Foster Dance Studios

This review is for the Bollywood Groove cardio dance class on Sundays from 10 – 11 am.
THE MOST IMPORTANT INFO
The first order of business upon arriving at the studio is to sign in on a sheet of paper. Payments are taken care of afterward; the prices are $ 15 to drop-​in for one class, and less per class if you buy a set of classes (attendance would be marked on a card). Payments are made to the instructors directly, not the Foster Dance Studio staff.
(The above information was obtained via trial and error the day of my visit, and in fact the confusion which ensued in order to obtain this information is the reason for my withholding 1 star. More explanation for the latter statement is given later in this review.)
ADDITIONAL INFO
There were ~20 participants the day I went; most of the people appeared to be regulars, while maybe ¼ were new to the class. The room we were in was mostly full, and while the studio had some air circulation, I still recommend shorts and a tank top during class, as I was far too warm in a short sleeve t-​shirt and yoga pants.
The two instructors switched off between songs, which manifested as one woman as the main instructor while the other woman acted as the hype lady (excited whoops, shouts, etc.). The class consisted of a warm up, high energy dance routines (which included a fair amount of jumping), a cool down, and a short core workout. That day the instructors were unable to find yoga mats in the dance studio, so if you’re planning on attending I would recommend bringing your own. The moves for the routines are taught quickly, and there were some partner movements as well.
Overall the class was good exercise, but the confusion before and after class detracted from my overall experience. Before class, it was unclear that a sign-​in sheet even existed, and there was no indication of where we could/​should put our things; and after class, it was ambiguous to whom payment should be made. Unfortunately, there’s very little information about this class on Foster Dance Studio’s website, so I hope this Unilocal review can shed some light on the matter.

I recently took a salsa lesson at this studio and I love it! I’ve been looking for latin lessons in the area, and nothing interesting came up until I saw this studio. The teacher is great, and the space is wonderful. It’s easy to find, and there is plenty of parking on the street. What a gem!

I recently took a Zumba class with Julie and it was awesome! She has so much energy and the dance steps she prepared were so much fun! She really kicked our asses, and we were moving so fast the entire time, it was a great workout for a great price!

I recently moved back to the North Shore area and was super bummed that Giordano moved to Andersonville and that Visceral and Lou Conte are kind of a pain to get to from where I live. My roommate (also a dancer) knows the owner of Foster Dance Studios, and when she told me about the new studio I thought I’d give it a shot.
Amazing.
They have great instructors here, which is an obvious plus. I have only taken a couple classes (all with the same instructor), but my roommate has taken several classes with different instructors and she’s loved them all.
The location is great because it’s super close to the Foster L stop (it’s practically underneath it), and there’s reasonably easy street parking. The building itself is gorgeous — great dressing room area, nice reception space, and several studios that aren’t massively huge, but for classes of around 15 students it’s perfect. Everyone I’ve spoken to who works at the desk has been really helpful and nice. The whole environment of this place is really welcoming. They allow drop-​ins, which is great, and they have a variety of classes for all ages and experience levels. There’s really something for everyone.
I believe drop-​in rates are $ 16/​class, and it’s $ 12 with a college student ID (convenient for NU students, or any other college students in the area), and $ 10 for professionals. They also offer convenient 10-​class punch cards, or regular class session registration.
I really hope they do well here. I will definitely be coming to as many classes as my crazy schedule and limited budget allows. They are definitely filling the void for great Evanston dance classes opportunities. I’m excited to try out more of their offerings.