Where to dance in Orange County, San Francisco & Sacramento?

[Ignatius]

We shall be going to CA this December until early January.

Hopefully we can get a feel of the dancing scene in the US.

Would anyone be so kind as to make any suggestion where to go for Standard Ballroom dancing there?

Thank you

Ignatius

[pnoisette]

Do you mean dance studios? if so:
Londance in Santa Ana.
Avant Garde in Newport Beach.
Imperial Ballroom in Fullerton.
Toward the coast in Torrance Regency Ballroom:
and in L.A. itself

Westmore, one of the oldest and largest studios.

I am not allowed to post the URLs but you can Google these ballrooms for more info.

Southern California dancers and teachers tend to be a mobile lot so you may see the same students and instructors at some or all of the places mentioned above! :)

[Ignatius]

Thanks a lot Pnoisette.

As long as those studios offer public dancing parties that we are allowed to join in, it's alright.

We just would like to feel the dancing scene there.

Thanks a lot! If you ever come to Singapore and would like to feel the scene here, do let me know.

[latingal]

Hi Ignatius, I'm not much of a social dancer, but there are a lot of good studios in the San Francisico Bay Area and many of them that have social dances. Perhaps one of our other members that do more social dancing than I will be able to comment on each of these studios socials.

Metronome Ballroom - San Francisco
Allegro Ballroom - Emeryville
Just Dance - Alameda/Oakland
Imperial Dance Studio - Redwood City
Starlite Ballroom - in the South Bay
Dance Spectrum - in the South Bay
SJ Dancesport - in the South Bay

I'm sure I missed some studios...so everybody feel free to jump in!

[latingal]

p.s. If you're here during the last week of December, there is a dance camp called the Holiday Dance Camp held near SF Airport. Not sure if you're looking for instruction, but it's a solid week of workshops and instruction from top pros.

I think they also have a New Years Eve Ball with dinner and dancing....

[Terpsichorean Clod]

Hi Ignatius, I'm not much of a social dancer, but there are a lot of good studios in the San Francisico Bay Area and many of them that have social dances. Perhaps one of our other members that do more social dancing than I will be able to comment on each of these studios socials.

Metronome Ballroom - San Francisco
Allegro Ballroom - Emeryville
Just Dance - Alameda/Oakland
Imperial Dance Studio - Redwood City
Starlite Ballroom - in the South Bay
Dance Spectrum - in the South Bay
SJ Dancesport - in the South Bay

I'm sure I missed some studios...so everybody feel free to jump in!
Hi Ignatius,

I went to a Metronome Friday night party a few months back and there were perhaps twenty people in attendance, no more than a few couples on the floor at any one time (though it was nice having a 3,600 square foot floor all to ourselves). Yesterday night, I went to Starlite for the first time. I think the vast majority there did only American. There were about a dozen couples who hit the floor during the quickstep. You might check out Steppin' Out Productions just down the street from Starlite.

I think Just Dance might be a good bet. I went to a Tuesday social a few weeks ago and it seemed like most of the dancers were doing Standard (then again, it might have had something to do with the pre-dance class being Standard tango). On that note, it might make sense to go to a party that's preceded by a Standard class. Starlite has a pre-dance International class on Sundays.

Word of caution: I'm a budding social dancer and don't have very many data points - definitely not a credible sample.

[Ignatius]

A great many thanks to Latingal & Terpsichorean Clod.

My partner and I are both Standard Ballroom (both latin & smooth) students here in Singapore, although we did some introductory Tango Argentino & Salsa before.

It is great to hear that there is a 3,600 sq ft dance floor that's not too crowded.

With the location near Bay Bridge, it would be easy for me to vaguely remember from my short stay in SF back 10 years ago.

We shall definitely make a point to go on Friday night.

Too bad we shall still be driving up to SF from OC on the 3 days around the New Year's eve.

In any case, we shall go and check it out.

Thanks and see you!

Ignatius

[DWise1]

Thanks a lot Pnoisette.

As long as those studios offer public dancing parties that we are allowed to join in, it's alright.

Affirmative on the Orange County studios, Avant Garde and Imperial Ballroom (I just don't know about the others).

In Orange County there are also ballroom dance parties at Atomic Ballroom in Newport Beach and at Top Cats in Placentia. And at Danscene in Costa Mesa. They all have sites with schedules.

