8 Count Dance Academy
Ages 1–18
West LA dance academy established 2009 by Sarah D'Agostino and Sarah Svendsen, offering Classical Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, Contemporary, Hip-Hop, and Acro for ages 18 months to 18.
- Children's Dance
- Ballet
- Hip Hop
Los Angeles · California
Dance schools in Los Angeles
50 verified schools across 16 suburbs, covering 66 disciplines of dance.
Walk into Millennium Dance Complex on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City on a Saturday morning and you'll see what dance does in this city. Working music-video and television dancers cycle through morning Heels and Jazz Funk classes while teenagers from across the Valley queue in the hallway. A twenty-minute drive south on the 101 at the same hour, Trudl Zipper Dance Institute at The Colburn School downtown is running its Saturday children's ballet program in a marble-floored conservatory. A few blocks east in the Arts District, Benjamin Millepied's L.A. Dance Project opens its studio for community classes. Out west on Wilshire, Westside School of Ballet runs the Santa Monica children's classes that have anchored that neighbourhood for decades. None of this reads as a single dance city. All of it is.
The institutional memory
Los Angeles' institutional dance memory is younger than New York's or San Francisco's but has built itself out across a wider geography. The Colburn School downtown was founded in 1950 as the Community School of Performing Arts; the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute carries its dance arm, and the Colburn Dance Academy runs pre-professional ballet inside the same conservatory. Long Beach Ballet was founded in 1978 by David Wilcox and remains both a Southern California ballet company and an academy. The Beverly Drive branch of Arthur Murray Dance Studio has been teaching ballroom, Latin, swing, country western and rhythm in Beverly Hills since 1979. The Dance Co. opened on Montair Avenue in Long Beach in 1983 and grew from one room to a four-studio facility.
Dance for Kids opened in Brentwood Gardens in 1997 and has since been named by Dance Magazine to its top-100 US dance studios. Pasadena Civic Ballet has been running under Diane De Franco Browne, Tania Grafos and Zoe Vidalakis since 2000. American Contemporary Ballet — the only LA ballet company performing exclusively to live music — runs its Trainee and Training Programs downtown. L.A. Dance Project, Benjamin Millepied's contemporary company in the DTLA Arts District, opens its studio for community ballet, contemporary, improvisation and somatic classes. Millennium Dance Complex on Ventura Boulevard is the internationally recognised commercial training ground used by working choreographers and recording artists. The deep memory is younger here, but it is real, and it covers a wider footprint than anywhere else on this site.
How the city is laid out
The Hollywood–NoHo–Studio City Commercial Spine
Hollywood · North Hollywood · Studio City · West Hollywood
This corridor is the United States' densest concentration of commercial-dance training. Hollywood holds the production-base studios: International Dance Academy Hollywood on Hollywood Boulevard is used as the base for major US dance television programmes, and Playground LA on Melrose Avenue, co-founded by Robin Antin and Kenny Wormald, runs industry masterclasses and adult open classes. The NoHo Arts District holds the densest cluster of open-class commercial studios in the country — facilities where working music-video and television dancers train and where major commercial choreographers run weekly drop-ins. Studio City's stretch of Ventura Boulevard extends the same belt; Millennium Dance Complex anchors the commercial training scene for working choreographers and recording artists. If a dancer is aimed at a commercial-industry career — music video, tour, television, choreography — this is the corridor.
The Downtown LA Institutional Pocket
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown is unusually institutional. Three of the four active studios sit inside organisations larger than themselves. The Colburn School at 200 South Grand Avenue, founded in 1950 as the Community School of Performing Arts, runs the Colburn Dance Academy (pre-professional ballet) and the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute (broad children's and adult dance classes), in a marble-floored conservatory across from Disney Hall. American Contemporary Ballet runs Trainee and ACB Training Programs as the only LA ballet company performing exclusively to live music. L.A. Dance Project, Benjamin Millepied's contemporary company in the Arts District, opens its studio for community ballet, contemporary, improvisation and somatic classes. This is where concert-dance and conservatory-level institutional weight live.
