For introduction classes, we do not require you to purchase Irish dance shoes immediately. You can start by simply wearing a clean pair of tennis shoes. Or, if you have old ballet slippers or jazz shoes, those will work as well. We don't encourage socks because they cause you to slip and offer no support for your feet.

Once you've been in class for a month or two, you should be ready to invest in your first pair of Irish dance shoes. For girls that would be ghillies and for boys that would be reel shoes. These can be purchased through a local distributor, Atkinson Irish Products, in White Lake, or online through a reputable Irish dance shoe manufacturer. We also have a consignment section at our Rochester Hills studio for reselling used shoes when you outgrow them.

If you are new to Irish dance, you will want to start with Intro to Irish Dance. This will give you the basics of Irish dance soft or light shoe dances and terminology. Once you have a handle on that, you will move into a Class A that is appropriate for your age. For adults, you are welcome to also register for our Intro hard shoe class as well, or wait until you become familiar with soft shoe.

If you have some experience, please email us and tell us what that is so that we can advise you on an appropriate trial class, and have the instructor then suggest a class.

Anytime! We run classes year-round and you are welcome to start at anytime. The structure is such that you will not feel like you are behind because each student progresses at his or her own rate and is continually learning new things.

When you register between September and May, you are registering for the school year, but you may stop at any time as well. All you have to do is tell us before the first of the month that you will not be continuing next month and we will drop you from the class. We work like a gym membership where you pay the same amount each month regardless of how many classes fall in that month and you can stop your monthly fee by notifying us. Summer classes run June, July, and August and have their own structure with some different, unique opportunities and camps.

No Dress Code. No Long Term Commitment. No Waiting to Advance

The best feature of our pricing model is that our monthly rates are based on total weekly class time - not skill level or age. In other words, our students won't get penalized with higher fees for making progress (like at other schools). We eliminate the conflict of interest around promoting students to advanced classes for more money, giving you confidence that you and your peers are truly at the correct level in your Irish dance training.

With Motor City Irish Dance, there are no misleading gimmicks or hidden fees. Your monthly rate doesn't change regardless of how many times the classes meet each month or when you start - very much like a membership fee. We keep things simple, transparent, sensible, and fair - especially with our secure auto-pay feature. And if you find yourself being unable to cover the monthly fee, please come talk to us - we will work with you to make it right. You shouldn't settle for anything less.

But if you are still looking for more, we are also happy to offer you our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied within 7 days of your first class, we will completely refund your tuition and registration fees.

Our private Student and Company pages (on Facebook) contain extensive online resources that can be accessed anytime, anywhere. The video library contains demonstrations of techniques and dances broken down slowly, then performed up to speed. We also have hand-outs with choreography typed out and diagramed. Please contact us if you have difficulty accessing these pages.

Academy assignments and demonstrations of basic techniques and class level steps can be found on the PRIVATE STUDENT COMMUNITY page.

Performance Company choreography demonstrations and rehearsal notes can be found on the PRIVATE COMPANY GROUP page.

Once you are on the appropriate page, click on "Units" on the left, and scroll down the list until you find the material you need.

You can also send a message to your instructor through the customer portal.

Our studio uses a secure, third-party software called Dance Studio Pro to manage all of our classes and billing. The customer portal is a feature of the software that allows you to create and access your account, where you can register for classes, find resources for your classes, contact your instructors, and much more.

Because the customer portal provides much of the information you may need as a dancer or parent, we highly recommend you become familiar with logging into your account and using the many tools available in the portal.

You can access the customer portal with the following link: https://dancestudio-pro.com/online/mcid. Please contact us if you have any difficulty navigating the portal.