Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association

Erin & Tami Stevens can teach ANYONE to dance! It is a family owned business (parents, siblings, cousins, children, etc) that is warm, welcoming and reasonably priced. With patience and humor, I’ve seen them take people with two left feet and turn them into dancers that are favorites with many. I started taking lessons from them over a decade ago… starting with Salsa, then East Coast, then Lindy Hop and Ballroom, and from there took almost every class they offered. I also met and took classes from the amazing and inspirational Frankie Manning, the Lindy Hop wiz, choreographer, and inventor of the «air step.» I’ve met some of my dearest friends on their dance floors… and some of my favorite dance partners, as well. What I loved most was that I could go to class or to the Saturday night live Swing dances (or once-​a-​month Friday night Ballroom dances) without a partner. It is such a safe and fun atmosphere, I was always comfortable going on my own. And I rarely sat out a dance. I met my husband through them… and as a matter of fact, our first date was at one of their publicly-​held community events.
Go sign up for a class NOW! You won’t be sorry!

Another year has passed of great PBDA experiences. I love this place. This family really knows how to share their love of dance. From Monza’s huge smile and welcoming manner at the front desk to Erin’s smooth style, immeasurable patience and authentic excitement to make us all feel like dancers to Tami’s energizer bunny enthusiastic desire for us to get it right, to the co-​teaching of Barry, Collette, Rhonda, Kyle and Jeff …weeeee I can’t wait for this new year of dance. Can you tell I am proud to be a part of what we regulars call «our PBDA family»!!
And remember to loved in the hearts of those we love is enough!!!

If you want to have fun dancing there is no better place. The Stevens family has been providing instruction and dances with live bands for over 30 years! They are credited with Swing Dance revival in California. They clearly want everyone to have fun, and they are great dance teachers who are having fun. You don’t have to bring a partner because they promote a culture of dancers dancing with different partners! They also promote a culture of caring and kindness.
I am bemused by the few negative comments among these reviews because I have been coming for over 10 years and I have only witnessed the most accepting behaviors from the Stevens family and most of the patrons. I thank the Stevens family and the PBDA patrons for improving my life in a big way!

If you love to dance, and want to learn social dancing, this is the place to go. But here’s the thing about social dancing: You can take all the classes in the world, but don’t really learn until you start going to dances and use what you’ve learned. That’s what PBDA does. They have two excellent teachers, and classes almost every evening. And they have dances every Saturday night, and sometimes on Friday, too. Saturday’s dances usually have live bands, and always have a friendly atmosphere that welcomes beginning dancers. I’ve made many wonderful friends through the dance world, and PBDA is what brought me in.

Erin Stevens, where did we go wrong? I read other reviews that she can be impatient and rude with students, accuse others for faults and favors her clique which I can all certainly attest to. My partner and I have been loyal to PBDA for nearly three years and when we had first started attending her classes, she encouraged us to rotate dance partners during class, which we did. Recently, halfway through a class, Erin paused the class to take myself and my partner out of the group of rotating students and placed us in the back corner of the room. Prior to this interruption, I was doing fine and following along with the class and my partner was doing alright with some assistance. She told us not to rotate and to practice amongst ourselves instead. My partner and I were waiting for about 15 minutes for her or the other dance instructor to assist us with the steps but nobody came to offer help. There was no eye contact or gesture from either dance instructor indicating that they will help us when available or that they haven’t forgotten about us. We were simply ignored and excluded from the class. I was appalled by her unedifying actions. This was especially ironic since earlier that day she was telling the class how the swing community is very nice and welcoming. Well, based on what she had just done, she obviously does not practice these standards. She does not promote a positive learning environment and if she has anything against you, she’ll act on it and make you feel unworthy of her classes even though you paid to attend. We have felt hostility from her during classes leading up to this one day, but have always put it behind us. I have been bringing dear friends and family to these classes, but this experience was a game-​changer. I was also working on helping an organization plan a team building event for 46 people at PBDA, but forget it. Erin, if you want to help your business, you should be careful with how you treat people.
I would like to add though, that PBDA is a partnership between two sisters and the other sister, Tami, is very sweet and seems to be the complete opposite of Erin. I have not had a bad experience with Tami, but she unfortunately doesn’t teach the class I was attending. A second point is that most of the students I’ve met in the PBDA classes are very kind people. It’s too bad it had to end like this; good thing there are other local dance classes nearby with genuine dance instructors. I firmly believe in the goodness of humanity and that the world is filled with very generous and kind people, but once in a while you’ll encounter an ‘Erin’. That’s just the way it is.

