Let's Dance L.A. -- Ballroom Central

Our center for all ballroom and social dance events at Let's Dance L.A. at The Granada and other local social dance events.

We now offer Beginning Social Style Ballroom classes on Mondays at 8:30pm.
Intermediate Social Style Ballroom classes on Monday at 7:00
Advanced Ballroom is on Sundays at 3:30pm with ballroom Champion Terryl Jones.
Every Sunday Ballroom Dancing to Live Music
5:30-9:30 pm with San Gabriel Valley favorites Two's Company
DJ Steve Salazar between sets.
$5 off Admission with Dinner or Ballroom 2 Class
Regular Admission $10
Full bar & Restaurant.
2 Huge Floors

See Terryl Competing With British Champion Nigel Clarke

What is Ballroom Dancing?

Ballroom dancing is the umbrella term for social dances such as the Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Quickstep and a few other lesser used ones such as Peabody, Charleston. Many people also consider the Latin dances such as Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Swing, as part of Ballroom dancing. For the purpose of learning to dance, we separate the various forms this way. Smooth dances: Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango (American or International style), Quickstep. Latin Dances: Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba (International or American Style), Paso Doble, Merengue, Salsa, Mambo, Cumbia. Swing Dances: Lindy, Jitterbug, East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing Jive, Balboa, Shag, Boogie Woogie. This page deals primarily with the smooth dances but we will also explain some of the other forms. For info of the Swing dances check out our Swing Central page. For info of Salsa, Mambo, Cumbia or Merengue check out or Salsa Central page.
The USA Dance Association named us the best weekly ballroom dance in Los Angeles. Here are some pictures from one of their visits to The Granada: If you were one of the 150 happy ballroom dancers last night, please check out the website to see if we captured you on camera! USA Dance

The Granada- Getting Better All The Time!

Ok this is getting old- but it's been worth it! To see how far the Granada has come, this slide show shows the condition when we bought it through the process getting to the gorgeous venue it is today.
Some interesting facts about The Granada. This is the only dance floor like this in the world!!! We took a defunct bowling alley and pulled up all the lanes dragged them over and installed them here. What's so special about that? Most floors use boards 3/4" thick on top of a subfloor on springy pads. Our boards are on their side so they are 4 inches thick on top of 1 1/8" CDX plywood on top of 2x4 stringers on top of rubber cushions. So you can dance for hours and your legs don't take a beating like at most clubs where the dance floor is parquet tiles on concrete.
The sound system was designed by one of the top designers in LA club designs with one mandate. No big ugly wall of sound- you know where they put all these gigantic black speakers, woofers and sub woofers at one end and then blast your eardrums if you get too close. Our sound system was designed to put the sound in the middle of the dance floor so you can feel it but not lose hearing in the process. Outwards near the seating you can still carry on a conversation without having to scream in your partners ear. (Or as I explained it to him "I want a guy to ask a girl for her phone number and be able to hear the response") Additionally with 24 foot ceilings, hard concrete walls and wood floor the echo and sound wave decay made for a horrible sound until we covered the ceiling with a special product to wipe out echo. The resulting sound allowed the bands to sound as good as the cds recorded in recording studios.
Here's the information you need to know:
Where is it? 17 S. First St. 1 block west of Garfield just off Main. Look for the three story building with red awnings that say The Granada.
Where do I park? Although there are some spaces in back, the best place to park is in the parking structure directly across the street, up 1 or 2 levels. Be sure to leave a couple of extra minutes before your first class.

Ballroom Central Schedule
For the first 16 years of operation we had monthly dances at Let's Dance L.A. on Main St. Once we moved into the Granada we focused mainly on Salsa dances but we realize that that has left a void for Ballroom dancers. Truthfully there are no places for people to go social ballroom dancing in the Greater L.A. area. While dance studios traditionally offer social dances, the old way of dressing up going to a nightclub, socially interacting with friends, dancing to a live big band or really good deejay makes for a really special evening.
Why aren't there more social dance events? Many reasons. Most importantly, during the 50's and 60's ballroom dancing took a real hit from the rock and roll era. Ballroom dancing became uncool. After twenty years disco broke through and suddenly everyone was again realizing what fun touch dancing was. After disco ran its course, Country Western got hot and a whole new segment of the population started touch dancing. Pretty soon whole new dance genres such as West Coast Swing, Salsa, Lindy Hoppers, Argentine Tango all started surfacing. In the mid 1980s Ballroom dancing started surfacing in colleges and major universities around the US. Around the world ballroom was just under the radar. In the late 1990s there was a huge explosion of ballroom dancing in the former Soviet Republics. Currently ballroom dancing is also huge in Asia.
Recently movies such as Shall We Dance, both the original Japanese film and the recent Richard Gere/ Jennifer Lopez version amd Dance With Me, have shown competetive ballroom dancing in a good light. And then Ballroom Dancing With The Stars! After five seasons the numbers of viewers gets bigger the hype is greater and let me say it- no shout it BALLROOM IS BACK! Because THE US hasn't been doing it for 40 years it is still something we don't understand. We tend not to attempt things we're not good at. How do we get good at it? Truthfully lessons are essential but it's not something you can learn in 2 easy lessons. The cool thing is that learning is just as much fun as doing. The first one or two lessons might be "painful" for you but just like running or weightlifting, there's always the day after "pain". In ballroom once you realize that everyone is learning, you no longer feel embarrassment and just enjoy the process. Whats the best way to make it fun? Get a group of 6 or 7 of your friends. Include both singles or couples. Bring even the "macho" guys that don't want to dance (don't worry we have a bar with cable TV) . By the way Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith raved about how much fun learning to dance was. Make it a weekly group event. Get together for dinner and or drinks beforehand. Once you're all laughing at each other you realize how much fun it is. When do you start? Easy- The first week of the month. Check out our online schedule, getting started pages or our monthly newsletter.

Guitarras at The Granada

Now that the mezzanine kitchen is 100% completed we would like to invite you to come try our great new restaurant. If you are coming straight from work and want a quick meal before class, call ahead and put in your order and we can have it ready and waiting for you when you walk in the door. For a menu call us and we can fax it to you. The restaurant is usually sold out on Saturdays and sometimes on Fridays due to everyone having their birthday parties here. We listened to your requests and have added heartier fare including steaks, pasta, salads, panini sandwiches in addition to our fabulous Tapas. What are Tapas? Tapas originated in Spain as a way to serve food with alcohol. Crab cakes, sliced meats from Spain, calamari rings, Spanish Olives, are good examples of simple tapas. The new hours for Guitarras are 6-10:30 PM Tuesday-Thursday 6-midnight on Friday and 7-12:30 on Saturday.
After a lot of research we finally came up with a name that was the perfect fit for our new restaurant. Needing a name that combined the three elements of music, dance and Spain, we finally settled on Guitarras. In the next few weeks we will begin the second phase which is to install the banquet facility prep kitchen in the basement and eventually add the covered dining area in the patio with a rooftop dining and dancing terrace.