Allegro Salsa & Bachata Sundays
Overview:
A weekly, all-ages salsa social at Allegro Ballroom in Richmond. Starts with salsa and bachata dance lessons taught by Jeffery Michael & Marina followed by a night of social dancing in a spacious ballroom setting.
Details:
| Event: | Salsa Lesson, Social Dancing |
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| Date: | Every Sunday | |
| Time: | 6pm-7pm - Bachata lesson 7pm-8pm - Salsa lesson 8pm-11pm - Social dancing | |
| Cost: | $10 Social, $15 w/ Lesson | |
| Instructors: | Felipe Martinez | |
| Address: | Allegro Ballroom 12012 San Pablo Ave Richmond, CA 94805 Get Directions via Google Maps  |
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| Contact: | (510) 655-2888 Visit Website  Event Facebook Page |
Important: Event times are subject to change. Always double check with the event organizer before making plans.
User Reviews:
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10 people found this review helpful
“I love this space but I have noticed a decline in the dance skills of late. advanced dancers are not going here as much. It is packed with beginners from the beginning of the night to the end.”
This is obviously a dance snob that thinks she’s too good too dance with just anyone. Salsa is a SOCIAL dance with people can meet and mingle. The humanity aspect of dancing is that everybody and everyone should learn how to dance. It’s like “buying the world a Coke and keeping it company”– the world would be a better and happier place. Does this person even remember being a newbie at one time and how hard and awkward it was to learn the basic moves? What is worse is some dance snob like this would scoff at helping a newbie out because it would distract from her own self-gratifying pleasure. Yes, do the dance community a favor and avoid coming to Allegro Sunday Night and find a dance partner that can keep up you.
Garry Johnson and Isabelle throw a fantastic program here. Yes, there is a beginning class and an intermediate class which pollute the dance floor with mediocrity. So if you are an advance dance snob please avoid this place– dancing here requires too much humanity and empathy for you.
6 people found this review helpful
This was and still is my favorite Sunday night dance space….and I think this is a great place for On1 and cuban-style dancers. But there is so much Timba and so few on2 dancers, its been hard lately to get excited about it. I wish they would make one of the rooms a “mambo” room!
4 people found this review helpful
A lot of timba and not too many good dancers and rarely to see dancers on2. Heard people complaining for a while about too much timba all night long,I think this place has been dying for the last years because they don’t play what many other people like too.
4 people found this review helpful
After learning to dance salsa here and making many friends enjoying the great floor I’ve come to the realization that Gary and Isabel will never agree on the music and the loss of many many great dancers who attended weekly is a result of the change in the quality of the music that the DJ plays. I no longer go every week I go occasionally to see my friends and dance a little but I no longer feel the excitement and energy when I enter Allegros that used to be present. I remember when there was a line out the door to get in on a holiday night and there would be six or 700 people. Now there are many beginning dancers and by 10:30 the place is clearing out. It’s very sad for me to see this change that is happened gradually.
I’m told that Garry won’t stop pushing the timba music and the DJ plays 50% timba according to him and that is to try to satisfy Garry and the small group of timba dancers in the front by the DJ. Many great dancers no longer go to Allegros and others go seldomly. Hot bachata/salsa nights in SF has pulled away many dancers.
3 people found this review helpful
Awesome place! Good lessons, spacious separate bachata and salsa rooms, good DJ, nice mix of dancers of all ages, with more advanced and intermediate dancers then beginners. Very busy on Sunday nights, and they have a whole water station room. Lots of free parking!
3 people found this review helpful
The instructors here are the best in the Bay Area. Lots of room. Free water. Free parking. Good dancers of all types and styles. However, like many other places around the bay, the music pendulum remains stationary on either side of both extremes for long periods of time. Not good. A nice mix of both extremes would go a long way for a better dancer experience.
3 people found this review helpful
Music torture. I am an advanced dancer who enjoys dancing with dancers of all levels, the floors are large, but 90% timba in the main room, rueda in the small room, and bachata (turns off at times, and i love bachata, but bad bachata choices were played) in the third room. No bueno.