[pnoisette]

After I posted a response you mentioned you're from Singapore. What a coincidence! I am an expat Singaporean who has lived in the U.S. for umpteen years. Since taking up dancing (three years, American and Standard) I've been dying to know where one dances in Singapore. Our daughter lives in Singapore but not being part of the dance scene she hasn't been able to tell me much about where to dance.

Here in the U.S. I dance with Regency Ballroom, one the bigger Ballrooms, which is not in Orange County but Torrance and not too far outside Orange County. They have great Friday night parties.

[tsb]

Do you mean dance studios? if so:
Londance in Santa Ana.
Avant Garde in Newport Beach.
Imperial Ballroom in Fullerton.
Toward the coast in Torrance Regency Ballroom:
and in L.A. itself

Westmore, one of the oldest and largest studios.

I am not allowed to post the URLs but you can Google these ballrooms for more info.

Southern California dancers and teachers tend to be a mobile lot so you may see the same students and instructors at some or all of the places mentioned above! :)


first, it's westmor, which i mention only because you may not find it on google otherwise! plus, westmor is way the heck over in the middle of koreatown west of downtown LA and a pretty long drive from parts of OC.

the URLs for studios i'd recommend in OC:

atomic http://www.atomicballroom.com
avant-garde http://www.avant-garde-ballroom.com/
ballroom is back http://www.ballroomisback.com/
imperial http://www.imperialacademy.com/

the website for the OC chapter of USA DANCE seems to be down but you might try googling for that - a contact might be able to recommend other studios.

and if you're in north OC, you might want to consider vivo:

http://www.vivodance.com/about.htm

[new-ish]

For the SF Bay Area, I think Iconoclast has the best overall directory at:

www .geocities.com/dancefest/

[Gumby]

Since no one else has answered the sacramento part of your question I will jump in -

The Ballroom of Sacramento (my home studio) has the (IMO) best ballroom dances in town - nice large floor, good crowd and very dancable music. The also do country on friday and have a swing party once a month on Sunday. The web link is sacdance.com.

There are two other ballrooms in town Spotlight, which tends to cater to newer dancers and Ulitmate Dancesport - which I haven't been to but I understand is rather sparcely attended. There are also a couple of local places for swing - Club 21 - tuesday nights, Midtown Jump (not sure of the night but they do have a web page, I think).

If you decide do any dancing while in town - pm and I will be happy to meet you there and introduce you around.

[Ignatius]

Dear Pnoisette,

It is indeed, great to hear from another Singaporean accross the pacific.

Surely your daughter can get in touch with us if she had any intention to learn ballroom dancing.

We know that Andre de Silva's is the greatest school for children's latin discipline.

For Standard Ballroom, we recommend John & Josephine Dance Studio and for Standard Latin, you can choose between Felix & Molly or Louis & Catherine or Allan & Jessie. They are all ok.

For dancing outing, we have The Upper Club at CHIJMES every night but can be quite costly.

Alternatively, we can go to clubs such as SICC, Raffles Town Club or Singapore Recreation Club or Orchid Country Club.

Well if we had the time, maybe we could get in touch while we're there.

You can PM me your contact and I shall PM you mine.

Thank you.

Ignatius

After I posted a response you mentioned you're from Singapore. What a coincidence! I am an expat Singaporean who has lived in the U.S. for umpteen years. Since taking up dancing (three years, American and Standard) I've been dying to know where one dances in Singapore. Our daughter lives in Singapore but not being part of the dance scene she hasn't been able to tell me much about where to dance.

Here in the U.S. I dance with Regency Ballroom, one the bigger Ballrooms, which is not in Orange County but Torrance and not too far outside Orange County. They have great Friday night parties.

[Ignatius]

Dear DWise1, tsb, new-ish & Gumby,

Thanks a lot for all your good advices.

I shall study all the websites one by one and determine which is the most suitable for us.

We are also interested in taking private lessons for Argentine Tango and Salsa. However, I shall ask that in the relevant forum thread.

Thank you very much and should you need guidance in Singapore, do let me know.

Ignatius

[Terpsichorean Clod]

Eep! Ignatius, I'm sorry to have been the bearer of inaccurate information. As of this Friday (and I'm not sure how much longer), the Metronome will no longer be having Friday night socials. There just hasn't been enough attendance. I think they will still have socials on Saturdays every month or two months or so.

[Penny Lane]

I just got an email that Cheryl Burke Dance is opening a third studio. This time in Laguna Niguel. The Grand Opening is May 8th.