Welcome to our first dance festival review!! As LA natives we had to review our hometown festival first and I think y’all are going to love it. Whether you’re a seasoned festival veteran or your first time here we hope we covered all your inquiries.
LABF has been a mainstay at Universal Studios’s Sheraton Hotel in North Hollywood for many years and with plentiful rooms for dancing, teaching and hanging out for the long weekend festival. Plus, being outside a theme park gives you easy access to restaurants and entertainment galore between classes. They have a shuttle you can take to CityWalk from the hotel so that makes it super convenient to pop in and grab some food and return to the hotel to keep dancing. If you are Universal passholders like us, then you can definitely hit the park as well, just make sure to check those blackout dates.
The rooms are typical for the Sheraton hotel, and they come with all the perks you’d expect, including an indoor restaurant, and pool. The staff is nice, and if you decide to throw a pregame or after party, you might get lucky to escape without a noise complaint. We advise you shut the door 😂
Even though LABF is situated at a theme park hotel, somehow they run out of parking fast, and you may be forced to even tandem park the rooftops. Parking gets pricey on its own but fortunately they have validations for each day that reduce the ticket to $25 instead of the daily max $50. If you are not staying at the hotel, carpooling with a friend is a great idea.
Priced around $120 for early-bird pricing, LABF is probably one of the cheaper festivals you can go to, but couple that with a room at the hotel, daily parking fees and any special package deals up to $300 if you want the full festival experience, the cost can run up quickly! If you are planning on going definitely hit the early bird special, the sooner you buy the cheapest it will be. If it’s way out of budget, don’t freight, frequent the local socials and follow them on ig, there are always ways to win a free pass.
They have a variety of instructors and styles ranging from Traditional Bachata to Salsa and even bachazouk and there’s typically all our favorite LA based instructors as well as some fun international artists with unique workshops. The workshop hours are posted near the checkin but we use the ig page to check the schedule each day and plan which classes we want to take. Ever since landing under new ownership, LABF has been experimenting with their time slot scheduling—and to positive effect. Last year the festival did the customary hour splits for each class but incorporated a 30 minute intermission between lessons—perfect for decompressing, catching up with friends, taking some celebrity pics with the instructors, and making it on time to your next class.
Another change from previous years was dropping the zouk classes and social. This was interesting considering zouk is becoming more popular this year so we were expecting an increase. The previous year we spent a good amount of time taking zouk classes and going to the social so we were a bit disappointed about this change, but we will have to see what happens next year.
For beginners they usually have workshops you can attend to practice throughout the day and then hit the social at night to try out all those moves. This is a really fun and easy way to learn how to dance and have fun with your friends at a festival so if you’ve never danced before but want to spend the weekend with your friends it’s the perfect opportunity. Unfortunately they did not offer any beginner workshops this year, maybe it doesn’t get utilized as much as we think but seems like a good way to introduce new people to the realm of Latin dance.
A new edition this year was the instructor certification, I feel like everyone is becoming an instructor nowadays so live your instructor dreams and get certified as the real deal!
The nightly performances are world class and draw in dancers from across the world to perform on stage in team, solo and couple performances. No pool party at this festival but there is definitely a concert Saturday night that you won’t want to miss, oh and of course social dancing til 4am.
The social is always fun and to some might be the main attraction; Friday is the lightest day, Saturday has the biggest turn out, and people slowly trickle away on Sunday. The DJs that play for all of the days are sensational in both the salsa and bachata rooms; its worth noting that the Bachata Room gets the main ballroom so it’s the biggest dance floor, while the salsa and other rooms get smaller conference areas. Needless to say, the temperature jumps a lot the more crowded those get. No water bottles are allowed or outside alcohol but there are plenty of water stations so you can stay hydrated. The dance floors have chairs on the perimeter and its usually not too difficult to find an open chair and rest your feet for a bit although with DJ Raj and Zonik playing I doubt you’ll want to sit.
The overall vibe of this festival has greatly changed under new ownership and I’d say this is the #1 reason we will continue to support LABF. The MC’s Vince and Jarek were hilarious but soooooo inclusive. It really felt like a festival hanging out with friends. The jokes brought the crowd together and you could watch people making friends with everyone around them. The vibes were vibing and that’s something we have yet to feel at other dance festivals. This is truly a community festival and you’ll feel that the second you walk in.
LABF is the essential top-of-the-year festival for all Latin dance lovers and if you’re ever in town and able to make the date, it’s worth checking out with friends or even solo! If you miss it, don’t worry there is always LA Summer BF.