At Your Service -- Our Team
From ship to shore, your Dancing for Dessert team comes to you with years of experience in dancing, teaching, performing, and competing. We have brought dancing to thousands of people around the world and continue to look for new ways to spread the joy of dance.
Andrew
Our fearless leader whose vision is the guiding light for DfD, Andrew has an uncanny knack for finding problems.
Bio >>
Brian
Our Vice-President in charge of everything done with a technological device, Brian finds solutions to Andrew's problems.
Bio & Credentials >>
Andrew & Magda - Bio
While flipping through the Yellow Pages at a boring student job in 1997, Andrew fatefully opened to the Dancing section and was struck by a revelation: he should learn to dance. One year later, thrilled by dancing, addicted to his dance lessons and verging on bankruptcy, he decided to become a teacher, and a dance career was born.
Magda came into this world to be a dancer. And while Ballet, Polynesian dancing, Jazz, Hip Hop and Flamenco are all part of her repertoire, the glamour and grace of ballroom dancing has always been her passion. The day Magda walked into a dance studio for the first time was the day she decided to become a teacher. She even announced this to her first teacher on her 4 th dance lesson but the studio wouldn’t hire her until she finished her degree. She was so anxious to get started that she finished her BA in just over three years and started teaching that same month.
Andrew and Magda had the good fortune to find each other early in their dance careers. They started competing in 1999 and were finalists in numerous open dance competitions including the Canadian Professional Ballroom Dancing Championships in 2002. Eventually, after four years of teaching, they decided to follow their dreams and move to England to learn to dance with the top teachers in the world.
In the Fall of 2003, Andrew and Magda enjoyed their first contract on a cruise ship, as the resident dance team onboard the Norwegian Dream, where they taught dance classes and performed as featured entertainers in the main show lounge. After a few months there and another few months in England, the two were hired as the first dance team aboard the biggest and grandest cruise liner on the seas, the Queen Mary II. This was another experience of a lifetime as the pair taught dance classes for up to 250 guests and performed regularly on the largest dance floor at sea.
Inspired by the success of their onboard classes, and a desire to connect with their students beyond the sea, Andrew and Magda began to conceive of a new kind of dance class. In late 2004 they left the ships to focus on this project and Dancing for Dessert was born. From humble beginnings as a short review booklet, Dancing for Dessert has grown into a fully functional online dance school with customers from all around the world.
In September 2006 Andrew & Magda opened Dancing for Dessert studio in Langley BC. (www.dancingfordessert.ca) It goes without saying that Andrew and Magda plan to continue teaching, entertaining, and dancing for dessert for many years to come.
Brian Antonio - Bio
www.brianantonio.com
Brian's entrepreneurial spirit was evident at age 9 when he took on a paper route, eventually growing that business to include 4 different newspapers on 16 different streets. In high school Brian and his friends directed their entrepreneurial energies into what would become a wildly successful Disc Jockey business known as FlipSide. From house parties to nightclubs, cotillions to weddings, FlipSide found an audience with a diverse demographic.
As FlipSide's audience grew Brian and his partners found themselves exposed to a a wide array of musical styles and dance. Inspired by what he saw in dance halls across the city Brian started taking dance lessons. Seemingly content with the ablity to take to the dance floor and trip the light fantastic, Brian was downright flabbergasted as his dancing escalated (thanks to some "gentle" coercion) from casual to competitive. He soon found himself performing in various local talent competitions, most notably the CNE Rising Star Youth Talent Competition.
Brian spent the next few years studying Computer Systems Technology in college while developing his dancing in his free time. One day he came across an ad from a local dance school looking to train a new dance instructor. Thanks once again to some "gentle" coercion (and motivated by the idea of teaching dance to pay for school) Brian answered the ad and a dance instructor was born.
Brian instantly fell in love with his new career, subsequently shifting his focus from computers altogether. He ended up teaching in Toronto for several years before being hired in 1998 by one of Vancouver's most prestegious dance schools. Over the next few years Brian's career soared as he twice managed to dance his way into the Finals of the Canadian Professional Championships.
Brian's competitive accomplishments and high-energy teaching style (along with a deep-rooted passion for all things Star Wars, Superman, and general modern pop culture) made him very popular with students and teachers alike. He soon earned the position of Dance Directer -- a role which Brian performed for the remainder of his tenure. Aside from helping to organize various dance events and recitals Brian took great joy in passing on his knowledge to up and coming dancers and dance teachers.
In 2004 Brian took to the internet with long-time collaborators Andrew & Madga to design and launch Dancing for Dessert On-Line -- an innovative new Video-on-Demand system that allows people to learn how to dance in the comfort and privacy of their own home. Brian's company Antonio Enterprises also has a presence on eBay and has recently partnered with such internet heavyweights as Google, eWatches and Buy.com. While maintaining a presence in the dance industry through Dancing for Dessert, Brian looks to continue helping people on-line by cultivating his businesses into a global presense where people can come to share ideas & information and find exciting and innovative products and services.
Brian Antonio - Credentials
- Dancing since 1994
- Teaching, performing, and competing professionally since 1996>
- Teaching credentials include:
- Canadian Dance Teacher's Association
- Associate, Stadard, 2003
- Affiliate, Standard, 2002
- World Professional Dance Teachers Association
- Bachelor, 1999
- Member, 1997
- Associate, 1997
- Canadian Dance Teacher's Association
- Competition credentials include:
- Ranked #5 in Canada, American Smooth, 2003
- Ranked #6 in Canada, American Rhythm, 2000