WHO STUDIES WITH PETER/ First dance NYC? Among the thousands are…
PATINA MILLER (Tony award winner: Pippin)/ David Mars
Kenneth Cole and daughter Emily
A&E’s Married At First Sight’s Jamie and Doug
Thomas Aabo/ Karla Angelique Atilano;
Tom Mendoza/ Tai Rodriguez
ERIC TRUMP and Lara Yunaska
Thom and Caroline Dean
"MarrieD AT First Sight" inaugural season's choreographer (Seen here with Jamie and Doug)
YELP REVIEWS
5.0 star ratingsPeter deserves more than 5 stars! My now wife and I got married in early October and of course we had to prepare for our first dance. I found peter through a quick google search, and the scheduling + pricing (~100 lesson) seemed reasonable, plus a discounted first one! When we met for our first lesson, there were quite a few other people sharing the dance studio depending on the time, which was actually kinda nice to see other people doing their thing. We played peter the song we wanted and afterward developed the steps for our dance. He did an amazing job breaking it down for us and did it in such a fun/positive way. I made a lot of mistakes, but he gave great feedback. Along the way, we gave our own input on the dance and truly made it feel original + collaborative. My wife and I took 4 lessons and felt super confident. Everyone loved our first dance and we have to thank peter for it!!!
Michael C
1/2024
I highly recommend Peter Jones for wedding dance lessons. As someone who was a complete novice with zero prior dance instruction experience, Peter made myself and my (now) wife comfortable and prepared for our big day. We did five lessons with him over a month - perfect amount for us. My younger brother and his wife also used him; they also speak very highly of him.
Peter B
11/2023
I have no words how grateful my husband and I chose Peter to help us learn and create a killer swing dance for our wedding! We had an amazing time at each dance lesson and always had fun. It was truly a wonderful experience and our secret swing dance was a hit! Would recommend Peter to all my friends who want an amazing first dance at their wedding or just to have fun while learning different dances!
Christine D
. 10/2023
No words can describe how awesome of a teacher Peter was. With a month to go and no prior dancing experience, I was nervous how my first dance would turn out. On our first lesson, we brainstormed ideas for the song and Peter showed us some moves for each type of dance. The next lesson we finalized the song we wanted to use and started working on the choreography. We perfected our dance over the next three lessons and by the end of the fifth lesson I felt more than confident to perform in front of the audience. Peter's instructions were clear, concise, and intuitive. My wife and I enjoyed every minute of the lessons and the hour always seemed to fly by. I would highly recommend Peter to any couple looking for the perfect first dance!!
Haiyang W
11/2022
Peter is the best!! He works on ensuring that the couple has FUN, limited stress, and looks great in photos/ videos. No need to worry about "perfection", but instead Peter shows you how to recover easily from "mistakes" (which will happen!). We loved dance lessons, and our dance on the wedding day was great!
9/5/2021
8/23/2021
Where do I even begin? Peter is an absolute joy to work with. He is the ultimate professional, but keeps the lessons light and fun. We booked five lessons with Peter back in 2019 (thanks, Covid!). Peter honored the rate we booked in 2019 and provided the absolute best experience for us in 2021. We both came in with no formal dancing experience, and Peter gave us confidence and helped us create a beautiful first dance for our wedding. We will both remember some of these tips forever, and had so much fun along the way. If you're wondering if you need lessons before your wedding, the answer is you probably do. We do not regret booking this for one single second. It was worth the time and money to feel confident and put on a show for our guests. Must book!
STAFF INSTRUCTORS:
Great Dance Studio! Peter scheduled us with Bibi on very short notice/ last minute before our wedding party. NEITHER of are good dancers. We showed up with a song, and within an hour Bibi made our first dance possible. She put us at ease right away. She is such a positive teacher! Before we left, she recorded the video of us dancing and gave us instruction on how to practice.
Everything went very well because she gave us the confidence that a first dance is more about joy than perfect form. We had a fantastic time, and our guests loved it! Thank you, Bibi!
9/04/2019
Peter was quick to reply and was accommodating in arranging a VERY last minute class. Joel did the instruction with his lovely partner Bibi and let the lesson run WAY over. The class was fun, informative and very thorough. What kind and nice people. We arrive with no knowledge and left with so much more confidence. Could not recommend more strongly!