The Westside Recreational and Classical Belt
Santa Monica · Brentwood · Westwood · Beverly Hills · West Los Angeles · Culver City
The Westside carries the recreational and classical scene from the ocean inland. Santa Monica's nine schools run from toddler ballet on Wilshire to social salsa on Lincoln, with a cluster of children's studios along Montana Avenue. Westside School of Ballet anchors classical training for children and adults in Santa Monica; Tutu School Santa Monica covers ages six months through eight in the same neighbourhood; Arthur Murray Santa Monica covers adult ballroom and Latin. Dance for Kids in Brentwood Gardens has been a Dance Magazine top-100 studio since 1997. Sophie Dance West in Brentwood runs inclusive children's dance. Arthur Murray Beverly Hills on Beverly Drive has held the adult ballroom and Latin scene since 1979. This belt is the family-recreational and adult-classical heart of the Westside.
The Pasadena Civic-Ballet Belt
Pasadena
Pasadena holds the city's civic-ballet tradition. Pasadena Civic Ballet under Diane De Franco Browne, Tania Grafos and Zoe Vidalakis (running since 2000) combines classical training with civic-performance programming. Pasadena Dance Theatre runs an academy and performance company under Artistic Directors Jean Michelle Sayeg and Eric Shah. Tutu School Pasadena in the Playhouse District, under owner Charlene Rawson, runs story-driven ballet for ages six months through eight. The neighbourhood reads as the San Gabriel Valley's family-ballet anchor.
The Valley Vaganova and Outer Belts
Sherman Oaks · Burbank · Atwater Village · Long Beach
Three pockets sit outside the main corridors and matter individually. Burbank Dance Academy runs a Vaganova-based ballet program ranked in the top 5 percent of US ballet schools by a 2024 Northwestern University study on ballet prestige — an unexpected pocket of serious classical training in the central Valley. Los Angeles Ballet Academy on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks runs ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary and progressing ballet technique. Long Beach Ballet down south, founded by David Wilcox in 1978, operates as both a Southern California ballet company and an academy, with The Dance Co. on Montair Avenue (opened 1983) running alongside. Long Beach sits structurally separate from the rest of LA's dance map and is worth treating as its own neighbourhood when choosing.
The cultural-dance heritage
Los Angeles' cultural-dance traditions in this dataset are concentrated more in the ballroom and Latin-social scene than in named heritage institutions of the kind that anchor NYC or Melbourne.
The ballroom tradition runs through the Arthur Murray franchise — the Beverly Hills branch on Beverly Drive (since 1979) and the Santa Monica branch carry the historic ballroom and Latin curriculum that the Arthur Murray network has taught since 1912. The Salsa and Latin-social class density across this directory (eight schools offering salsa, four offering Argentine tango) sits in studios that are not single-heritage institutions but carry the form within a broader curriculum.
DanceFind's coverage of LA's named cultural-dance institutions — Mexican, Korean, Filipino, African-diaspora — is still being built out. Where parents are looking for heritage-specific training in LA, the editor's note is that the data is not yet complete; please use the listing-edit form on a school page if you know of an institution that should be included.
Where the community work is happening
Community work in LA's dance institutions is concentrated in the downtown conservatory and the Westside children's studios. The Colburn School runs scholarship-supported pre-professional dance training inside the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute and the Colburn Dance Academy. L.A. Dance Project opens Benjamin Millepied's Arts District studio to community classes — ballet, contemporary, improvisation and somatic work — at non-conservatory pricing. Pasadena Dance Theatre runs civic-performance programming alongside its academy. Sophie Dance West's Brentwood program is built around inclusive children's dance education. American Contemporary Ballet's commitment to live music in every performance is a community contribution to the wider field. Long Beach Ballet's standing as both company and academy means the youth training feeds the regional company directly. The community work is real, but it is more dispersed across organisations than in New York or San Francisco.
What a parent should know
For a child of three or four, the question is rarely which discipline — it's which studio is close to home and has the right teacher. The Tutu School branches (Santa Monica, Pasadena, plus the wider network) run story-driven Ballet Storytime curriculum genuinely calibrated to very young children. The Trudl Zipper Dance Institute at The Colburn School runs Saturday children's programs in a conservatory setting. Dance for Kids in Brentwood, Westside School of Ballet's children's classes in Santa Monica, Pasadena Civic Ballet's young dancer programs, and Sophie Dance West all run gentle pre-ballet at this age. Most offer a trial; take it.