If you’re an experienced dancer in another style, I wouldn’t recommend the beginning lindy series. The pace is such that you learn one new step a week, and you may go batty waiting for that one new step through most of the hour’s review of basics. For beginning dancers (not just beginning lindy dancers), the teaching style will probably suit just fine; the problem is that there’s no range in the intended learning levels at all. And yet, from what I understand, people aren’t allowed to just jump into the second level class without having gone through the (interminable) level 1. My advice for experienced dancers: spring for one or two private lessons. The teacher is fine, and this way your time and money will be better spent.

A great place to learn how to dance, feel safe to make mistakes, hone your dancing skills, experience live music every Saturday night, have lots of fun, & join a warm welcoming community of good people! In fact this is where Lindy Hop was resurected — Erin Stevens, a co-​owner of Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association, and teacher rediscovered the famous Frankie Manning and brought him out of retirement. (Manning was a famous choreographer, and was involved in several dancing films such as a A Day at the Races (1937), Hellzapoppin’ (1941)) From Wikipedia: «In 1986 Mitchell and Stevens returned to California and helped to spread Lindy Hop to the West Coast and other areas of the U.S. Thus, the swing revival began…»
This place has literally changed the lives of countless people. It certainly improved our lives. But it’s more than just dancing and music if that is what you want; there’s a community of warm, inclusive people to welcome you. It’s thumbs up for this place!

I had attended the Lindy Hop classes for many years. The group and the teachers started to get clicky to the point I had to stop going. If you weren’t part of the click they didn’t have time for you. Too bad.

This business provides comprehensive dance instruction in a supportive setting. The sisters teach all styles of social dance and they are 1000% committed to their work. When you go be sure to join the rotations in the fairly large classes to learn best. It’s perhaps scary at first but you will learn much faster by dancing with everyone there. Even though the classes are large they manage to give individual instruction when needed during the class. Dances with live bands every Saturday night also.

We have been going to the PBA dance for years. We love the live bands but to be honest, the quality of the bands are hit or miss. Tonight my husband and I went to see Jonathan Stout Orchestra and we asked for our money back. We’ve seen him as a 5– piece and they were great. Tonight he must have picked up the other 10 musicians from Craig’s list. They were disorganized flipping thru charts taking way too long to start each song and played 6 fast tempo tunes on a row. Great bands mix it up. Disappointing Valentines Day dance. Too expensive at $ 20 but they were nice about refunding us. Please don’t hire this band again.

This Micky Mouse event is for a much older crowd these days. After they have moved several times, I use to enjoy attending dances here. Last week one of the sisters was completely rude and showed no true concern that our group had been driving over an hour from OC trying to find their location. Their antiquated map and website offered no real help. She was wanting to blame my phone service, ATT on our very frustrating situation. So the conversation went to I should change to Verizon, omg. In the South, where I’m from, we would call you rude and no concern for folks that are paying 15 bucks for an 60+ crowd. It would help if they mentioned they are located near Pasadena Community College. I am very familiar with the area but it seems others have had my same encounter. Oh and new snacks might be a good idea, same old thing for 10 years.

I have not taken lessons from here yet, but know many people who have. In fact, for any Lindy Hop that’s being done right now in So. Cal, it likely descended in some way from Pasadena Ballroom. That’s what these guys mean to the world of Lindy Hop and so if you want to take lessons from those that learned from the original masters, this is where you would want to go
As far as the weekly Saturday dances, this I can speak to as I was a regular frequenter of their dances for many years. It is comforting knowing that this Saturday dance is still going strong after all these years and it always feels like coming home when we get a chance to go. Live music every week so if you’re not a dancer, you can sit and listen to the band and watch all the dancers. If you are a dancer, live music is a great treat.
Plus free treats too!
Overall, a very fun «church social» type setting where everyone is very kind whether you are a newcomer or veteran. Perfect for a fun and relaxing night out!

I love this place. They have classes for all levels. I just live in Granada Hills and don’t get to go there as much as I want because it is too far away from me. I wish I knew something similar near me.

Simply put, Erin Stevens is the best dance instructor I have ever had. Very methodical and step-​by-​step. She is a very talented dancer, but teaches well too, not a common combination.
Learned a lot about swing dancing. None of the dancing venues I’ve been to come close to the quality of Erin’s teaching. Not to mention Erin’s funny and sweet too! Sign up folks, she’s a world-​renowned swing dance teacher!

Just finished taking Erin’s Tuesday Nite Hustle Class. What a blast! The only nightclub hustle class that teaches you famous hustle moves like the Maharaja, the Ali Baba, and the man’s reverse cross hold release wrap, not to mention its the only class that teaches co-​dance teacher Barry’s famous men’s double windmill; all of these in one brisk three week session!
Final class they have a fun Disco Night with colored lights and the students wear wild disco outfits. There was also this Guido guy there who looked like he stepped out of a tacky version of Saturday Night Fever complete with open shirt down to his navel and way too tight pants who was all over the women. His said his name was Juan Pablo; and said he used to teach Liza Minnelli and Liz Taylor dance moves at Studio 54.
With this kind of live entertainment in a dance school why stay home and watch boring cable?

