Ed. Note: The following content was provided by D’Wilfri Dance Studio, who is a client of KHTS AM-1220. 

A Santa Clarita dance studio transforms into a self-proclaimed night club twice a month for dance “social” events, with the next social set for Saturday, March 28.

Willy Arroyo and Ingrid Blanco

“Some people say we don’t have anyplace here where we can go and dance, so we try to change our studio at nighttime when we have those parties,” said Willy Arroyo of D’Wilfri Dance Studio. “We have lighting and we have big projectors so we make a night club ambience. It doesn’t look like a regular studio.”

Arroyo and his partner, Ingrid Blanco, are both professional dancers from Costa Rica with a background in ballroom and international style Latin dance.

They met at a Costa Rican resort in 2000, where they performed musicals like Grease Lightning and Jesus Christ Superstar, before eventually moving to Cancun, Mexico to dance for a Cuban ballet company.

During their time in Mexico, Arroyo and Blanco began competing in international salsa competitions, and were named champions four years in a row.

“That’s how we had the opportunity to come here,” Arroyo said. “They say, ‘The first three places will have a promotion to come work with us in the United States.’”

In 2004, Arroyo and Blanco moved to the United States and began teaching at a studio while continuing to compete in international competitions.

After opening the D’Wilfri Dance Studio together in Santa Clarita, Arroyo and Blanco now teach more than two dozen different styles of ballroom dance to children and adults alike, with both private and group classes.

“Ballroom is one of the greatest things,” Arroyo said. “I think one of the greatest sports right now people can use for improved health. It’s amazing how much dancing can help anybody.”

Willy Arroyo and Ingrid Blanco

As instructors, Arroyo and Blanco encourage anyone interested in learning ballroom dancing to give it a try, even if they may be a little uncomfortable at first.

“People are a little bit nervous about it,” Blanco said. “Sometimes they think they need to know (how) and (they don’t). That’s why we’re there: to teach dance, to help dance, to feel more confidence and approach the goal.”

In addition to a group beginners class, the studio also offers private beginners lessons for Santa Clarita’s more timid dancers.

“Step by step and little by little, they will be getting more confident with their moves and knowing more about different types of rythms,” Arroyo said. “Then they can start joining the group classes and the social party.”

D’Wilfri Dance Studio

23502 Lyons Avenue, Suite 101 A

Newhall, CA 91321

661-284-3407

661-754-6513