By Your Side Dance Studio Marina Del Rey — Local services in Los Angeles

If you don’t know about By Your Side, you may not be a local! This is THE place to go if you’re getting married not to mention for dance hobbyists. West-siders have been trusting their first/ father daughter / mother son / bridal party dances to Bysd for over 10 years.

The original Culver location is cozy and under-spoken, perfect for the more shy grooms out there, while the Marina Del Rey location may be the most elegant dance studio in all of Los Angeles. They even offer a discount package to the betrothed to be, which is a huge help considering how everyone loves to price gouge couples on every aspect of a wedding. The owner, Deborah Fields-Perez, is a world champion dancer; who is as beautiful as she is knowledgeable. But the best thing about her is her heart. Kind and welcoming by nature, her personality gives way into the culture of the studios she builds. Her Deep South, Georgia accent is charming and may be a clue into the extreme hospitality felt when you enroll or even just visit.

Some dance studios have teachers that undercut or smack talk one another to get students, which makes the atmosphere cold and unattractive. this doesn’t exist at Bysd so it’s an amazing place for an instructors to work, and gives them the peace of mind to develop world class students.

Bottom line- if Google gave the option to put six stars it still...

I have been taking salsa lessons at both studios and also attending the workshop series for ballroom as well as salsa and bachata. As a novice introverted dancer, I cannot praise the patience, attention to detail yet lighthearted approach of each and every instructor enough. To be a good dancer and really enjoy yourself, you need to understand the technical basics, get drilled on them and be given a chance to practice with multiple partners. BYS provides all of these things. There are practice videos, practice sessions, monthly socials and the opportunity to go out social dancing with other students in social settings. I plan to stay a student here for a while. After all,BYS probably offers classes in over 10-12 dance styles and multiple levels therein. Try a class. You...

We scheduled an hour and 30 minutes session for a last minute wedding dance rehearsal. The new studio is fantastic, clean and spacious.

The stand out was our instructor Renee who was funny, cordial and professional. He brought 17 years of dancing instruction and got two completely unexperienced engineers into doing a very acceptable wedding dance routine, complete with turns and dances. He always has an eye out for little adjustments to make the dancing more photogenic for pictures and videos as well as intuitive instructions and safety tips. I think it's well worth the price and looking forward to perhaps taking other dancing classes in the future after...