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Section A- Breaking Stories & Recent Events Dual Professional Show Jan.12th Salsa Dance Jan. 25th New Prices Now In Effect Student Choice Awards Palazzo Granada- Coming to Alhambra Sportsmen's Lodge Lineup Swing Party Feb 8th L.A. Salsa Congress Soon! Competition Results Dance Shoppe Opens

Section B-Class or Schedule Changes New Latin Practice Session Aerobics, Pilates, and Street Dance Section C-News of Students & Performance Teams Performance Team Auditions Junior Classes Adds Midweek Class Section D-News of Students Birthdays and Weddings

Dual Professional Show Jan.12th Four of our favorite dancers are returning to Let's Dance L.A. for a very special night on Saturday, January 12th. Steve Vasco & Tsha Jacobsen will be coming down from the Bay Area. If the name sounds familiar, it's because Steve formerly danced with Natalie Mavor won the Mayan Professional Salsa contest, the US Latin Rising Star Championship and as members of Enio's professional Dance Team toured Europe performing Salsa. They will be doing a hot Latin show. Tsha trained as a pro under Melissa Dexter in San Diego for several years so you know she is awesome. The other half of our show is back by popular demand. Curtis Collins & Natalie Mavor have been away from Let's Dance for almost 2 years performing on the several cruise ships in around the world travels. They're beautiful lifts and fun approach to shows make them one of our favorite couples. This show will be a sellout! So we highly recommend reservations. Lots of professionals and VIPs always show up for these shows so even the social dancing is hot. This party will feature a mix of lots of different music but there will still be plenty of Salsa, Swing, Latin, Hustle and even Ballroom. We will have several DJ's taking turns in the booth and it will be lots of fun!. $12 Presale tickets include a reserved seat until Thursday night Jan 9th at 9 pm. Tickets after that time are $15. Doors open 9:00 Salsa Dance Jan. 25th Our first Salsa/Latin dance of the year will be Sat., Jan. 25th. L.A.'s #1 DJ Frank Martinez will be in the booth that night playing the best in hot Salsa. Edie Lewis will be teaching a free Salsa class from 8:15-9:15. Frank will play til he gets hungry so bring him a treat and we'll keep him all night. Doors open at 8:00 pm. Presale til Thurs Jan. 23rd is $12. Admission at the door is $15 New Prices Now In Effect An advantage of being in Alhambra as opposed to Beverly Hills is that the rents are much lower and there is no parking cost. Unfortunately our rent, utilities (air conditioning) and salaries have gone up. Beginning on January 2nd, 2003 some of the prices will be adjusted. Most of our prices will remain the same but we will have to raise a couple of them. Few studios give a discount for students, teachers, police and fire personnel. Unfortunately some of the students have been abusing this policy. Some that graduated when Reagan was president are still claiming student status. Others were taking one enrichment class and claiming student status. Therefore commencing immediately we will only give discounts to students carrying a minimum of 12 units. The Student Unlimited Monthly class card has been a real bargain at $$79. Many of our students were taking 6 or more classes per week which was less than 1/2 price for a class. Unfortunately some classes were running at a loss. Therefore the student monthly has to go up to $99 with the teacher/police/fire rate will remain at $110. The 6 class punchcard will also remain $59 for adults & $49 for fulltime students. Junior rates will remain the same but we will offer multifamily discounts. Finally a quick comparison of class rates from around the Southland has us way below the norm. With all the new teachers coming out of the woodwork many of them are charging from $10- $12 FOR A ONE HOUR CLASS! At Let's Dance the classes are ONE AND A HALF HOURS! plus the after class practice sessions so your cost has been only $6 per hour. Student Choice Awards   Every year Let's Dance honors the students that have made LDLA a fun place to be. Categories such as Favorite Leader, Favorite Follower, Most Improved etc. are voted on by the student body and will be awarded on Sat. Jan. 25th. There are also some tounge in cheek awards that are awarded by the staff. Winners will have their names engraved on a placque by the entrance. You can still vote until January 12th. Palazzo Granada to Open Late March   After 13 years at 216 East Main, Enio's dream of owning an honest to goodness dance center has finally come true. In early March last year while nursing a broken toe (he finally listened to Terryl) and started