Anastasia Zhuchenko
Anastasia Zhuchenko is a Professional Latin, Ballroom, and American Smooth Dancer. She is the 10 dance Ukrainian Champion, Finalist of Blackpool Dance Festival in Standard, Semifinalist of Blackpool Dance Festival in Latin and winner of the Rising Star Professional American Smooth. She was born in Kiev, Ukraine. Anastasia lived in Cologne, Germany, for 3 years and worked in one of the biggest Dance Shows of Germany, Fantissima Theatre. She took part in a variety of different TV-shows in Ukraine and worked with many celebrities. Anastasia's private lesson rate is $75 for students, $85 for non-students.Jonathan Atkinson
Jonathan Atkinson is a longtime member of the dance community, specializing in both American and International style ballroom. He has been dancing since he was 20 years old, having started as a student at an Arthur Murray studio in Beverly Hills. In 1994, Jonathan began competing in American smooth, climbing up the professional ranks with his wife Melissa over the next 10 years to acquire the titles of 2nd Place U.S. Rising Star Smooth Finalist, Open Professional Smooth Semi-Finalist, and 9-Dance Finalist. In addition to significant achievements in the ballroom dancing arena, David is also active in film, stage, TV, sports, and entertainment. His dancing film credits include featured dancer roles in Dance With Me and Rent. He has coached dancing and performance for the United States Olympic Rhythmic Gymnastics Team, and Dancing with the Stars competitors.Lorena Bravo
Lorena Bravo was first introduced to the world of competitive ballroom dancing while in her freshman year at the University of Southern California. On a whim, she decided to take a lesson with the USC Ballroom and Latin Dance team only to find herself completely enamored with every aspect of ballroom dancing. During her time in the collegiate competitive scene, Lorena competed in the International Latin and American Smooth categories. As with many collegiate dancers, she had a number of partners and became very involved in the inner workings of her team. Upon graduating, Lorena continued to dance competitively as an independent. However, it was not until October 2004, when she began dancing Pro/Am American Smooth with Jonathan Atkinson that her dancing really took off. Although she was in the middle of her Masters program, it was then that she began to contemplate a serious career in ballroom dancing. In the following years, she won numerous competitions; the culminating event being the 2007 United States National Dancesport Championships, where she won the national title in the Open American Smooth Pro/Am Championship. Lorena has since become a professional ballroom dancer and teaches out of Los Angeles, California. Although she competes solely in the American Smooth category, she continues to study the remaining three categories in order to be as effective and versatile a coach as possible. Fittingly enough, the first lesson she taught as a professional was for the USC Ballroom and Latin Dance Team, the very team that initially sparked her love of dance. Now competing professionally with Jonathan Atkinson, they are steadily improving their craft and have made the finals of many major competitions