, I thought I did it a year ago. Laurie Ann taught us an amazing first dance for our wedding, which we decided to take lessons for a short 5 weeks before our big day. I was quite nervous to say the least on whether or not we would be wasting out money but she was great. She is a very patient teacher, my husband is a really bad dancer, and with all the wedding stress I can’t say I didn’t get frustrated with him a lot during our lessons. Laurie Ann was great and keeping the peace and was really able to have both my husband and I looking like pros. Our dance included a lift and a dip and our friends and family were so impressed at our wedding. It was definitely more than I planned to spend on learning a 3 minute dance that I haven’t done since my wedding day, but you get what you pay for. Thank you again Laurie Ann!

We had a lovely time getting to know LaurieAnn during our first lesson. It’s clear from the first 90 minutes of working with her she KNOWS her stuff. She’s thorough, spends time talking about your goals, is patient and sweet, breaks down both the moves for the dance but also the thought process behind it all (a very insightful way to help you make sense of it), and makes you feel at ease.

Laurie Ann is an amazing dance teacher and an amazing person at that. My wife and I wanted to learn a dance for our wedding and chose Laurie Ann based on these reviews on Unilocal.She far exceeded our expectations. Neither me nor my wife had any ballroom dance experience and we were pretty nervous about what to expect. Laurie Ann was patient with us, taught us the basics first, gave us homework, and prepped us for dancing the Rumba to the song we chose for our first dance. We had 5 lessons with her and hope to sign up for more in the future just for fun!
I should mention that my wife and I are a same-​sex couple, and Laurie Ann could not have been more welcoming. We figured out who would follow and lead, and she took it from there.
As far as price, it was well worth it, and she gave us a great deal.
Our first dance was a hit and we had a blast. Thank you Laurie Ann! :-)

Laurie Ann was wonderful! My fiancé and I needed some dance lessons for our wedding, and we found Steps on Toes online. Dancing can be so intimidating, especially for those who don’t feel comfortable doing it, but Steps on Toes looked friendly – friendlier than dance studios. Laurie Ann gives lessons from her home; she has a large room with floor-​length mirrors, and a stereo to hook up your music.
Laurie Ann was great at teaching. Dancing does not come easily to me and my fiancé had almost zero experience. Laurie Ann not only taught us the dance moves, but explained the process from a mental point of view – how the brain learns. She gave us some great tips about practicing the dance steps in our heads to strengthen the brain when we weren’t physically dancing. She was also great at finding little shortcuts and manageable moves for us to play with to spice up the routine.
She knows how to work within someone’s limits and helped us learn a beautiful, fun routine we were proud to show off for our first dance. We had 3 lessons and they helped us get to a point where we could continue practicing on our own before the wedding day.

Laurie Ann teaches with grace, patience, humor, and intelligence. She knows her stuff and has an eagle eye for what is going wrong. I am learning quickly even though I am a certified klutz.

Laurie Ann is incredibly knowledgeable about dance theory and is an extraordinary teacher. Our daughter is getting married in September, so my husband and I (really, for HIM!) are taking lessons in order to be prepared. I have a few things to learn, too, bc, as they say, it takes two…

very happy with her. she gaves us excellent advices for our weddinh dance

We had been planning on doing a swing dance for our wedding in the summer, and wanted to find someone local to teach us who had a flexible schedule. We sent Laurie Ann a YouTube video of a dance we liked to the music we wanted to use. Right off the bat, Laurie Ann gave us a lesson on the differences between lindy hop and the easier east coast swing, with detailed recommendations on how we should proceed in preparing for the dance. We were instantly sold, and booked our first set of 5 lessons. Our first lesson went through the basics, and Laurie Ann gave us an in depth overview of the theory behind east coast swing as well as a solid start regarding the concepts of connection with your partner and such. The first week practicing solo was a struggle, but by the third lesson, we were already dancing! Greg is what many view as unteachable in terms of dancing, and Laurie Ann, the miracle worker, got him dancing and really enjoying himself within 3 weeks! What really impressed us was how Laurie Ann was able to break down the various steps and movements and explain them in a variety of ways, tailored to how each of us learned best. Laurie Ann would use actual demonstration and/​or explanation with words as needed, and also weave in some hilarious anecdotes that really helped the corrections stick! We are now at our 7^th lesson, and eagerly look forward to working with Laurie Ann each week. She really is an amazing teacher, and has gotten us hooked on social dancing. We can see it being a part of our lives well after the wedding. It has also brought us a lot closer, having to work together to get the push/​pull and coordination just right.
On the big day, everything went phenomenally! We were confident, poised, and most importantly, relaxed! Super fun dance, which everyone loved!