For a child of seven to twelve, three distinct paths open. If the child is aimed at classical ballet, the corridor runs through Burbank Dance Academy (Vaganova, top-5%-ranked), Los Angeles Ballet Academy (Sherman Oaks), Westside School of Ballet (Santa Monica), the Colburn Dance Academy (downtown), Pasadena Civic Ballet and Pasadena Dance Theatre, and Long Beach Ballet's academy. If the child is aimed at a commercial-industry career — music video, television, tour — the Hollywood / NoHo / Studio City corridor is the densest training ground in the United States; Millennium Dance Complex, International Dance Academy Hollywood, and the NoHo open-class studios run the network choreographers and dancers use. If the child wants to dance recreationally, every named school on this list runs recreational programs and most do not run audition-and-cut competitive tracks unless explicitly opted into.
For a teen who is starting to think about dance as a serious craft, LA is unusually well-served. The Colburn Dance Academy runs the formal classical-conservatory pipeline (auditioned). American Contemporary Ballet's Trainee and Training Programs run the concert-dance contemporary track. L.A. Dance Project's open studio is where ambitious teens can take class alongside professionals. The Hollywood and NoHo commercial studios run advanced commercial training tracks that have produced working music-video and television dancers. Long Beach Ballet's pre-professional track runs in parallel down south.
For adults — and this is one of LA's structural strengths — open-class culture is exceptionally well established. Playground LA, Millennium Dance Complex, International Dance Academy Hollywood and the NoHo studios run weekly choreographer drop-ins. The Trudl Zipper Dance Institute runs adult conservatory-level classes downtown. L.A. Dance Project's community classes open Millepied's studio to non-conservatory adults. Westside School of Ballet runs adult ballet in Santa Monica, and the Arthur Murray branches (Beverly Hills and Santa Monica) cover ballroom and Latin. An adult beginner can walk in cold any night of the week and find a class somewhere on the map.
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All schools in Los Angeles
A Squared Academy of Dance
Multi-discipline children's dance academy on Montana Avenue covering ballet, jazz, contemporary, modern, lyrical, hip hop, and acro.
- Ballet
- Jazz
- Contemporary
- Hip Hop
- Children's Dance
AA Dance Studio
East Hollywood studio on Hollywood Boulevard offering hip hop, contemporary, ballet, vogue, creative movement, stretch and soundbath classes.
- Hip Hop
- Contemporary
- Ballet
- Commercial
ABC's of Dance
Ages 1+
West Hollywood family-run dance school opened 2012, covering ballet, tap, jazz and contemporary for ages 18 months through adult.
- Ballet
- Jazz
- Contemporary
- Children's Dance
American Contemporary Ballet (ACB)
Ages 11–22
Downtown LA ballet company with pre-professional Trainee and ACB Training Programs, the only LA ballet company performing exclusively to live music.
- Ballet
Arthur Murray Dance Studio — Beverly Hills
Downtown Beverly Hills branch of the international Arthur Murray franchise, operating on Beverly Drive since 1979, teaching Ballroom, Latin, Swing, Country Western, and Rhythm styles.
- Latin & Ballroom
Arthur Murray Dance Studio Santa Monica
Franchise ballroom and Latin dance studio in downtown Santa Monica offering private and group lessons for adults.
- Latin & Ballroom
Ballroom Dance Academy LA
Hollywood Media District ballroom dance academy established 2007 by nationally recognized ballroom champions Michael Kuka and Natalia Lind, teaching Ballroom, Latin, Salsa, Swing, and Argentine Tango.
- Latin & Ballroom
Beverly Hills Ballerina
Ages 1–18
Children's dance school in Beverly Hills covering ages 18 months to 18 years across ballet, jazz, hip-hop, contemporary and musical theatre.
- Ballet
- Jazz
- Hip Hop
- Contemporary
- Children's Dance
Burbank Dance Academy
Ages 3+
Vaganova-based ballet academy in Burbank, ranked in the top 5 percent of US ballet schools by a 2024 Northwestern University study on ballet prestige.
- Ballet
- Contemporary
- Jazz
- Hip Hop
- Children's Dance
Clarissa Dance Studio
Westwood Village multi-discipline dance studio offering ballet, classical, folk, hip hop, and wellness classes with certified instructors.
- Ballet
- Hip Hop
- Children's Dance
Dance Alive
Movement and somatics studio founded by Mariane Karou, offering contemporary movement classes and workshops for adults.