investigating the former Polo Club that had been on the market for a few months. Although Enio originally thought the building was too small upon further inspection found out that the building had a basement which brought the building up to an acceptable size. The building originally built in 1929 as the headquarters of the Southern California Gas Company was later owned by the Red Cross as their headquarters. Recently the building had been used as a billiards club but had fallen into disrepair. By September, the purchase was completed and the building restoration was begun. Special thanks to the many students who helped in the initial demolition of the ugly DJ booth. Since then Carlos Morales, Dave Recendez, Eduardo Sifuentes, Eddie and Humberto Alcaraz have put in dozens of hours of hard work besides Enio pulling the bar, carpets, wallpaper,and window covers. But the biggest job was the bringing in of the incredible dance floor. Most dance floors are usually oak parquet or 3/4" maple. This floor rescued from a bowling alley in Buena Park is 2 inches THICK blond maple and absolutely beautiful. Each 23 foot section weighed over 1000 pounds and took 4-8 guys to move it. Using a combination of forklifts and bobcats, Enio and crew brought in 80 sections over the next 5 days. 40 sections had to be carefully lowered down into the basement through an elevator shaft on a jerry rigged ramp. A two story kitchen will be added on to the building as well as new entrances, bathrooms and fire exits. Construction plans should be ready in early January and the ground breaking should start in mid January. Completion should be around late March but classes may be offered their even sooner if all goes well. Hector & Wendy, Kevin & Michelle To Compete For some social dancing is what many love but to others it's a way of life. On November 29th ath the California Star Ball in Costa Mesa Kevin Lemieux & Michelle Hafle and Hector Llamas & Wendy Mangialia walked away with the top two places in the Pre Championship Division. Kevin & Michelle who have only been together about four months, won the PreChamp divisions while Hector & Wendy took 2nd. Both couples made the finals of the Open Division plancing 3rd & 4th respectively. In December both couples the competed in the Holiday Dance Classic at the Luxor Casino. They came in 4th & 5th respectively out of 23 couples in the Pre Championship Division. Their next event will be February 14th & 15th in the California Open at the Marriott in Irvine. For more information about spectator seats contact Michelle at the studio.

Next Studio Group Outing Although many of you regularly go to Sportsmen's Lodge on Friday nights Let's Dance will be organizing a group outing on Friday January 31st. We love the Sportsmens Lodge because of the safe location, valet parking, reserved seating, and spacious dance floors. Albert Torres always has top notch bands and there is no age limit. If you are interested in joining us, order your ticket in advance for a reserved seat and a discount by Tuesday January 28th. Carpools will be arranged from Let's Dance's parking lot. Swing Dance February 8th Come celebrate Robert Cordoba's birthday on Saturday February 11th. Robert the studio's resident Swing Champion, Join some of Southern California's best Swing dancers from as far away as San Diego, Twentynine Palms and Thousand Oaks, Swing dancers will converge on Let's Dance and partiy late into the night. Dj Steve Salazar and Robert. A Jack and Jill will held with prizes awarded. Swing Champion Kyle Redd will also celebrate his birthdays. L.A. Salsa Congress The World's biggest Salsa Congress is less than 6 months away. Once again this 3 day orgy of the best Salsa bands and dancers from around the world will convene on the Hollywood Park Casino on Memorial Day weekend. Just added for the Pre Congress Party on Thursday Night, Direct from New York, the great singer Ray De La Paz. He will be joined on stage by Jimmy Bosch and Herman Olivera (Eddie Palmiere's Singer) and Johnny Polanco Y Su Conjunto Amistad. The opening band on Thursday will be the hottest Cuban Band on the West Coast, Elaine Y Su Orquesta Cubaney. On Friday night we will have history happening right before our very eyes. The musical Legend Ray Barretto will be playing Salsa,with his great band for the first time in many years and will be accompanied by one of Fania All Star's Greatest Singers, Adalberto Santiago. Open the eveninging, will be Freddie Crespo Y Su Mambo Revue. On Saturday night the Salsa feast continues with the one and only, Oscar D' Leon and his orchestra, back by popular demand. The opening band will be Johnny Polanco Y Su Conjunto Amistad. On Sunday