Dance Rental Space at Lake Merritt in Oakland

Lake Merritt Dance Organizer's Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit that gives dance organizers and dancers a home for their communities in Oakland.
Our space located at 200 Grand Ave at the Veteran's Memorial Hall.

Our mission is to provide affordable, beautiful dance space to community-based dance groups in Oakland.

Lake Merritt Dance depends on community support to remain viable. Our fundraising goal is $10,000.

Please support our mission and operations by donating here: tinyurl.com/supportLakeMerrittDance

Our Dances

Mondays

Explore West Coast Swing with Riley Crozier (7pm-11pm)
Cuban Salsa classes with Rueda Con Ritmo (6:30pm-9:30pm)
Ilê Axé Capoeira with Nathanael Morais and Laura Bai (7pm-9pm)

Tuesdays

Closed

Wednesdays

Popular social dance classes with Oakland Queer Dance Studio (6:30pm-8:45pm)
Modern Western Square Dance with Oaktown 8s (7pm-9pm)
Ilê Axé Capoeira with Nathanael Morais and Laura Bai (7pm-9pm)

Thursdays

Lindy Hop with The Breakaway (6:30pm-10:30pm)

Friday

Closed

Saturdays

Cuban Salsa with Rueda Con Ritmo (First Saturdays, 6pm-11:30pm)
Contra Dance with Circle Left (First Saturdays, 7pm-10pm)
West Coast Swing with Lakeside Swing (Second Saturdays, 7pm-11:00pm)
West Coast Swing - LGBT and friends with SwingOut (Third Saturdays, 7pm-11pm)
Blues Dancing with Breakaway Blues (Third Saturdays 6:30pm-11pm)
Queer country-western dance for women, non-binary people, and trans people. Starlight Strut (Fourth Saturdays, 6:30pm-10:30pm)

Upcoming Events:

SwingOut! House Party

Come out for an evening of West Coast Swing!

When: Saturday, August 15th
Lessons: 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Intermediate lesson with Yenni Setiawan; Beginner lesson also available)
Social Dance: 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Admission:
$20 for lesson and dance
$15 for dance only

Dance Spotlight:

Queer as Oak
at the
Gay Games 2026!

Dancers from Queer as Oak, alongside local formation teams Rebel Motion and Vima Vice Squad 2.0, recently traveled to Valencia, Spain, to represent the Bay Area at the Gay Games 2026!

They had an incredible experience filled with camaraderie and over 240 dancers coming together from around the world for the DanceSport competition.

Check out their dancing and behind-the-scenes moments here: Watch the Queer as Oak YouTube Playlist

The team is grateful to everyone who supported their 6-month journey. Whether you watched them dance, donated, helped with costumes and makeup, volunteered at The April Affair, or attended a Wednesday class, you helped get them to Spain. They were incredibly proud to represent our community on the world stage!

Interested in Renting Space?

We have 6 different rooms available at Lake Merritt Dance on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays with a varying amount of availability. You will need to inquire for rates and room availability below.

We have other times and locations available, but here are the priority times we are looking for long term renters for right now.