Butler Center For Dance & Fitness

I have been taking Pilates classes from Vlada Sheber for the past 9 years and she is THE BEST instructor in Austin. Trained as a professional ballerina her attention to detail is amazing. Despite having 6 people in class at once she never fails to see every muscle and whether or not it’s doing what it should be. I get the best workouts in her classes. Her workouts change constantly so your body stays adapting. The studio is spacious and has lots of natural light. It’s easy to make appointments with their online system. They also have a shower there in case you have somewhere to go where you don’t want to show up sweaty. Great workout, great instructor, great facility!

I’m so glad I live in a city with a great ballet company that offers drop in dance classes to the general public. After so many years of ballet training, I’m thankful I went to college in a city that gave me the option to continue dancing.
I usually buy the 10 or 5 class passes to use throughout the year. The process is pretty simple. You can look at the different class schedules online and sign up/​pay through the website. Super plus for them having a parking lot. It’s not very big but in the morning I can always find a spot.
I really enjoy Terri’s advanced/​intermediate ballet classes. It’s challenging but not so difficult that I feel like I suck and have lost everything (lol).

At first I was intimidated by all the other students and felt inferior, since I was not in «their» terrific shape. But alas, the instructor and other classmates could not have made me feel any better. Very helpful, super friendly and just an amazing vibe. I will continue to go and strive to try to get my body in «their» shape. Thanks to everyone at Butler for welcoming a newbie!

Ballet Austin community classes are excellent! I’ve taken ballet, modern, hip hop, and Jean Claude’s west African dance — the instructors have all been enthusiastic, energetic, truly helpful teachers, and always punctual.
In contrast, the staff at the desk tend to be curt and dismissive in their communications, including the one email exchange I had with the director, so it probably stems from top down. Once you get the routine down though, buying class packages and check-​ins is easy and the dance classes make up for everything.

read my previous posts! after purchasing a 20 class pass last year in August I was finally able to start using it last week, 11 months after purchasing it. Vicki Parsons the director emailed me, I called her per her request. She was rude, accusatory and saying that in the past year I’ve been in the classes and «disruptive». Wow. She even mentioned that I have said bad things about her school. lol. I guess she reads Unilocal.
I have not been there at all prior to june 2015 What a paranoid and horrible recreational dance school. And the floors are never clean. Go try some other adult recreational classes. For the money you will be much better off. And parking is extra, with the construction going on there there is no parking available. You just can’t make this much drama up.

I took Absolute Beginners Ballet and it was AMAZING! I really enjoyed the class and my instructor was awesome. I am looking forward to taking more classes there. The staff is always super friendly and pleasant. The only thing is parking can be a little tricky when there is an event but I love being downtown so it really doesn’t bother me too much. I haven’t done a drop in class yet. As of yet I have only taken workshops at Ballet Austin, but I strongly encourage anyone who is looking for a fun thing to do to sign up for a workshop you won’t regret it!

I am a ballerina trapped in an oaf’s body. I have taken a few ballet workshops here with Brittany and have loves the experience. Though she is an accomplished dancer herself, she seems to have endless stores of patience with gallunkers like myself. She is thorough yet quick with her demos and explanations, and really cares that her class is getting the most of the instruction. While I will obviously never be Black Swan, I so enjoy going to ballet class once a week and dedicating myself to this very challenging and rewarding craft. You don’t have to be a lifer to get a lot of benefit from ballet; you simply have to be a seeker of any age. Oh… and check your pride at the door. You’re wearing a leotard, after all.

I added a star to my previous review because Ballet Austin has fixed the reformer upholstery on all machines. Hopefully, the machines will be serviced soon (seems like the machines need to be cleaned and oiled… the carriage feels rough). However my other comments still stand.

This is a great place if you are looking to begin dance, get back into dance, or just want something fun and active to do! The company dancers and all the teachers are VERY knowledgeable and they do a great job of passing their knowledge down.
I recently finished a 6 week Ballet course with Brittany and I loved it. Michelle filled in a couple of classes and she was great also. Both of these ladies are great dancers and teachers and I can’t wait to start my next class.
Although I don’t have kids, they seem to have many great family and children classes also.

