By Your Side Dance Studio Marina Del Rey - Marina Del Rey, California

Jed Kwon

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 our wedding.

Parker Sweet

Salsa dancing 1 and 1.5 classes with Laura are outstanding. She does a great job making the classes informative, engaging, and fun!

I highly recommend the classes for any beginners looking to try Salsa for the first time or 1.5 for the more intermediate student. I came in with 0 prior experience, and now after just a couple months, I'm able to hold my own with a few turns and that salsa basic step at the outdoor events around the city. Super fun!

Aimee Malgapo

I absolutely love the salsa classes at By Your Side! The teachers Deborah, Laura and Guillermo are friendly, fun, and patient! My favorite class is level 2 salsa on Sundays with Deborah. She comes up with some very interesting patterns and it's a challenge but I love that there's always something new to work on in class. BYS hosts themed social dance parties. I really enjoyed their Halloween and Valentines Day salsa and bachata party! The studio offers amazing classes and hosts a great, warm and welcoming community.

Ryan Rodrigues

Highly Recommend By Your Side and specifically Rene for wedding dance preparation. Mariella and I did five one & one sessions with Rene and this drastically improved our "first dance" performance. We got plenty of compliments after our wedding about our dance skills ;). Thank you Rene and By Your Side! Rene is very professional yet easy-going & funny... we needed this in order to get us less stiff and more fluid while dancing.

Reza Zargari

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 wouldn’t be enough.

Heidi Neilson

My partner and I have been taking classes at By Your Side for over 5 years now. The owners treat everyone who walks through the door like family, and create a special magic of inclusion, learning, and fun, that you don't find many places. Can't recommend them highly enough.

L P

I had been meaning to take dance lessons for years, and I'm so glad I finally did with by your side. I took salsa and bachata classes with Deborah Perez and she is fun, knowledgeable, and a great instructor, and everyone in the class is very nice. If you're looking for great dance community and some place you can grow as a dancer, this is your place.

Benjamin Ahdoot

I got a private dance lesson from Deborah (the owner) and I could not be more satisfied with her level of service. She was very kind, friendly and patient. She really took the time to teach me. Also her studio is absolutely beautiful with great views and great natural lighting.