“To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful… This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking” ~ Agnes De Mille
Why You Should Learn Ballroom Dancing
Ballroom dancing is a beautiful art form which teaches a lot great skills and has many health and fitness benefits. Even if you think you have two left feet, everyone can learn to dance. It starts with the first step, and learning ballroom dancing can be an incredibly fun and rewarding hobby!
No matter if you are a beginner, advanced, single or have a significant other I would be happy to help you learn and achieve your goals.
Benefits of Ballroom Dancing :
-reduces stress and anxiety,
-builds confidence,
-improves balance, memory, flexibility and coordination,
-increases strength, stamina, muscle toning,
-develops elegance and awareness of the music,
-helps to become better at connecting and relating to other people,
-great outlet for self expression
"Kiss" Show Performance
My Dance Story.....
I loved to dance since as far as I can remember. Because I was always twirling around the house my mother signed me up for ballet classes when I was 4 years old. I really liked it but it was not until I was 7 when I tried ballroom dancing and I fell in love with it. I didn't come easy to me in the beginning and I actually failed miserably at my first competition but I got hooked :)
I still have my first dress- it was green with a lot of ruffles which constantly would get between my legs! Thinking back i never would have guessed it that my childhood hobby will develop in a such a passion, career and way of living. I’m eternally grateful for my mum who supported and encouraged me from the very beginning. She had to sacrifice so much to make my dream possible and she taught me to never give up on something you really really love.
After few years of ups and downs, hard work and determination my first dream came true about winning the Polish National title in Junior division. I was ecstatic at first but very quickly became very sad and disappointed and I didn’t know why... It was interesting experience which revealed very valuable lesson.
I learned from that that the real joy is in the journey itself rather then in the outcome.
Dancing took me to many places. When I was 16 I got an opportunity to dance with a very good partner but that meant I had to move to Sweden. It was a huge change, being without my family, in a foreign country, without knowing the language or the culture. But no price was high enough for dancing so I didn't even think twice about making that decision since it was a huge opportunity.
We danced very well together and very quickly we had a lot of success including winning the Swedish Championships in Standard, Latin and 10- dance. We also represented Sweden at the World and European Championships and that was very exciting. It was time of a lot growth and a lot of sacrifices.
After nearly 3 years I moved and danced in Italy but got burned out after some time and decided to take a break.
And thats when I decided to make my childhood dream come true and move to United States. And looking back it was one of the best decisions in my life. I came to Los Angeles and started to teach in a local studio. Once again it was huge step and this time really far from my home country. After few months of teaching I started to miss competing and I began to look for new partner.
It was really funny how we met but that is another story.He took leap of faith and came all the way from Germany to dance with me and it turned out to be very successful and enjoyable for both of us.
Through our career together we won or made a finals in all the biggest dance competitions in the country like National Championships,World Cup at Embassy Ball, Ohio Star Ball, Emerald Ball, Manhattan and Millennium Championships, California Open, Holiday Dance Classic, US open to name a few...
We traveled all over the world and placed in the top in the competitions in Germany, France, Monaco, Canada, Japan, England...
In our 2nd year dancing together we made final at the UK and British Open Rising Stars Championships which was a thrilling experience at a very young age.
And probably the most important and dearest to my heart was making the semi-final of the worlds most prestigious ballroom competition at Blackpool Dance Festival in England.
It was a very magical and happy moment which I will cherish forever.
As much I loved competing actually the biggest pleasure and fulfillment gave me performing. We became very popular with our creative show numbers and among many wonderful events we performed on Dancing With The Stars.
As I got into my twenties I started to develop a passion for teaching. This was a very different experience then just focusing on career. I loved seeing what ballroom dancing can do for people and became very passionate about helping them. Im very proud member of Arthur Murray International and very fortunate being travel all over the country sharing my passion and knowledge for ballroom dancing. I love teaching beginners as much as professionals.
I was once asked a question about what was my biggest achievement. I thought about it and what I realized was all the people lives that I have touched. I believe that ultimately is not about what we do but who we become.
So Im incredibly grateful that dancing showed up in my life because of it I became the person who Im today and its my greatest pleasure to share the gift of dance, to inspire and to move people hearts through dancing and teaching.
Dance is an expression of the body, the mind and the soul. It has an incredible power to transform and enrich our lives. It helps us reveal who we truly are inside.
I have one final thought and a wish for all of us :
