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MEET OUR PROFESSIONALS
Wilson Barrera
World Dance Champion
World Class Adjudicator
President of Wilson DanceSport International Studio, Inc.
Wilson Barrera has over 25 years of experience as a professional, performer, competitor, coach and choreographer in the world of DanceSport. His solo performances have been acclaimed worldwide by audiences and critics alike. Wilson knew when he was just 16 years old that dancing would be his life. Born in Colombia, South America, Wilson began to attract the attention of the dance world when he performed as lead dancer in his own Folkloric Dance Company in Miami. This led to his close association with other celebrated dancers around the world, as he became a champion competitor in competitions worldwide.
“I want every student to feel good, look good and discover themselves all over again,” says Wilson enthusiastically. His high energy permeates the studio atmosphere and proves that these are not merely empty slogans. There is a palpable joy for dance that he shares with every student who walks through the door.
With his former wife and dance partner, Margaret Burns, Wilson came to Sarasota in 1996 and founded Ballroom DanceSport Theatre as a professional, non-profit arts organization. This group established an educational dance program in Sarasota and Venice Middle and High schools as a credited activity. Three years later, in 1999, Wilson opened his own Wilson's DanceSport International, Inc. studio offering dance exciting events and competition-level instruction in a variety of dance styles.
As a four-time World Champion, Wilson brings to his studio accomplishments and experience found nowhere else in southwest Florida. His lifetime love for dance is reflected in all aspects of his life!
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Elizabeth Cartier
Dance Instructor and Studio Manager
Elizabeth Cartier and her partner, Max Lototskyy, are the top currently competing professional dance partnership in residence at Wilson’s DanceSport, and they are quickly becoming the top currently competing professional Standard partnership in Florida! Elizabeth moved to Sarasota in 2000 to train under the guidance of Wilson Barrera, and she continues to travel the world training, dancing, and absorbing the wisdom of the world’s top coaches. She herself is now a master teacher, and her students consistently receive top rankings in competitions in the U.S. and Europe.
“It’s a misconception that ballroom dancing is only for women,” says Elizabeth. “I see the strength, grace and enthusiasm of my students grow every day just like what we see on Dancing with the Stars.”
As studio manager, she has a high profile in the community as well as a close relationship with all those who train at the studio.
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Maksym “Max” Lototskyy
Dance Instructor
Hailing from the Ukraine, Max Lototskyy searched the world over for the perfect dance partner. When he and Elizabeth began exchanging video clips and communicating online it was the beginning of what is expected to be a star-studded partnership. Max received the highest level of training in International Standard and Latin styles before winning and placing in competitions in Europe and Russia. He also had an active studio and teaching career in Kiev before making the move to Sarasota in 2006.
Max, like all the professionals at Wilson’s DanceSport, is a bit of a perfectionist and brings out the best in each of his students.
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Luis Peña
Dance Instructor
“Every hour I have a different key to open a new world for my students,” shares Luis as he delights in finding the right words to express his own joy of teaching and dancing. “Every dance gives you a different character and range of emotions to express. And that’s what people want to learn – how to express themselves through dance.” Drawing on his years of Karate training, he observes, “In dance you spread your feelings through your body unlike any other sport. Karate places your body and mind against an opponent. Dance is communicating with your partner and often exploring fears and coming to a deeper self-awareness.”
Luis traces his dancing roots to the folk traditions of his native Colombia. When he came to Sarasota in 1998, he began teaching folk dancing to children in the Colombian community instilling not only pride in heritage, but love of dance as well. Needless to say the Latin dances of salsa, samba, cha cha, and merengue come naturally to him, but Luis has polished his ballroom form as well. As for his teaching, let’s just say he was named Top Teacher at the 2006 Millennium Dancesport Championships.
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David Ashe
Dance Instructor and Receptionist
“If people keep asking you if you are a dance teacher,
you get a business card and a dance floor and say, Yes!”
Dance possibilities brought David Ashe to Sarasota in 2006,
where he quickly connected to the Tango, Swing and Salsa
social dance scenes. Not one to sit on the sidelines, he
performed at various venues, danced socially, taught
privately as a freelance instructor as well as teaching
group classes at Ringling College, and even hosted a couple
of tango dance events. In March 2008, David was invited to a
Guest Party at Wilson’s DanceSport, where he met the studio
and staff and was offered a job. The rest is history. “I’m
glad to be back to my dancing roots. The world of Ballroom
dance has so much that social dance scenes often lack.”
During college, David had four years of competitive ballroom
dancing in every division, enough hours to earn a degree if
it had been classes rather than a club. “Then when I
graduated, my various partners and I scattered all over the
country. At the time, I felt that dancing at a studio would
be starting over. So I tried something new.” That “something
new” in his native Houston was Country/Western. Other social
dance scenes joined it, first Argentine Tango in coffee
shops, and then Swing and Lindy Hop, and Salsa. With so many
different styles of dance to choose from, it was natural to
leap aboard new fusion movements that combined social dances
in new and intriguing ways.
But ultimately it is teaching that brings David
fulfillment in his dancing. He loves nothing more than
taking a person or a couple, getting them moving on a dance
floor, and helping them to use dancing to improve their
lives and relationships. It’s the classic case of taking
something that he loves and learning to make a living with
it. “I took the long way to get here, but it made me who I
am, and I wouldn’t take back any of it.”
Christin
Neisler
Dance Instructor and Guest Director
“One key of happiness is to make what
you love, a part of what you do.” Christin took her joy of
dancing and transferred it into an art of teaching. That
joy becomes abundant in her students. “People soon find
that learning to dance is more than just learning steps. It
is more things, like: body awareness, mobility, control,
expression, partnership, confidence and of course, fun!”
She enjoys watching her students grow and progress beyond
their former limits. She has always been a person of
positive hope and encouragement, and therefore by finding
the individual needs of each student, she helps them succeed
at their goals.
Christin started dancing through an
intrigue of the Argentine Tango. “Its appearance of passion
and romance had simply captured me.” Tango was the
inspiration into her journey of dancing, and what opened her
to the broader world of Ballroom Dancing. “It is certainly
a treat to explore the many faces of Ballroom, the elegance
of the waltz, the confidence of the tango, and the sexiness
of many Latin dances.” Christin has gone on to specialize
in Argentine Tango through workshops and training with true
Argentine couples. She has performed shows at various
venues in the area with her partner, Luis Pena, and
continues to train together with Luis for competition in the
American Rhythm division.
“For me, dance became an outlet for my
own self expression.” Being quite shy growing up, coming
onto the dance floor was an opportunity for her to challenge
her comfort zone. This is when she blossomed and grew as a
whole. Each day she still continues to grow through the
journey of dancing and teaching. She also practices yoga
frequently, advocating it as a necessary supplement for body
and spirit. |
