Boogiezone Utopia Laboratory for the Creative Arts in Torrance, CA, occupies a spacious two-story facility—the former HYPE Studios Cultural Arts Center—with seven dance studios, locker rooms, dance exchange student housing, and more. As a part of Boogiezone, BZ Utopia has strong ties in the Los Angeles / Orange County dance community, and the studio provides a physical home for Boogiezone’s dance companies. Boogiezone Utopia’s schedule of drop-in dance classes for all levels is strongest in hip hop and also features additional dance styles, dance fitness such as Zumba, and even some rare specialty dance classes.
Opened in November 2011, Boogiezone Utopia Torrance is the second brick-and-mortar dance studio established by Boogiezone and its first in the United States. (It was preceded by Boogiezone Utopia Tokyo.) BZ Utopia owner and director Elm Pizarro is the founder of Boogiezone, an L.A./OC-based online dance community that has become an international force in the dance world and celebrated its 10-year anniversary in late 2013.
In just two years, BZ Utopia has pioneered programs including the Boogiezone Exchange (BZX) international dance student exchange program and the new Boogiezone Academy, which launches in January 2014 with an ambitious Broadway-oriented musical theater program for ages 7-17. In addition, the highly respected Culture Shock L.A. hip-hop dance troupe and cultural/service organization will increase its programs and events offered through BZ Utopia in 2014.
Some of Boogiezone Utopia’s uncommon class offerings represent the legacy of HYPE Studios. Holdovers include Aerial Arts, with separate classes for tissue and hoop, and Hip Hop for ages 50+ (suitable for beginners). Hip Hop for ages 50+ instructor John Edwards began dancing hip hop after the age of 50 himself, and at age 67 has a resume that includes the videos for Michael Jackson’s “Hollywood Tonight” and “Behind the Mask.”
BZ Utopia also inherited HYPE’s long-running Jackson Power Hour with Joey Cooper. This class offers the chance to learn dances from Michael and Janet Jackson’s videos and live stage shows from someone intimately familiar with the choreography. An Intro to MJ class is taught by John Edwards, who has studied with expert Michael Jackson dance impersonator Phillip Dang. (In Phillip Dang’s independent MJ Class, which he adapted for HYPE during 2011, Phillip broke down and taught the elements of Michael Jackson’s dance movement style rather than focusing primarily on choreography.)
And Boogiezone’s own Thursday-night BZ Community Class—a hip-hop class taught at an advanced level by a weekly guest instructor (but open to dancers of all skills) that attracts both industry and community dancers—meets in the same upstairs ballroom where HYPE Studios hosted the class for years.
Hip-Hop Dance Guide Los Angeles specializes in information on adult hip-hop classes and dance studios in L.A. In addition to detailed featured studio profiles, we also offer briefer studio profiles. This allows us to add more studios, more quickly.
This profile last reviewed: January 2, 2014.
This profile last updated:January 2, 2014.
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