Halloween Date Night in LA: Try a 4pm Salsa Workshop

Every year the same thing happens on Halloween. You buy the costume, you say yes to the party, and then at 9pm you are standing near the speaker holding a drink because nobody at the party can actually dance. This year we are fixing that part. On Saturday, October 31 we are running a 4pm salsa and bachata workshop in North Hollywood, built as a date night for couples, and it ends at 5:30 so you still make every party you said yes to. Details and tickets are on our workshops page.

Why 4pm on Halloween, and not a Halloween party

We have done the Valentine’s version of this, Rhythms & Romance, for five years now and it sells out every time. The format works because it is a date, not a class. You walk in, there is wine and chocolate on the table, the lights are low, and for the first fifteen minutes you just talk to the other couples. Then the lesson starts and an hour later the two of you can do a basic, a turn and one move that looks like you planned it.

Halloween is different from Valentine’s in one way. Everyone already has plans at night. So instead of competing with the parties we put the workshop in front of them. Doors at 4, lesson at 4:15, open floor at 5:15, done at 5:30. You go home, put the costume on, and later that night when the DJ plays a bachata you are the couple that gets up.

What the 90 minutes look like

4:00 to 4:15 is wine, chocolate and mingling. Nobody dances yet. 4:15 to 5:15 is the lesson, beginner salsa and bachata, taught by Gloria, who was trained by Avissh, or by Avissh himself when he is in town. You dance with the person you came with the whole time, no rotating, no switching partners. Nobody has to have done this before. Most of the room has never taken a dance class. 5:15 to 5:30 is open floor with a Halloween-tinted Latin playlist, which is the part people remember.

Dress code is the same as Valentine’s: think date night. Costume is optional. If you wear one, keep the mask off on the floor, you need to see your partner’s shoulders to follow.

Who this is for

Couples. That is the whole point and it is the only ticket we sell. Married, dating, second date, two friends who dance together, it does not matter, you just come as a pair. The room is 21 and up because of the wine, and spots are limited so the instructor can actually get to every couple.

What it costs and how to book

Tickets are $99 per couple, early bird through October 24, then $119 per couple. Tickets are on our workshops page and you pay by card or Apple Pay, no account needed. Full refund through October 20, transferable to another couple after that.

If you want this but on your own schedule, the Date Night Special is the private version: one hour for just the two of you at our North Hollywood studio, chocolates and a tequila shot included, Sundays. And if you want to actually learn to dance, not just survive one party, private lessons are where that happens.

One more thing about Halloween in LA

Every dance studio in the city runs a costume social on Halloween weekend, usually $10 to $30, usually a class for everyone at once and then a social till 1am. Those are fun and we go to them too. This is not that. This is the thing you do first so that the social is fun.

See you on the 31st at 4.