Ted Maddry

Ted is a masterful teacher, a wonderful facilitator and group leader, and runs a great venue, Friday Night Blues. Whether you are a first-​time dancer or have years of experience, a lesson with Ted will leave you not only with clear improvements to and paths to growth for your dancing, but probably with some new ideas about life as well.

Ted’s ability as an instructor extends beyond dance. It’s obvious that he has spent a great deal of time thinking about presentation, how to be effective, and how to work well with others.
My experience with Ted has been as a dance student (private lessons, small group lessons, and larger group lessons) as well as a teaching student. In all of my experiences with Ted I have been very happy with his instruction and his ability to deal fairly and directly with situations in a classroom environment.

Ted Maddry is a master dance teacher. Period. As a dance teacher myself, I have had a chance to study with him and to observe has classes. He is one of the few teachers I have studied with and observed who is able to to take a student, no matter what their level might be – from never having danced before to experienced dancer – and make the class valuable and rewarding for them. For the beginner, Ted is able to teach the fundamentals of movement in a way that is logical and where the student feels comfortable in the class from the first moment. (This is extremely important in that beginners often feel shy and awkward; and Teds puts them at ease from the start.) For the advanced dancer, Ted has wonderful insights and exercises that bring new richness and quality of movement to the dance. I have been dancing for more years than I am willing to admit, and when I study with Ted I always learn something new, useful, and inspiring in every class. I highly recommend him and encourage anyone who is interested in dance that forms deep connections to study with him.

I was fortunate enough to both do a practica and take a lesson from Ted when he was passing through town. Genial and witty, Ted made good use of limited time to dissect and improve my dancing. He’s definitely someone I would take lessons from int the future.

I used Ted’s consulting services for dance instructors, and got a lot of very useful, clear feedback about my teaching and class environment. He is extremely articulate, frank, helpful, and very knowledgeable about partner dance itself. He was able to articulate concepts about teaching that I «knew but didn’t know I knew,» which empowered me to new awareness and constructive improvements. He is a warm and enjoyable personality as well.

I’ve attended a number of Ted’s classes as a student and found his style both enjoyable in terms of keeping the mood of the group up and feeling positive, while still providing us with solid technical feedback that would improve our dancing.
I am a bit biased though, because I’ve also taught with Ted. I’ve taught with 19 different dance instructors to date, an I’d say Ted rises to the top as someone who puts more than the average amount of thought and preparation not only into his material, but how he delivers his message. His methods, presentation and information are all rock solid. His awareness of group dynamic, combined with a desire for excellence means he creates classes that are just challenging enough to help you see that what he’s offering is the tip of the iceberg while handing out gems left and right.
Ted is one of the most well-​trained and most experienced Blues instructors in the Bay Area.

My first lesson with Ted was about a year after I had started blues dancing. I had taken a few group classes in my year’s time but overall, hadn’t had much instruction. Ted put me through my paces. An hour of «crash course» blues lessons that were challenging but gave me lots to work on for homework. I highly recommend private and group lessons with Ted. He’s approachable and clear with his instructions. He also doesn’t talk too much when teaching (a big plus). Ted does privates at his home studio in SF and at Beyond Blues at La Pena Wednesday nights in Berkeley.