South Bay’s School of Dance and Music soars from humble beginnings
Avalon Stone, 10, shows off a break-dance move inside the Manhattan Beach School of Dance and Music. Photo Liliana Somma was supposed to go to med school. She had just earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Loyola Marymount University and was interning at local hospitals. It had been the expectation of her parents, who immigrated from extreme poverty in Italy before her birth. But Somma’s heart was somewhere else: dance. More specifically, teaching dance to children. She told her parents she was taking a break from hospitals and focusing on dancing professionally and teaching. In Hermosa Beach, she rented out a 800 sq. ft. studio, which would become the first of three School of Dance and Music locations. Liliana Somma, lifelong dancer and founder of School of Dance and Music. Photo courtesy of SDM Fifteen years later, the School of Dance and Music is celebrating a milestone. With presence also in Redondo Beach and most recently Manhattan Beach, the school has taught more than 15,000 students to date. The studios offer a wide array of dance classes — ballet, hip hop, jazz, ballroom included— and teaches private lessons in vocals, piano, guitar, songwriting and the like. With…
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