10/2/2019
A lot of wedding dance studio's FAQs suggest starting 5 months out.... My fiance and I only decided on our first dance song 5 WEEKS out. We were paired with Stephanie as our instructor and she could NOT have been more lovely. She worked to make our four left feet look like they knew how to communicate with each other! Stephanie really did her homework as well, familiarizing herself with the song we selected, visualizing the choreography, pairing it with the song, and breaking it down in a way that two novices could understand.
Stephanie was always happy to dance lead or be lead, even dancing lead with my now husband to show him exactly what it was that I was feeling on my end. She was happy to take videos of us on the dance floor so that we could review it at home while practicing. (This was clutch!) She even offered to be available if, while we were practicing we had trouble and needed help (between our last lesson and the wedding), we could send her a video and she would troubleshoot exactly what our problem was!
We were able to use the moves she taught us on the dance floor beyond just "our song." We continued to recreate/practice our dance through out our honeymoon, reveling in how much fun it was and how nice it turned out!
3/28/2021
Peter is THE MAN. An expert dancer and masterful instructor. Patient, kind, and VERY GOOD at teaching! I spent hours doing diligence before picking an instructor...
4/8/2020
My wife and I loved working with Peter! Neither of us had ever danced before, and after the five lessons we took before our wedding, we felt confident and able to dance in front of our friends and family! Peter is a thoughtful and kind instructor and a wonderful person. We cannot recommend more highly!
12/4/2020
Peter is a joy to work with and a great teacher. I would have no problem recommending him to anyone. Thanks so much.
2/23/2020
In 5 incredibly fun lessons, Peter took us from a slow dance sway to a beautiful first dance that we'll remember forever! We planned our classes on Monday's after work, quickly making Monday one of our favorite days of the week! We chose "Always and Forever" as our song and wanted to do more than the typical side to side dance. Peter choreographed an exciting dance for us full of incredible twists and turns that left our guests cheering. We especially loved the way Peter wove marriage advice into our lessons like "she's always right" :) and how much trust and cooperation is required to make the dance work. We will be taking more classes with Peter, just to continue these fun nights of working together to achieve something beautiful!
8/12/2019
Our dance lessons were the most fun part of the lead up to our wedding! Some context, I was kicked out of the dance for my own solo in the high school play. My (now) husband refused to dance with me (at other weddings)!
We started lessons with Peter two months before our wedding and after three lessons, I finally got to dance with my (then) fiancé at my brother's wedding. After five lessons, we felt comfortable enough to go onto an empty dance floor at a friend's wedding and dance. Someone who is aware of my horrible dance skills even exclaimed, "Oh my God! That's Brett dancing!" We danced the ENTIRE night.
At our wedding, after ten lessons, our friends and family were on their feet, screaming and cheering. Several people even cried. Our first dance was a hit!!!!
Never did I imagine I'd be excited to dance publicly, or that either of us would do it well. We knew our limited abilities. We weren't looking for great or a 10/10. We wanted to not embarrass ourselves and figured if we pulled a 3/10 people would be amazed. We knocked it out of the park. Our toughest critic (my mother) said we did great!
Peter is such a great teacher. He was patient and fun and we learned so much. He taught us moves for our first dance, and in doing so we learned to listen to the beat and find the rhythm. We were comfortable on a dance floor for the first time. We danced the entire night!
If you can manage ten lessons with Peter, go for it! You won't regret it! If you can do five, you'll be so much improved. Even three makes a difference. Our ten lessons were something we looked forward to each time. It was a fun way to bond and connect and have fun in the stressful pre-wedding time. Peter is a miracle worker. We HATED dancing and now we are looking into places to go out and dance in our free time.
My husband and I agree that Peter was the best investment we made in this wedding, and we cannot wait to dance all week on our honeymoon cruise!!!!
9/28/2019
see Bib and Joel's review above. 7/30/2018
This was one of the most enjoyable parts of our wedding planning. Peter understood the importance of our first dance song and taught us in just 3 lessons some techniques to wow our family and friends. We are not expert dancers but Peter made us feel comfortable to own our moves after he taught us each technique to compliment our song choice.
9/10/2017
Peter totally blew us away in what he was able to teach us!..., we definitely would have benefitted from more lessons, the time we spent was definitely worth it and gave us great moves to not totally embarrass ourselves during our first dance. We had so much fun!
