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Booaika: The New New Zumba in L.A.

Wherein Sasha P-R writes in from Los Angeles with the down low on a hot new class... -The Eds.

Walking into a dance studio in Los Angeles often feels like stumbling onto the set of Fame. Everyone’s got leg warmers, jazz shoes and sexy-sporty dance pants. Choreography blows by you at break neck pace, but your fellow classmates bust moves like they’re in a Janet Jackson video. Looking around, you realize that most of them are, and/or they are a member of the Pussycat Dolls. And all you wanted was a little cardio.

There is one increasingly hot dance hub in L.A., however, that's got your back if you're a mere mortal. Appropriately enough, it's called Your Neighborhood Studio. YNS is across the street from Smashbox Studios, in the old home of Debbie Allen’s dance academy, and it's keeping the faith with the motto,  “When in doubt—dance!" The studio offers the full gamut of classes, incuding ballet, jazz, hip hop, and modern, as well as burlesque, street tap, Bollywood, and "strip hop." BUT, arguably the most popular class on the schedule goes down at 9:30 A.M. on Saturday mornings....

Los Angeles