night to finish this historical weekend, we will have for the first time in over 20 years on the West Coast, Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz and their orchestra. The opening band will be Orquesta Son Mayor. In addition to the 8 live bands we will have international dj's, over 50 workshops by the best Salsa instructors in the world, over 100 dance team afternoon and evening performances, dancing to live bands and dj's till 4AM (Fri-Sun), presenting sponsors dance competition (Fri & Sat), city bus tour (Wed), Thursday afternoon beach party, Latin Madness on Wednesday night and many more suprises.......There are limited seats to a performance for The Off Broadway Premiere On The West Coast Of "Latin Madness" The Mambo / Salsa Musical & Dancical. This "One Night Only" Performance Is Not To Be Missed On Wednesday Night. Buy your tickets online now! Hotel bookings are going fast and you should book as fast as possible. Ticket request forms may be picked up online. Already have close to 400 paid registrations from 15 countries. This year they are expecting over 4,000 attendees every night. I really think they will sell out this year, so buy your registration soon. Let's Dance Retail Dance Shop having Revamped the Store last Spring the Dance Shoppe division is now in the front corner of the studio. We have some really great women's slinky dance dresses and tops. For guys our cool Guyaberra and logowear sportshirts are 100% cool cotton- and light colors don't show perspiration as much.   We also have LDLA hand towels which you can carry in your LDLA Dance bags. Pick up a copy of Johnny Polanco's newest cd Pa'l Bailador a fabulous new cd with lots of sizzling Salsa tunes, a couple of cha chas and a merengue. We'll be adding many new items weekly. Stop on by and check it out. Let's Dance Expands Hip Hop Classes    Joanna Vargas Considering the staff at let's Dance includes World and US Swing Champions, Broadway dancers and such it's not surprising that Let's Dance is known around the world as a great place to learn Salsa, Swing or Ballroom. Maybe it's something in the Alhambra water as just over a few blocks at Alhambra High they have a national champion Dance & Drill team. We have worked with kids over there over the years in their annual championships. Last year they added an all boy's dance team which specialized in hip hop and urban dance. The trainer of this group Johanna Vargas is offering afternoon and weekend hip hop classes.She has been having a monthly late Saturday evening class These classes will be on a separate punch card and are not available on the unlimited card system. It is one of our biggest classes already. Check it out! Signups for Kids & Teens Our youth Salsa team has grown up quite a bit since we introduced it a few years ago. Most of them are now in high school or starting college. Recent competitions have shown a tremendous increase of competitors under 18. At Ohio Star Ball there were literally hundreds of college kids in the various categories under 18 and hundreds of college students from universities all over the country competing. Since kids have a great time when exposed to ballroom dancing at an early age, why not give a youngster a gift of dancing, the gift that will last a lifetime! Signups for the junior class will start on Saturday February 1st for all ages. 6-12 year olds and older teens start at 11am in different rooms. Salsational To Hold Auditions For 2003 Season For four straight years, Let's Dance has been represented at the World Salsa Congress over Memorial Day Weekend at the Hollywood Park Casino. Over 40 groups from around the world were chosen from 200 submitted video tapes. The event last three days and draws nearly 4,000 spectators from around the world. Students wishing to audition for the team speak to Enio or Terryl now as we start choreographing the next routine. Auditions will be on Saturday February 1st. Let's Help Each Other Anyone who has been here any length of time knows that once you get promoted to level two it feels like you have just made it through initiation for a fraternity or hell week for football or a major bonding experience. Many of us have formed long enduring friendships. With airlines announcing pending layoffs and recent Wall Street dives we're going to suggest that if you are looking for a job or if you have a job opening in your company why not post a notice on our bulletin board by the back door? If nothing else you'll have somebody to practice your Salsa moves with during lunch or at the company Christmas Party People News Let Us Know if you have a January or February birthday coming up.

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