Dance Mission Theater — Local services in San Francisco

I have never taken a dance class before and consider myself to have two left feet, so I was really nervous about coming to a class but had it on my New Year's Resolutions so bit the bullet.

Getting there: The place is not terribly well marked, but if you have Google maps you can find it. You walk into a lobby and go straight up the stair case, then check in at the desk and head into the studio. There are bleachers to the side of the dance floor where you can store your bags and water.

Class: I decided on Micaya's Thursday evening beginners hip hop. I had no idea what I was doing so walked in and sat at the back of the room. Class began with a warmup without any preamble. About 10 minutes of stretching led by the instructor followed by a few minutes of ab workout. Then we went right into learning choreo. I was really nervous about getting lost, but Micaya was great and took it all very slow, with really useful explanations. I.e. when it came time to add a body roll, she spent several minutes teaching us the anatomy of a body roll instead of assuming we knew how to do one (I didn't but now I do!). We repeated the choreo a lot so it was easy to remember as we progressed. Also Micaya was always happy to stop and offer help or answer questions. She rotates the lines every few minutes, so even if you start in the back you'll eventually end up in front. Overall I had an incredible time and felt for the first time that I wasn't incapable of dancing. If you're a new dancer, would definitely recommend this as a welcoming class for total beginners that have never done dance before. I had so much fun I'm planning to go every week...

I brought my niece to this program for hip hop and was extremely disappointed with their handle of the kids. As a new family to the program, they didn’t once let us see the studios or even a class to know the quality of the teacher and space. The day of the performance they recorded without my niece. They made the kids come for a whole hour and only recorded in the first five minutes and made them sit around the rest of the time. My niece lives in Vallejo so commuting into the city on a Saturday was horrendous and they did not contact me or her mom to see if we were nearby. Literally just finished recording when she walked in. This is not a community oriented program. They did not even warm up the kids before the recording.

They also did not have an adult at the door on the rehearsal days, which did not feel safe to me since you cannot see upstairs to make sure your child gets in safely.

I’m not sending my niece back to this program. I’ve grown up in the Mission as part of many youth arts programs and never had this type...

This place was ok until I discovered how they treated certain instructors. Instructors that brought them ALOT of revenue, and people of the community to their place of business. It's truly gone down hill since Allan Frias left and quite frankly I'm glad he did ! (20+) years in a place that dosent appreciate or value your worth is not a place I want to spend my dime to dance! It is sad facilities like THIS only see you as a way to make money off your back and your talent. I pray they stay open another...