7/30/2018
My husband and I loved working with Peter. It was our highlight of the wedding planning and the one and only part of it we truly enjoyed doing together. We did not have any prior dance experience and learned a 3 minute dance in 5 lessons. Peter is fantastic to work with and fun to be around. The calendar option on his website made scheduling very easy. Do not look any further and click the booking button. You won't regret it.
Practicing your first dance is definitely something that can be overlooked in the chaos of wedding planning but looking back this was such a highlight and a worthwhile investment and brought us closer together as well.
You won't regret booking a session with Peter! Enjoy :)
4/11/2017
My wife and I waited until the last minute to organize a wedding dance. We were able to figure out some times for a 5-lesson set and Bibi had us off and running. Working with Bibi was especially great and we are likely to sign up for follow-up lessons just because we had a lot of fun in the process.
3/5/2017
We loved working with Joel! My husband and I waited until the last minute for our dance lessons, giving us only a few weeks. Joel was able to work with our schedule and in a few short lessons had us doing the box step, salsa, turns and dips! Our dance went so well at the wedding, everyone was impressed.
12/16/2016
My fiancée and I went to Peter to learn a "first dance" for our wedding. Neither of us had taken dance classes before, but Peter was able to overcome that (and my two left feet) and helped us design a routine that we could learn. With Peter's help, patience, and lots of practice, we managed to pull off our first dance without any major errors. I would certainly recommend Peter to anyone looking for a dance teacher.
8/26/2016
We signed up for a 5 pack of lessons with Valerie and that was one of the best decisions we made in our wedding planning process.
Neither of us have ever taken formal dance lessons so this could have been a disaster! Thankfully Valerie was a better instructor than we could have ever dreamed of. She is sweet, patient and most of all makes the lesson so fun. The hour lessons flew by. I could see us taking more lessons in the future as a fun way to spend some time together
10/18/2015
Peter was lots of fun to work with! He has a low-pressure, straightforward style of instruction that really helped us prepare for our first dance at our wedding. We would strongly recommend him to anyone, including beginners. Thanks so much, Peter!
9/28/2015
We signed up for a series of 5 lessons with Peter to learn how to dance for the first dance at our wedding. Our experience was wonderful from start to finish. He responded promptly to emails and texts and was willing to work with our busy schedules to coordinate lesson times. We told him our first dance song and he taught us the basic steps for how to dance to it in our first lesson. Over the next four lessons, he built on that by adding various flourishes (turns, extra steps, dip, etc) in increasing complexity. He was fun, worked with our ability level, and helped us feel comfortable and more confident on the dance floor. We appreciated that instead of having a strictly choreographed routine, we instead learned how to dance and bring in embellishments as we wanted, which definitely helped with our anxiety on the day of the wedding (and also gives us the ability to dance to other songs as well, which a choreographed routine would not do). Ultimately, our first dance was fun, polished, and we were proud to sho
6/26/2015
Don't usually leave reviews, buat dance lesson was phenomenal. Peter deserves more credit for what he's doing Never had a dance lesson before and never considered myself even close to capable. but after the fastest hour of my life I felt comfortable with my little stable of moves. Can't wait for the next lesson. I was worried we wouldn't be dance-worthy before our wedding in 8 weeks, now I think we might be able to add some flourish. Will be recommending him to anyone else looking for dance lessons
4/17/2015
My (now) husband and I took five lessons with Peter before our wedding. He was a great instructor and was incredibly patient with both of us. He started out with basics and built on them with each lesson. My husband actually picked up on it faster than I did, which was really impressive. Peter put his instructions in terms we could understand and didn't overwhelm us with technicalities.
By the end of our fifth lesson we both felt comfortable dancing together. I think you might be better off starting earlier than us and taking a few more lessons with Peter. However, when the big moment came and we were on the dance floor in front of all our guests, I think we looked pretty fantastic. My husband led me through all the steps Peter taught us, even the one we had the most trouble with...the swizzles! We received plenty of applause and cheers when it came to the two different styles of spins and especially during the dip.
Thanks so much Peter for making our first dance special! You were great to work with!!
