Cal Poly Mustang Ball - February 7-8, 2026

Ballroom & Latin DanceSport Competition

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Workshops & Private Lessons

On Sunday, February 8th, 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.)

Workshop Schedule

The topics for each workshop are listed below.

Time Instructor Topic
1:00pm Igor Colac and Roxane Milotti Fundamental mechanics vs upper body movement in Smooth dances: how to blend the two in different positions and proximities
2:00pm Stacey Chuang Samba called, it wants your bounce back!
3:00pm Ikaika Dowsett These 6 actions make up most of your tango. Watch out for number 4!
4:00pm Jonathan Atkinson & Lorena Bravo Bolero demystified!

Each workshop will be 55 minutes long, followed by a 5 minute break. Workshop prices will increase on the day of the event, so we highly recommend purchasing tickets in advance!

Workshop Pricing

Prices Single workshop All 4 workshops
In Advance $15 $45
Day of the event $20 $60

Please purchase your tickets on our Eventbrite Page Sunday, February 8th to get the advanced pricing discount

Private Lessons

All instructors listed below are also available for a limited number of private lessons on Sunday. If you are interested, you may contact the instructors directly to schedule, or contact us at cpdancesport@gmail.com and we can put you in touch with the instructor you want.

Instructor Bios

Ikaika Dowsett

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 Chuang

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.








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.








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.

workshops.txt ยท Last modified: 2026/02/06 03:00 by chris