1 person found this review helpful
Allegro’s variety in music is improving. Great Sunday night spot for dancing!!!
1 person found this review helpful
I love it.. It’s the best salsa place in the Bay Area.
1 person found this review helpful
I love many things about Allegros and my biggest complaint has been too much timba BUT after years of people complaining they are changing it to a better balance. The bachata/merengue room is great and there is often a kizomba room going as well. The crowd is a total mix of ages, dance skills and kinds of people. Parking is always possible except when they have the 3rd Sat live salsa event, then go early or park at shopping center across the street!
The floor is the best around, spring loaded wood floor, always clean.. Nice new lighting and tables and chairs around the dance floor, big mirror and plenty of room even though there are always hundreds of dancers each Sunday. Where can you have so much fun for only $8 for the social dance or $12 with 2 hour lesson!! Isabelle is one of the best Bay Area instructors and dancers!!
1 person found this review helpful
I can’t really say enough good things about Salsa Sunday Night at Allegro Ballroom. On a Sunday night, there’s not a better place in the Bay Area than here to get your fix of Salsa addiction. I really love the spacious floor space and facilities there. For $12 entry, you can get a beginning and intermediate lesson and admission to the dance party afterwards. You can’t get more bang for your buck except for the lack of a live band.
Garry and Isabelle make a fantastic teaching pair. Garry’s humor is really quirky and funny and they both play off each other so wonderfully. They both have zero egos and never take themselves seriously. You can tell that they really do love their jobs.
1 person found this review helpful
I really like this place.
I drive from the peninsula to go here. Love the people and teachers and the dance floor / rooms are nice.
The teachers are very friendly, every time I pay I’m greeted with hostility though. Not entirely sure why. Guess it’s stressful to check people in??
I’m a complete hit-and-miss with dancing skills but the people are nice and patient.
Also, to anyone who gets bored when dancing (in response to the lady below). A fabulous teacher during a salsa congress told us a great secret–
If you’re bored, it’s because you’re boring. You should always strive to be the best at the basics and if your partner is a newb, you should still feel the rhythm and then move your upper body. It can take years to truly master the basics and those who look _good_ in salsa can look good by the basics alone.
I often remind myself that, especially after trying to lead. Also, to the guys who get fed up: HEY not our fault, sometimes we just don’t match styles! Allegro people are very nice but I’ve danced with snooty instructors who made dancing more like a punishment.
Thank you to the Allegro folks who make this place possible!
1 person found this review helpful
Great salsa and bachata classes. Really awesome mix of ages, styles, skill set. Most importantly, this place fosters a friendly welcoming vibe which speaks well of this salsa community. There are some places that have lost that ‘love of dance’ feeling and seem to cater to the ‘love of me, me, me’. Check it put.
My only complaint with Allegro is “too much Timba”. I love Cuban music and consider my dance style more Cuban than On1, but the Timba gets too repetitious. I’ve notice the DJ plays a bit more Mambo and Salsa Dura in the first hour… but eventually he will shift to heavier Timba by 10pm. Not to say it’s bad…but rather a matter of preference. The dancers on the other hand love it. So many wonderful dancers at these socials makes for an enjoyable evening. This is THE PLACE to be on Sunday nights.
I love this space but I have noticed a decline in the dance skills of late. advanced dancers are not going here as much. It is packed with beginners from the beginning of the night to the end. It is mostly and older crowd with a few college students thrown in. There are no on 2 dancers here at all. It does have lots of parking even if the lot is full there are many side streets to use. Probably the best thing to do is go with someone you like dancing with incase there are not many people who can dance well.
The dancers are very nice, but the instructor for the lesson did not teach very much. He only taught maybe three moves for salsa, we could have moved much faster and learned more! Instead he played several songs and had us dance without teaching anything new, which was good practice, but not what you go to a lesson for.