- Contemporary
Dance for Kids
Ages 3+
Brentwood Gardens children's dance studio operating since 1997, named by Dance Magazine as a top-100 US dance studio and 'Best Children's Program in Brentwood'.
- Ballet
- Jazz
- Hip Hop
- Children's Dance
Dancer University
Westwood Village Latin and social-dance studio offering Salsa, Sensual Bachata, Kizomba, and Argentine Tango through drop-in classes and 12-week progressive courses.
- Latin & Ballroom
Dream House Dance Factory
West Hollywood drop-in studio on Santa Monica Boulevard founded by Artistic Director Devin Hicks, covering hip hop, jazz funk, contemporary, tap and kids classes.
- Hip Hop
- Jazz
- Contemporary
- Commercial
- Children's Dance
Eighty Eight Studios
NoHo Arts District commercial dance studio opened in 2021, offering drop-in classes across hip-hop, jazz, contemporary, heels, house, and grooves.
- Commercial
- Hip Hop
- Contemporary
Elements Dance Space
Pasadena 10,000 sq ft multi-discipline dance and event space owned by Tu DeVera and Beau Fournier, offering 10+ dance genres from toddler through adult and professional levels.
- Hip Hop
- Ballet
- Children's Dance
- Contemporary
Evolution Studios
Long-running North Hollywood rehearsal and dance facility with six studios, hosting commercial dance training programs and drop-in classes alongside studio rentals.
- Commercial
- Hip Hop
FlowMotion Dance Studio
West LA / Rancho Park multi-style dance studio owned by Victoria T., offering contemporary, ballet, K-pop, jazz, heels, salsa, dancehall, and house for all levels with wheelchair-accessible space.
- Contemporary
- Hip Hop
- Ballet
Groove at Creation Station Studio City
Ages 1+
Studio City children's enrichment dance school owned by Amy and David Kriegel, offering ballet, hip hop, jazz, tap, lyrical, and creative movement from age 18 months.
- Children's Dance
- Ballet
- Hip Hop
Hama's Dance Center
Studio City lyrical jazz and commercial dance institution founded 1991 by Takeshi "Hama" Hamagaki, recognized as one of LA's last bastions of lyrical jazz technique.
- Jazz
- Hip Hop
- Children's Dance
Heartbeat House
Atwater Village movement studio established in 2005, combining dance, pilates and yoga under women-led ownership.
- Contemporary
Hollywood Dance Center
Ages 4+
New-York-style studio on Highland Avenue with sprung maple floors, running classes for children and adults across ballet, salsa, jazz, ballroom and tango.
- Ballet
- Jazz
- Latin & Ballroom
- Children's Dance
ImmaSpace
Commercial dance studio created by WilldaBeast Adams and Janelle Ginestra, home of the ImmaBEAST crew and BuildaBeast convention network.
- Commercial
- Hip Hop
- Contemporary
International Dance Academy Hollywood
Hollywood Boulevard training facility for commercial dancers, used as the production base for major US dance television programmes.
- Ballet
- Jazz
- Hip Hop
- Contemporary
- Commercial
L.A. Dance Project
Benjamin Millepied's contemporary dance company in the DTLA Arts District, opening its studio for community ballet, contemporary, improvisation, and somatic classes.
- Contemporary
- Ballet
LA Salsa & Bachata Dance Academy
Santa Monica academy specialising in social salsa and bachata, with group classes and private lessons for adults.
- Latin & Ballroom
Let's Dance DTLA
Historic Core social-dance studio offering Argentine Tango, Salsa, Bachata, Waltz, Rumba, and Cha Cha group and private lessons.
- Latin & Ballroom
Liv'art Dance Studio
Ages 2–18
North Hollywood children's dance studio offering ballet, jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, and tap for ages 2-18 in a non-competitive environment.
- Children's Dance
- Ballet
- Jazz
Long Beach Ballet
Long Beach Ballet operates as both an academy and Southern California ballet company, founded in 1978 by Artistic Director David Wilcox.
- Ballet
- Contemporary
- Children's Dance
Los Angeles Ballet Academy
Sherman Oaks ballet academy on Ventura Boulevard covering ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary and progressing ballet technique.
