Larisa Bates

Larisa began her dance training in Atlanta, Georgia, as a young child with ballet, tap, and jazz. Growing up doing the jitterbug with her father, though, gave her a love for partnership dance. As an adult, she rediscovered her passion for this type of dance with her childhood dance teacher. He taught her Foxtrot, Tango, and Disco for a teaching gig and she knew that she was hooked.

From there, she joined The University of Georgia Ballroom Performance Group and learned all of the styles of partnership dance. Here, she started her experience with teaching, performing, and choreographing ballroom dance. Immediately following graduation, she started working with the Fred Astaire Dance Studios of Atlanta, Georgia, and quickly started performing through the Gold level in all of the ballroom dances. This studio also gave her the wonderful pleasure of meeting her future husband, who trained and performed with her. He proposed to her on the dance floor, they were married that weekend and off to California the next.

Larisa now resides in Hollywood, California and teaches at Third Street Dance in West Hollywood. She is continuing her career with competition dancing and dancing in the television and movie industry.