I am currently pregnant and take Private Pilates Sessions with Alex Miller. It has been the best pregnancy work out I have ever had. This is not my first child, and have struggled with back aches, neck and shoulder pains, but my workouts with Alex have really helped with all of these issues. She is very skilled in knowing what is safe and not safe to do while pregnant, I have managed to stay in great shape and feel so much better with my body! If you are pregnant, post partum, or just want to get in shape I highly suggest the Pilates Center! Their staff is amazing!!!

Went here for the first time last weekend and am looking forward to returning. I went with Amanda S. and Laurie R. for Zumba. I was a Zumba novice and felt welcomed and comfortable to «shake what my mama gave me» in the class. The staff at the reception desk and the class instructor were friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. I got in a great workout and had fun while doing it! I returned home and purchased n additional set of class passes… and if Zumba is not your thing, there are plenty of other classes to try… maybe I will change it up for a future visit. Thank you Ballet Austin for offering drop-​in classes for all different dance/​fitness types!

I hadn’t danced in years and wanted to find a dance class just for fun in a non-​intimidating environment… and Ballet Austin was the perfect place for me! The classes are reasonably priced (they offer a $ 20 for 2 classes for newcomers as well as class packages) and there are a variety of different types of classes at many different convenient times. The teachers of the classes are funny and keep the classes entertaining. I love Ballet Austin!

For such an obscure little city this place sure has great open ballet classes available! Right away the teached recognised what I needed to work on, and the facilities were top notch! Its so nice to visit a place that supports the arts like this. I hope to return soon…

I was in town for a friend’s bachelorette party and didn’t want to miss out on my pilates practice (I’m addicted!). SOOOOO glad I found Ballet Austin’s pilates class. The instructors are excellent and give you a super hard workout. They were also very helpful and guiding each student to get the most out of the exercises. If I’m back in Austin, I’ll definitely be back in class.

The variety of classes, quality of teachers and cost makes Ballet Austin’s Butler Community School a real gem! 20 class cards are the best value. The bread and butter classes are of course, ballet, and if you’ve never done a plié, then definitely start with absolute beginner class or course. The huge variety of non-​ballet classes grows every year — if you like popular music, the hip hop, jazz funk and contemporary classes will move you.

I started taking Broadway Fit Basic classes this Spring 2011. This was the beginner’s class. I had very little jazz dance training and this was the hardest class I have ever taken. But I had tons of fun.
The class was mostly taught by two seasoned Broadway dancer: Rocker and Danny. I said mostly because sometimes they were out of town (performing, I guess) and had substitutes. Danny and Rocker were a hoot. They were awesome dancers, funny and I learned a lot from them.
The format of the class: the first 15 – 30 minutes of the class was the warm ups. These warm ups were pretty tough, enough to make me sweat. The rest of the class, we learned the choreography of a Broadway number.
One thing I wished they had done it a little differently: we were learning a new dance number every week. This has one big disadvantage: they are limited to a short dance number that can be taught to us in just 30 minutes. Instead of rushing to learn the moves of one new dance every week, I wish they teach longer choreography, spread out to 3 – 4 weeks.

Ballet Austin’s Pilates Studio is the ONLY place in Austin for a great Reformer workout. If you like to really see results from Reformer Pilates, there is no other place to go. I have tried Castlehill Fitness Pilates, Pilates on the Square in Georgetown and a few more places. These places do not even compare to the amazing program at Ballet Austin. On top of a great workout, the customer service is amazing. Vlada (the director) is so kind and understanding. Brittany is also a sweetheart and gives a great workout on the reformer, chair or even in her mat classes. I live all the way in Georgetown, but twice a week I make it down early before work in order to get a great Pilates Reformer workout in at Ballet Austin. I wouldn’t go anywhere else!