4/12/2015
My fiancee and I have four left feet between the two of us, so we knew we needed to attend a dance lesson or two before our wedding. There is nothing worse than watching a couple do the "highschool hang" for 3 minutes: you know, where the couple just hugs and sways back and forth.
We contacted Ballroom Wedding Dancing and ended up taking a private lesson from Valerie. She was incredibly helpful and a very knowledgeable teacher. She made everything accessible by modeling the steps for us and working with us individually until we felt comfortable doing it on our own. She was also warm and understanding when we needed a lot of repetition to get it right.
We'll definitely be going back for more!
10/3/2014
Four weeks before our wedding date, we decided we should probably take a formal dance lesson or two so we don't bore our guests with our first sloppy slow dance. Peter was on time, courteous, and super fun. Most importantly, he was amazing on his feet! We ended up signing on for two more classes with Peter, and he helped us to prepare a 1-2 minute first dance which we felt comfortable with. I would definitely recommend Peter for anyone looking for a few quick lessons, and for ongoing lessons as well.I am probably the worst dancer that ever lived, and by far the most frightening part about my wedding was the first dance with my wife. She signed me up for 5 lessons with Peter, and it was one of the best decisions we made (apart from marrying each other of course.)
The lessons were clearly structured, and Peter didn't overwhelm us with information - he slowly added steps and built up our confidence, and made sure we spent 5 hours of real practice on how we wanted to dance.
The end result? Our first dance wasn't the anxiety-inducing, error-prone disaster I thought it would be, but a very fun time with my wife and I. I very strongly recommend Peter for all folks who are learning to dance, no matter how good (or terrible) you are.
Thank you Peter! We had a wonderful wedding...and our dance was a hit. The band leader (who has done hundreds of weddings) said we were the best he's ever seen. oh yeah...we will definitely stay in touch & refer you to friends... we were shocked how well the dance went too! Go figure! so a big thanks to you sir.
-Charlie and Tamera
______________________
Geoff and I want to say "thank you!" for helping us with our first dance. It was great! We had a little stumble on the first salsa transition but the second went off without a hitch. My favorite part was at the end of the dance when we went in for our kiss and then he spun me out and somehow we ended up facing the band'. Oops'. It got a good laugh and we just turned around and bowed/curtsied for the guests. It was great. Geoff was so chill and smiley you would've been proud.
-Morna and Geoff
_______________________
Amy and Matt on NBC's I Do"
FIONA AND WILSON BREAK INTO AN AMAZING BOB FOSSE (CHICAGO) DANCE PETER CHOREOGRAPHED FOR THEM! (SEE THEIR AMAZING RECEPTION'S ENTIRE DANCE)
______________________
Anna and Rad: Everything was a complete success and our dance(s) wowed the audience. See our Waltz and Salsa Thank you so much for your wonderful instruction!
My fiancée and I went to Peter to learn a "first dance" for our wedding. Neither of us had taken dance classes before, but Peter was able to overcome that (and my two left feet) and helped us design a routine that we could learn. With Peter's help, patience, and lots of practice, we managed to pull off our first dance without any major errors. I would certainly recommend Peter to anyone looking for a dance teacher.
8/26/2016
We signed up for a 5 pack of lessons with Valerie and that was one of the best decisions we made in our wedding planning process.
Neither of us have ever taken formal dance lessons so this could have been a disaster! Thankfully Valerie was a better instructor than we could have ever dreamed of. She is sweet, patient and most of all makes the lesson so fun. The hour lessons flew by. I could see us taking more lessons in the future as a fun way to spend some time together
10/18/2015
Peter was lots of fun to work with! He has a low-pressure, straightforward style of instruction that really helped us prepare for our first dance at our wedding. We would strongly recommend him to anyone, including beginners. Thanks so much, Peter!