- Ballet
- Jazz
- Contemporary
- Children's Dance
Millennium Dance Complex
Internationally recognised commercial dance studio on Ventura Boulevard, training ground for working choreographers and recording artists.
- Jazz
- Hip Hop
- Commercial
- Ballet
On The Edge Dance Studio
Ages 2–17
Culver City children's dance studio running 40+ weekly classes across ballet, contemporary, jazz, lyrical, modern and hip-hop for ages 2-17.
- Ballet
- Contemporary
- Jazz
- Hip Hop
- Children's Dance
Pasadena Civic Ballet
Pasadena ballet centre directed by Diane De Franco Browne, Tania Grafos and Zoe Vidalakis since 2000, combining classical training and civic performance.
- Ballet
- Children's Dance
Pasadena Dance Theatre
Pasadena institution running a ballet academy and performance company under named Artistic Directors Jean Michelle Sayeg and Eric Shah.
- Ballet
- Contemporary
- Children's Dance
Playground LA
Industry-facing dance studio on Melrose Avenue co-founded by Robin Antin and Kenny Wormald, offering masterclasses and open classes for adult dancers.
- Jazz
- Hip Hop
- Commercial
- Contemporary
Santa Monica School of Dance and Music
Ages 2–18
Combined dance and music school in Santa Monica offering ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, and parent-and-me classes alongside private music lessons.
- Ballet
- Jazz
- Hip Hop
- Children's Dance
Sophie Dance Santa Monica
All-inclusive children's dance studio on Wilshire Boulevard offering classes for a range of skill levels and an optional competition team.
- Ballet
- Jazz
- Hip Hop
- Contemporary
- Children's Dance
Sophie Dance West
Brentwood location of the Sophie Dance network founded by Sophie Pierce, offering inclusive children's dance education across ballet, jazz, hip hop, contemporary and musical theatre.
- Ballet
- Jazz
- Hip Hop
- Contemporary
- Children's Dance
The Colburn School — Trudl Zipper Dance Institute
Ages 3–19
Downtown LA conservatory offering pre-professional ballet through the Colburn Dance Academy and broad children's and adult dance classes via the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute.
- Ballet
- Children's Dance
The Dance Co.
Long Beach dance school established in 1983 on Montair Avenue, grown from one room to a four-studio facility.
- Ballet
- Jazz
- Contemporary
- Children's Dance
The H.E.ART Performing Arts Academy
Nonprofit performing arts academy operating from MKM Cultural Arts Center, offering dance, acting, voice, and editing classes for aspiring triple threats.
- Children's Dance
- Contemporary
The Pole Garage
Pole dance and pole fitness studio in Santa Monica offering beginner introductory classes through to advanced levels.
- Commercial
The Six Compound
Studio City 13,000 sq ft dance facility with seven studios led by directors Latrina Bolger-Washington and Tyrell Washington, blending classical training with commercial-industry experience.
- Commercial
- Ballet
- Hip Hop
TMilly Studio
Professional commercial dance studio and rental facility founded by director and cinematographer Tim Milgram, home base for TMilly TV and TMilly Creative.
- Commercial
- Hip Hop
- Contemporary
Tutu School Pasadena
Ages up to 8
Pasadena Playhouse District boutique children's ballet school, part of the Tutu School franchise, offering story-driven ballet classes for ages 6 months to 8 years under owner Charlene Rawson.
- Ballet
- Children's Dance
Tutu School Santa Monica
Ages up to 8
Boutique ballet school for children aged 6 months to 8 years using classical ballet stories as the basis for early-childhood movement.
- Ballet
- Children's Dance
Unbound Dance Studio
Ages 1+
Pasadena children's and family dance studio founded January 2018 by Betsy Colombo, serving the Pasadena / Altadena area with ballet, tap, jazz, and hip-hop classes from age 18 months.
- Children's Dance
- Ballet
- Hip Hop
West LA Academy of Dance
Ages 2+
Women-owned West LA dance studio on Santa Monica Boulevard offering Classical Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, Tap, Acrobatics, Hip Hop, and Ballroom for ages 2.5 through adult.
- Children's Dance
- Ballet
- Hip Hop
Westside School of Ballet
Ages 3–18
Long-running Santa Monica ballet school offering classical training for children ages 3-18 and open adult classes.
- Ballet
- Jazz
- Children's Dance
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