Today, the Balboa has become a loosely used term to describe a general dance that came from California and those that are Balboa dancers know other dances such as Lindy Hop, Charleston, Shag and what they call Balboa has simply become their favorite dance or their primary dance.
This page was created to preserve and share the Balboa from a historical perspective and what it was to be a Balboa Dancer.
To get a better idea of what type of person a Balboa dancer was I think we should take a closer look at what the Balboa is.
The dance originated on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach California which is in Orange county. Today we can make the drive from Downtown Los Angeles to The Balboa Peninsula in about an hour, maybe a little less with no traffic but back in the 1920's you can imagine how long it would of took on the "Red Car" trolley.
The California weather, the beach on this isolated location at the very end of the public transportation system attracted vacationers from all over the southland.
During the population explosion of the 1920's ballrooms were being built all over California and the end of the Red Car line was no different.Out on the peninsula the red car trolley line ends in a building called The Pavilion. The Pavilion has a beautiful ballroom on the second floor over looking the ocean, towards Balboa Island and Newport Beach in the background.
1928 the Rendezvous Ballroom opened up just a few blocks away across the peninsula along the beach which instantly became a popular location for bands and dancers alike.
Because of this remote location, the beautiful surroundings and what Look magazine coined as "The Queen of Ballrooms" a romantic magic was in the air, making it a location to dress to impress with a little more attention to detail you might not of had at your local stomping ground.
The Ballroom was mighty, holding thousands of dancers with a beautiful balcony that circled the floor from above. The amount of people caused the dancers to only dance in place and to be able to do this with ease for long periods of time the dancers would shuffle their feet on the fast slick surface as opposed to stepping in place or hopping which would not only be too tiring but would of caused them to sweat, which would of disturbed their appearance.
In each others arms couples effortlessly hover in place shuffling their feet in constant time regardless of tempo, and occasionally the couples would walk off the floor to enjoy the ocean air blowing in over the sand as the Ballroom echoed the sounds of the orchestra.
Surely this was a special time for those that were effected by this magical location, and for so many it became the location in which they met or grew up with what would become their future husbands or wives.
As the Balboa started getting more popular it started appearing all over the Orange County area and by 1938 was slowly being seen in Los Angeles although just a few. When the Palladium opened up in Hollywood in 1941 and through the following years it was said that the Balboa dancers gathered together on the right side of the stage and numbered around 20 couples, which isn't very many considering there would be 3 to 5 thousand dancers in the Ballroom.
Stage left was the Jitterbugs, who did dances such as Swing, Lindy Hop, Shag and were always the best dancers, whom also tended to be the youngest in the Ballroom.
Those original dancers who went to the Rendezvous Ballroom to enjoy the Big Bands and meet someone continued doing their same intimate dance, while the world around them did the Fox Trot, Lindy as the music changed through the night.
Not for the couple that grew up dancing at the Rendezvous, they were happy holding each other close and shuffling away at that same Swing rhythm all night. It's the music that drives them through the night , the tempo's, arrangements and soloist takes them on a journey few could ever understand without being baptized by it's feeling.
Decades later their bond for the music, dance and each other is as strong as those early years as teenagers walking on the beach in the moonlight outside of the Rendezvous Ballroom. While those around them chuckle, laugh and tell dance stories of old, while demonstrating the various steps they did over 50 years ago The couple avoiding the commotion takes to the floor doing the only dance they ever cared to do, with the one person they care more about then anyone else to the only music they ever listened to....
This was The Balboa Dancer....