Teachers

DanceSport Teachers

Beginner DS Chief & Head Teacher
Kenny Gallanosa
begdschief@ucbd.org

Kenny Gallanosa is one of the head teachers for the new incoming rookies for the 2011-2012 year. He is excited for all the new dancers to come join the team because competitive ballroom dance is something that the world needs to experience and witness for themselves. He been on the team since his freshman year, starting out with almost no previous experience in dance. Even though he was never formally trained, he has always enjoyed dancing with friends and ballroom has been a way to express himself through dance. He’s a third year Environmental Economics Major with a double Minor in Education and City & Regional Planning. Kenny’s favorite dance is Rumba, but he also enjoys a good Samba from time to time. He can’t wait for the year to begin and to start teaching all the new future ballroom dancers here at Cal.

Beginner DS Latin Teacher
Lana Vasiljevic

Lana Vasiljevic is a pre-med, Dance/Performance Studies and Psychology double major in her senior year at Cal. She teaches Beginner DS Latin. She has been dancing for the past 17 years and has done a variety of styles prior to joining UCB Ballroom Team. This is her 4th year with the ballroom team, and she could not be more excited to compete and teach a new batch of newbies how to shake it. Lana’s favorite part of dancing is being challenged with new steps and routines- ballroom definitely accomplishes that. She finds it really fun to learn how to dance with another person, and learn how to actually move as a whole. The best part of teaching for Lana is seeing certain concepts finally click in people’s heads, and then watching them master those things- it’s a pretty exciting moment, and she always feel very accomplished. Her favorite dance would have to be Samba- it has the best music, but is also the hardest to look good doing.

Beginner DS Standard Teacher
Rachel Kao

Rachel has danced on the team for two years. Prior to ballroom she ice-skated competitively for ten years and did other forms of dance such as ballet, Chinese ribbon dancing and hip hop. She loves to dance because it’s an expression of art. Rachel enjoys teaching because she love watching students improve and develop as both individuals and dancers. She is majoring in Architecture and minoring in Sustainable Design and Structural Engineering.

Intermediate DS Chief & Head Teacher
Danae Sterental
intdschief@ucbd.org

Danae has been dancing with the team for four years and she loves the learning process that occurs when people dance. She feels that watching those around her improve is the most inspirational part of dance. She cannot wait to work with all the intermediate dancers on the team and hopefully bring their dancing to new levels.

Intermediate DS Teacher
Alex Hanganu

Alex has been with UCBD since 2008, and started with no experience in dancing. He is currently a Senior in Integrative Biology and enjoys dancing Tango and Samba. He looks forward to teaching the incoming intermediate class and making Ballroom dancing as fun and rewarding for them as it was for him.