I was fairly disappointed with these classes. My husband and I were getting ready for our wedding so we decided to take classes. The classes were mediocre but we kept going. Then when we finished class one it was time to move on to class too. When we went into class one we were completely lost because we had not learned anything from class one that would transfer over to class too. When we asked the instructor lady up at the front she told us that we needed to stay for lesson one and lesson to when we were originally taking less than one because each session is different. So this meant that every beginner class was going to be different and every intermediate class to be different in every advanced class to be different. I have been taking dance lessons my whole entire life and this has never been the case. You start at the beginning level then are able to move up to intermediate and advanced not having to take begin her for six years like they suggest here. Don’t recommend.

If you’re interested in learning to dance (couple dance!) and you want to go out and dance socially and navigate a dance floor with confidence, PBDA is hands-​down the best place to learn. Unlike every other social and ballroom dance studio, PBDA actually offers structured classes designed to teach via a skills-​building format. I have taken classes at many, many different locations with many, many competent instructors, but no one teaches as effectively as Erin and Tami Stevens. I was with PBDA for more than 10 years, took every class they offered, and loved every moment of it.
Every other class I have taken since my time with them has been a complete disappointment. There are many good teachers out there but none of them structure their classes in a progressive, skills-​building format. They all adhere to an open-​enrollment policy. So from one week to the next you never know what you’ll be learning or who will be in class. In my opinion, this is designed to frustrate students enough to weed out the not-​so-​serious dancers and force the rest to sign up for expensive private lesson packages. I am vehemently opposed to this style of teaching.
PBDA, on the other hand, has a clear structure for their classes. You learn specific skills in Level One that give you a foundation for Level Two and you don’t get to move on to Level Two unless you’ve taken Level One. Not only that, but if the instructors feel you’re not ready for Level Two, they will tell you. In addition, they have wonderful and competent assistants who are on the dance floor offering direct guidance to students with finesse and great expertise. Once class is done, you have an opportunity to practice what you learned while the instructors and assistants make themselves available if you have questions or concerns about anything that was taught.
Thanks to the competence of the instructors and their intelligent class structure I learned excellent dance skills that have served me well whether dancing a Fox Trot or dancing Salsa. I feel blessed to have found them because they have given me a lifetime recreation that I treasure.

10/​26/​2013 Halloween Dance
classes = 5 stars
dances = 3 stars
I’ve been taking classes with PBDA for 5+ years now and I’ve never written a review… here goes!
Two sisters — Erin & Tami — have run this dance school for more than 30 yrs and were instrumental in the resurgence of swing dance. They’ve literally written the book on swing dance and it’s a good read.
CLASSES:
I’m partial to Erin, but both sisters are fabulous teachers; very patient and aware of if the class «gets it.»
I rank the classes @ 5 stars. I’ve been to other lessons and no one is quite as good as these ladies.
DANCES:
As for the dances each Saturday night, here’s the breakdown:
Yay:
*Live bands, juice/​snacks, friendly/​safe environment — all for $ 15.
Nay:
*Exceedingly old population. Great if you’re 55+, not so great if you’re not. There used to be a great mix of ages, but this has changed. Younger dancers have migrated to Lindy Groove, which is a shame on several levels.
I rate the dances @ 3 stars. There is a fine line between tradition and tired; respectfully, the sisters might want to retool the dances to attract a more age-​diverse group.
The Take-​away:
GO to class and dance with these ladies! So knowledgable, so friendly, so GOOD.

Just recently took the introduction to ballroom dance class (level 1) and it was fabulous. My boyfriend and I wanted to learn to dance and this seemed like the place to do it. The instructors are fabulous, super patient with the two of us (he gets nervous, I have difficulty following) and turning us into confident dancers by the end of the 5 week session (normally 6 weeks but the 4^th of July holiday fell on the 6^th week so they cut it short). Every class we reviewed what we had learned before which was helpful and then learned a new fun step. The classes went over the hour mark each time, which I appreciated because I feel like the instructors cared more about making sure we had learned everything than worrying about the strict hour mark.
We just recently attended a wedding and it was fabulous to dance around doing the foxtrot (even if we were the only ones dancing so formally). We laughed and it was comfortable, a huge credit to how fabulous the instructors are. Can’t wait to take Level 2!

My husband and I love going to Pasadena Ballroom Dance for private and group lessons. Erin and Tami the owners are fantastic.
Thank you for making our life better!!!