My Nhan, 65, visited the dance studio in Monterey Park, Los Angeles, every weekend. This Saturday, she did not return.
A 72-year-old gunman opened fire at the dance studio, which was hosting celebrations of the Chinese new year, killing 11 and leaving several others seriously injured. The gunman, Huu Can Tran, shot himself after he was surrounded by cops.
The family of My Nhan said the tragedy was "still sinking in", reported news agency AFP.
"She spent so many years going to the dance studio in Monterey Park on weekends," a statement said. "It's what she loved to do. But unfairly, Saturday was her last dance."
Saturday night's mass shooting was the worst in the US since a teenage gunman in Texas killed 21 people at an elementary school last May. All but two were children.
The Los Angeles shooting was followed by two shootings today -- one in northern California and the other in Iowa -- that claimed nine lives.
A 67-year-old has been taken into custody for the killing of seven people at Half Moon Bay in California. Chunli Zhao, police said, had a semi-automatic handgun. The shooter at the Los Angeles event also had a semi-automatic firearm, investigation has found.
Amid the grief over the Lon Angeles incident, one tale of heroism has given hope. Brandon Tsay, 26, has narrated how he grappled with the shooter as the elderly man arrived at another dance studio, in what police believe was a planned second attack.
"He was hitting me across the face, bashing me in the back of my head, I was trying to use my elbows to get the gun away from him," Tsay told ABC.
"Finally, at one point I was able to pull the gun away from him, shove him aside, create some distance, point the gun at him, intimidate him, shouting, 'Get the hell out here. I'll shoot. Get away. Go.'"
