Valentina & Vedran - Bosnia and Hercegovina
Valentina and Vedran are a dance couple from Sarajevo, IDO world and European champions in Argentine tango and European vice-champions in salsa.
Vedran has been dancing for thirty years, and professionally since 2006. His partner, Valentina, has been dancing since she was 8 years old. They started working together as a coach and student, and now they are dance partners for 8 years already.
This successful dance couple has participated in various festivals, and the world and European dance competitions, and in addition to the constant promotion of dance in their country, they host the Sarajevo Salsa Congress and the Sarajevo Tango Festival. Their joy in dancing can be easily seen on their faces, it seems as if there is nobody around them while they showing their passion for dance.
A couple that will enchant you with their positive energy, and in addition to their enormous dance knowledge, they also convey their love for dance to their students.
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Olga and Cedric - France
Olga started her dance career at the age of 5 with the traditional Russian folk dance. At a young age, she completed her musical studies while during her studying at university, she came in touch with the world of dancing in couples. Afterwards, she fell in love with kizomba, zouk and tango. She has a technical mind and the eyes of an eagle. Do you know that this teacher can see absolutely everything during a class?:) That's how we can describe Olga! Followers, get yourself ready!:) At the moment, she has the biggest zouk dance community in Bremen (Germany) and she also started to be an international teacher with Cedric.
Cedric is a martial teacher who started dancing tango 13 years ago. He use his martial arts and dance background (kung fu, tai ji, salsa, zouk...) to build a way to dance tango that can fit any kind of music and like that, it is suitable for everybody. This approach to tango is very sociable and fun to do as to learn.
Together Cedric and Olga will give the best mix between power and softness, grounding and flowing...
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Rebeka & Hrvoje - Croatia
Rebeka Kukolja-Cicmanović has been dancing for as far as she can remember.
Her formal dance education started when she was 8, at a social dance school. Very soon she started competing and winning awards with her partner at various dance competitions. Her new dance adventure started when she enrolled at the Contemporary Dance School Ana Maletić in Zagreb.
In the next 5 years, she was growing as a dancer and dance pedagogue through various workshops of contemporary dance techniques, ballet, dance methods...
After finishing her secondary school of contemporary dance she studied psychology, and led dance and rhythmic classes for children, danced for the Youth Ensemble of the Contemporary Dance Studio, danced Khatak (traditional Indian dance), Riverdance and salsa.
Somewhere in that period, she started flirting with the Argentine tango, which grew into a true love affair 5 years ago, in the Zagreb Libertango dance club. Being an experienced contemporary dancer, she was immediately attracted to neo/contemporary tango. Today she is running tango classes at the Tango Experiential Club, organizing neolongas and Tango Experiential Festival. Her desire is to connect her two great loves - dance and psychology.
Hrvoje Gebavi was introduced to the world of dance in 2004. Several years of competitive ballroom dances gave him body awareness and technical background which will turn out to be one of the major keys for his future dance. After the ballroom dances, he had short journeys to the worlds of salsa, jazz dance, ballet... and tango.
In 2009 he started dancing traditional Argentinian tango in Italy. However, his neo-tango dancing style was mostly developed in Great Britain where he was influenced by several domestic and international tango teachers. After all, it turned out that the taste of all the dances he came in touch with, together with the gained knowledge from a very few tango teachers became integrated into his particular neo-tango style of dancing.
Together with his friends, he started Tango Experiential club in Croatia in 2014. Interestingly, the name Tango Experiential was created in Swansea by one of his dear friends, describing the idea in which the experiences from all other dances are unified in one, personal, neo-tango style.
At the moment, he runs regular tango courses, organizing neolongas and also plays neo-tango music in Zagreb. The very peak of the tango season for him is the alternative Tango Experiential Festival in Croatia where one can taste a novel vision of tango which was growing during all these years.