9/28/2015
We signed up for a series of 5 lessons with Peter to learn how to dance for the first dance at our wedding. Our experience was wonderful from start to finish. He responded promptly to emails and texts and was willing to work with our busy schedules to coordinate lesson times. We told him our first dance song and he taught us the basic steps for how to dance to it in our first lesson. Over the next four lessons, he built on that by adding various flourishes (turns, extra steps, dip, etc) in increasing complexity. He was fun, worked with our ability level, and helped us feel comfortable and more confident on the dance floor. We appreciated that instead of having a strictly choreographed routine, we instead learned how to dance and bring in embellishments as we wanted, which definitely helped with our anxiety on the day of the wedding (and also gives us the ability to dance to other songs as well, which a choreographed routine would not do). Ultimately, our first dance was fun, polished, and we were proud to sho
6/26/2015
Don't usually leave reviews, buat dance lesson was phenomenal. Peter deserves more credit for what he's doing Never had a dance lesson before and never considered myself even close to capable. but after the fastest hour of my life I felt comfortable with my little stable of moves. Can't wait for the next lesson. I was worried we wouldn't be dance-worthy before our wedding in 8 weeks, now I think we might be able to add some flourish. Will be recommending him to anyone else looking for dance lessons
4/17/2015
My (now) husband and I took five lessons with Peter before our wedding. He was a great instructor and was incredibly patient with both of us. He started out with basics and built on them with each lesson. My husband actually picked up on it faster than I did, which was really impressive. Peter put his instructions in terms we could understand and didn't overwhelm us with technicalities.
By the end of our fifth lesson we both felt comfortable dancing together. I think you might be better off starting earlier than us and taking a few more lessons with Peter. However, when the big moment came and we were on the dance floor in front of all our guests, I think we looked pretty fantastic. My husband led me through all the steps Peter taught us, even the one we had the most trouble with...the swizzles! We received plenty of applause and cheers when it came to the two different styles of spins and especially during the dip.
Thanks so much Peter for making our first dance special! You were great to work with!!
4/12/2015
My fiancee and I have four left feet between the two of us, so we knew we needed to attend a dance lesson or two before our wedding. There is nothing worse than watching a couple do the "highschool hang" for 3 minutes: you know, where the couple just hugs and sways back and forth.
We contacted Ballroom Wedding Dancing and ended up taking a private lesson from Valerie. She was incredibly helpful and a very knowledgeable teacher. She made everything accessible by modeling the steps for us and working with us individually until we felt comfortable doing it on our own. She was also warm and understanding when we needed a lot of repetition to get it right.
We'll definitely be going back for more!
10/3/2014
Four weeks before our wedding date, we decided we should probably take a formal dance lesson or two so we don't bore our guests with our first sloppy slow dance. Peter was on time, courteous, and super fun. Most importantly, he was amazing on his feet! We ended up signing on for two more classes with Peter, and he helped us to prepare a 1-2 minute first dance which we felt comfortable with. I would definitely recommend Peter for anyone looking for a few quick lessons, and for ongoing lessons as well.I am probably the worst dancer that ever lived, and by far the most frightening part about my wedding was the first dance with my wife. She signed me up for 5 lessons with Peter, and it was one of the best decisions we made (apart from marrying each other of course.)
The lessons were clearly structured, and Peter didn't overwhelm us with information - he slowly added steps and built up our confidence, and made sure we spent 5 hours of real practice on how we wanted to dance.
The end result? Our first dance wasn't the anxiety-inducing, error-prone disaster I thought it would be, but a very fun time with my wife and I. I very strongly recommend Peter for all folks who are learning to dance, no matter how good (or terrible) you are.
Thank you Peter! We had a wonderful wedding...and our dance was a hit. The band leader (who has done hundreds of weddings) said we were the best he's ever seen. oh yeah...we will definitely stay in touch & refer you to friends... we were shocked how well the dance went too! Go figure! so a big thanks to you sir.
-Charlie and Tamera
______________________
Geoff and I want to say "thank you!" for helping us with our first dance. It was great! We had a little stumble on the first salsa transition but the second went off without a hitch. My favorite part was at the end of the dance when we went in for our kiss and then he spun me out and somehow we ended up facing the band'. Oops'. It got a good laugh and we just turned around and bowed/curtsied for the guests. It was great. Geoff was so chill and smiley you would've been proud.
-Morna and Geoff
_______________________
Amy and Matt on NBC's I Do"
FIONA AND WILSON BREAK INTO AN AMAZING BOB FOSSE (CHICAGO) DANCE PETER CHOREOGRAPHED FOR THEM! (SEE THEIR AMAZING RECEPTION'S ENTIRE DANCE)
______________________
Anna and Rad: Everything was a complete success and our dance(s) wowed the audience. See our Waltz and Salsa Thank you so much for your wonderful instruction!