A SPECIAL REPORT: DANCING

Time to Diversify

So many dance styles are popular right now, Valley clubs are finding it beneficial to branch out. B. B. King’s, the blues club in Universal City, now offers a salsa night. In Reseda, Crest Country added swing dancing twice a week and changed its name to Jitterbugs.

Pairing Off

After decades of flailing solo, dancing with a partner is back in a big way. Ballroom, swing, tango and salsa have all contributed to the rising tide, says Danielle O’Neill, above, an instructor for Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Woodland Hills. Films such as “Dance With Me”--written by a former Woodland Hills Arthur Murray dance teacher--are helping spread the craze.

Blame New York

While the Lindy Hop makes its way east from California, New York is sending us--gulp--the hustle. That’s right, the hustle--both the line-dance style and the stiff-armed partner disco version--is huge in the Big Apple, says instructor O’Neill, in part because of the movie “54.”

World Dance

The North Hollywood company Dance Fantasy books performers who know authentic ethnic dances from all over the world. But you better plan way ahead if you’re looking to hire hula dancers, says owner Vicky Corona. “I have 3,000 Polynesian performers and that’s never enough, there are so many luaus,” she said.

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FORECAST: Clear and hot. Highs to 112. Lows in mid-70s. B7