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Karla - Croatia
Karla Jakušić Babeli started her dance steps at an early age through jazz and rhythmic classes and later continued to develop her dancing skills through contemporary dance. She attended numerous contemporary dance workshops, partnering and contact improvisation studying with renowned dance pedagogues and members of large dance companies in Croatia as well as abroad. She also had the opportunity to perform in contemporary dance performances. She was introduced to Argentine tango in 2015, and since she had an experience in contemporary dance, she was immediately attracted to neo/contemporary tango and the possibility of combining knowledge, principles, creativity and sensibility from contemporary dance and partnering with tango. After a few years of neo tango, she began to practice traditional tango more intensively aiming to be as versatile dancer as possible. She is currently actively engaged in both branches in which she continuously educates herself through international events. In addition to tango courses for citizens of Zagreb, she also holds tango workshops for performing artists.
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Ron Fenton - Australia
Ron has been dancing Tango for over 25 years. He was a late starter beginning with Traditional Tango. As his Tango evolved over the years he switched more to Nuevo Tango and nowadays Neo Tango is his thing. He is the founder of Neo Tango Australia and the main teacher and DJ of the International Neo Tango Festival in Australia. He has DJ’d and taught all over Australia as well as many overseas countries. His emphasis is to create a fun-filled atmosphere in both Dj'ing and teaching. He believes it is not how good you are but how much you are enjoying the experience. His teaching methodology is all about the connection, the embrace and the smile.
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Russell Shields -USA
Russell Shields is a REGISTERED YOGA TEACHER, (“RYT”), through Yoga Alliance since
2003-2015; also Certified by World Yoga Federation for yoga classes and workshops since 2021.
YOGA BACKGROUND:
1968 Studied Hatha Yoga under Yogi Sharma, Long Beach, CA.
1972-PRESENT - Surat Shabd Yoga, initiated by Charan Singh.
1980-2010 Approximately 20 trips to India, including to Kashmir, Benares, Agra, Delhi,
Amritsar, Bombay, Juhu Beach, Jaipur, and Mt. Abu. Pilgrimages to many Jain, Hindu, Sikh,
Islamic and Buddhist holy places including: Sarnath, Jamma Masjid in Delhi, Golden Temple in
Punjab, Shankacharya Hill in Kashmir, City of Varanasi, Kali Temple at Dakeneshwar.
2001-2002 Kundalini Yoga under Yogi Bhajan.
1999-2002 Astanga Yoga under Patabi Jois and Tim Miller.
2007 Studies at Bihar School of Yoga, Rikhia ashram.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
2003-2004. Instructor of Astanga Yoga at Modjeska Canyon Community Center.
2004-2008 Yoga instructor, City Lights Apts. in Aliso Viejo.
1999-2011 Substitute instructor - Hatha, Astanga, and Kundalini yoga classes, various locations
including Yoga Place, Full Spectrum Yoga, CSUF - Arboretum..
2004-2012 Instructor at Bally’s Total Fitness, later LA Fitness until Tustin & Anaheim clubs
closed in March 2012
2005-2012 Workshops instructor: Pranayama, Kundalini Yoga, Japji, Yoga Philosophy,
Chanting, Tibetan Yoga, Meditation, Chakra System, Fire Ceremony.
2013-2016 Yoga Instructor - Core Works Fitness, in Orange, CA.
2014-15 Organizer of Yoga Meetup Group: ALL THINGS YOGA OC
2021 - 23 Yoga Instructor - 24 Hour Fitness, Irvine, CA. - 5 classes per week
HONORS: Initiation and designated Brahmin by Brama Kumaris at Mt. Abu, Rajasthan.
Initiated into Buddhism by Dalai Lama. Deemed mahatma by Deepakbhai 2008. Sevadar for
Dera Baba Jaimal Singh since 1980, and reviewer of dozens of books on yoga for library
expansion project, Sevedar doing First Aid for Satsang Center in Irvine, landscape at
Ramakrishna Monastery and at Laguna Wilderness..
OTHER: Player of flutes, gong, drums, singing bowls, harmonium, didgeridoo. author of articles on yoga, Calif. Superior Court approved expert on yoga and eastern religion.
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