On Sunday, February 2nd, after the final competitive session, we will be holding workshops and private lessons with several of our professional staff! We are offering some great deals for both the workshop and private lessons. Don't miss this excellent opportunity to obtain instruction and valuable dance insights from these top dance professionals!

All classes will be held in the Chumash Auditorium in the Cal Poly University Union. (This is the same location as the competition.)

The topics for each workshop are listed below.

Each workshop will be 55 minutes long, followed by a 5 minute break. The workshops will focus on techniques that are broadly applicable rather than particular choreography and will be useful to dancers of all levels. Workshop prices will increase on the day of the event, so we highly recommend purchasing tickets in advance!

Please purchase your tickets on our Eventbrite Page by Jan 30th to get the advanced pricing discount

All instructors listed below are also available for a limited number of private lessons on Sunday. If you are interested, please contact us at info@mustangball.com and let us know which instructor you are interested in and your availability.

Ikaika is an American ballroom dancer, coach and choreographer. He specializes in the International Standard division where he is a national finalist and has won several championships. As a coach, he has produced and currently works with numerous US national champions. He also coaches the Stanford Ballroom Dance Team, and many members of the SJSU and Berkeley teams.

Stacey is a Professional International Latin dancer and instructor, formerly coaching for San Jose State University. She is currently coach for Stanford University's Ballroom Dance Team. Dancing since the age of 12, Stacey has been actively competing at the adult Amateur level in the U.S. and was ranked in the top 15 for Amateur Latin USA. She placed top 4 in Professional Rising Star at Vegas Open 2019, and was a consistent finalist in Open Amateur Latin Championships.

Roberta started dancing in 1988 and her first competition was in 1989. Her early training included Standard, Latin, Smooth, and Rhythm. She started teaching and competing professionally in 1994 when she graduated from high school. Roberta has competed professionally in both Standard and Smooth and in 1997 won professional rising star smooth with Jonathan Roberts. In addition, she holds a Bachelors of Science degree in kinesiology from San Jose State University. Her students have competed and placed at nationals during most of the last 20 years of her teaching career. Roberta is whole heartedly dedicated to her students as people and as dancers.

Jonathan and Lorena are available for private lessons on Sunday morning during the workshops

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.

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.