Gotta Dance!

When it comes to ballroom dancing, there are few places in Los Angeles where you can dine, dance and dress up without feeling like you’re over the top, over the hill or way over the ballroom dance scene.

With limited options when it comes to waltzing and few places to polka, dance fan Danielle Michaels, created the Dance Lovers Club. But what started out as a smattering of dance aficionados has turned into a monthly dance party that is growing in popularity.

“There are many people like me who just want an elegant place to go that is not a pick-up joint or way too old,” said Michaels, 48, who learned to dance a little more than a year ago and swears that it has transformed her life. “That is what I created.”

Michaels started the Dance Lovers Club in April at the ballroom of Hotel Sofitel, the French-owned hotel behind the Beverly Center. Over the last year, the event, which features a full-course French buffet, a dance lesson and occasional exposition, has taken up residence almost monthly.

The Dance Lovers Club is a place for the dancer at heart. The club goes beyond ballroom dancing, offering an opportunity to tango and salsa, boogie and swing depending on the music requests that dancers give the deejay and by providing a 9 p.m. dance lesson conducted by Dance Doctor John Cassese and his instructors.

Beginners and pros alike aren’t shy about getting on the dance floor whether the deejay is playing the big band sounds of Glenn Miller or the more contemporary tunes of ABBA. And unlike a dance club where partners would split up and do freestyle moves to the “Dancing Queen,” folks at the Dance Lovers Club continue to dip as if that was the way the song was meant to be danced to.

The Dance Lovers Club is a frou-frou night on the town for the couple who like to get dressed up. Women come wearing sequin outfits that spin when they twirl and their men don nice suits, or even tuxedos. Some folks come dressed down but, remember, the Dance Lovers Club is aiming for elegant so not many people come in blue jeans.

There aren’t many Gen-Xers either. Though all ages are welcome, the club attracts a set of mostly 30, 40 and 50-something couples who don’t frequent the regular club scene. And though the event, which draws about 200 dancers each month, encourages single folks to come, it’s mostly couples and dance pairs by far.

The next club event is Sunday, but there is no regularly scheduled day of the week or specific weekend each month in which it takes place, since Michaels books the event when the ballroom is available. Word of mouth in the dance scene and advertisements have drawn dozens of repeat customers from as far away as Agoura Hills, prompting Daniels to begin taking reservations and starting to plan other events in the Valley, Orange County or Beverly Hills.

“Ballroom dancing is so beautiful and so classy,” Michaels said. “That is what we want this to be.”

BE THERE

Dance Lovers Club at Hotel Sofitel, 8555 Beverly Blvd., L.A. (310) 785-3214. Sunday, 7:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m. 21 and over. $45. Full bar. Buffet dinner. Reservations suggested.