Wow! I have a wedding in less than 2 weeks… when I took a class from Laurie Ann, I had about 1 month till the wedding day. She was a wonderful teacher and worked with my fiancé and I to learn the steps at our pace. We have been practicing and Im sure the wedding dance will turn out just perfect!!! I can now dance something other than ‘slow dance’!!! I highly recommend her to anyone looking to learn some new moves!

Laurie Ann is a wonderful teacher! It takes me a while to get what I’m supposed to be doing. Laurie Ann is very patient and maintains a great attitude and smile on her face even when I’ve had to repeat and repeat and repeat one little part of a dance. This makes all the difference to a person with two left feet. She is able to identify the small things I’m doing wrong which are making it hard for me to do the dance. She has great ideas on ways for me to think of something which turn out to be just the right thing to get me to the next step. It’s very easy to learn from Laurie Ann. I highly recommend her!

My husband Steve and I got married in New York City in July. We live in the East Bay and were looking for a local dance teacher to help us with our first dance. Laurie Ann was the perfect teacher. She is patient, kind, wonderfully knowledgeable about the world of dance and music, and a terrific teacher. In five lessons, she worked with us to pick a great first song (Frank Sinatra’s ‘Fly Me to the Moon’) and then put together a simple but elegant night club two-​step dance with us. What initially began as a source of stress for us turned out to be one of the true HIGHLIGHTS of our wedding! We received so many compliments from our guests. We would definitely consider taking another round of dance lessons with Laurie Ann just for fun (and especially now that we don’t have the pressure of the wedding). Thank you Laurie Ann!

My partner and I just loved having lessons given by Laurie Ann! We loved what we have been taught and we are having so much fun going out and dancing, looking and feeling like we can do some moves on the floor.
Two of our friends wanted to know about our dance lessons and they were so jazzed about what we told them about Laurie Ann that they joined us for our lessons and we got a group discount from her.
Thank you Laurie Ann, I did find my «right foot»!
Dr. Karen Kartch, D.C.
Dr. Rima Goldman, M.D.

We loved our session with Laurie Ann! Her knowledge and experience is expansive and she introduced us to ideas and techniques that will help us with all our dancing, not just the specific dance we were working on.
I really can’t say enough about how great Laurie Ann is!

Laurie Ann is much more than a dance instructor.
She knows some relationship secrets. Like: «the sexiest thing is the world is a good lead on the dance floor. »
My husband and I had a great time in our lessons with Laurie. And the fun continues…

i don’t know who decided on the idea of a first dance. on top of everything else, someone had to go «hey, let’s do some ballroom dancing before dinner at our wedding!»
what a jackass.
so, deep down inside, ballroom dancing does NOT seem like our thing. we love gettin’ down to «sexyback,» but apparently that doesn’t really fly in the wedding world…
enter steps on toes, laurie ann lepoff’s dance school for klutzes and shy people. already, i feel like she got us, and i hadn’t even given her a call.
fast forward a couple weeks to our first lesson. the rain had stopped for the first time all day, which i took as a sign of good things to come.
we walked in the door, and laurie quickly introduced herself and asked about our goals and our music. we handed over two songs, and she quickly identified that we would probably want something like the foxtrot (more rigid), or the nightclub two step (more fluid.) rigid sounds boring to us, so we quickly got into the basic.
laurie ann has obviously had a lot of experience in teaching clueless couples, because she was quick to hone in on what we needed, how it needed to be done, and what language of instruction would work best for us. she was great with explanations and a «plan of attack,» so to speak.
the bottom line is: this woman knows her stuff, and if you need to learn a dance, this might be the best way for you to do it! however, if you don’t have the will to learn it, don’t bother, because laurie ann will be the first to tell you it’s not worth the time, effort or funds to do so.
check out her website for more info at
!