For a year now, a dance club has been operating in Dubai, in the Knowledge Village, where anyone can learn classical and Latin American dances. Two professional teachers from Moscow, laureates and prize-winners of numerous competitions, Anton Rykov and Andrey Tkachev, will easily show you how to move in the rhythm of salsa, samba, meringue, cha-cha-cha, rumba, waltz, tango and foxtrot. We decided to ask young coaches about how the students of Dubai are taught, what dances the people of the UAE prefer and how much the local climate has an active lifestyle.
- Guys, why did you decide to connect your life with dancing?
Anton: It all started with music. At five, my parents sent me to music school, and at nine - to dance. After that, when I began to physically not have time to go to general education and music schools, and at the same time to a dance club, I decided on dancing. In addition, noticeable results in the dance field were noted by my teachers.
Andrew: In my case, everything was much simpler. My older sister was dancing. And so the question was not to which circle to enroll me in. At the age of six, I already went to a children's dance school in Orenburg. At 19, I came to Moscow to continue my career.
- How did it happen that you joined forces and started working together?
Anton: We met six years ago in one of the elite clubs in Moscow. I have been working in this club since its inception, and when I stopped dealing with a large flow of students, Andrei, one of the first invited teachers, joined me. At that time, we slowly began to move away from various contests and competitions and began to pay more attention to teaching.
- By the way, in what contests and competitions did you have to participate?
Anton: We took part in all the main ballroom dancing competitions, which are in Russia and Europe. This is the Russian Dance Championships and the Blackpool Dance Festival, which has become the legend of the ballroom world. For those who are not in the know, I will say that Blackpool is a resort city in the north-west of England. The first dance festival was held there in 1921, and, starting from this moment, began to be held annually. Over the years of its existence, it has essentially turned into an open World Championship, and today the Blackpool Festival is the most prestigious tournament for dancers from all over the world. Every dancer dreams of performing at this festival, in which there is no judging or rating. We also took part in the international championship - the International Championship, the UK Championship - the UK Championship, the Championships of Germany and Italy, and many other world-class competitions. By the way, for eight years I represented the Spartak club at competitions.
- Can we safely assume that you traveled almost all of Europe?
Andrew: And there is. I must say that dance competitions and contests are held around the world literally every week. In order to rise in the list of world rankings, rating points are awarded at official tournaments of the Federation. The more couples participate in various official tournaments and competitions throughout the year, the more likely they are to get on the world ranking list, which will undoubtedly help them in the World Cup finals, the Russian Championship and the Russian Cup, the Moscow Open Championship, inter-club rating tournaments and so on. Further. I would like to note that in addition to classes in a dance club, we are actively participating in the project "School of Champions" in Moscow.
Anton: We are the direct organizers of this grandiose project. "School of Champions" is a congress of sports dance lovers, held once a year in winter, to which a whole galaxy of world-famous stars is invited to conduct master classes. Here, lecture classes alternate with practical ones, everyone who wants to be a teacher, trainer or professional can personally work with our foreign lecturers, get advice and corrections from them.
- How and when did you get the idea to open a dance club in Dubai?
Andrew: We came to this city as tourists almost every year. Everything, like everyone else - the sun, sea, beach, palm trees ... Of course, we were in a state of complete delight after our every trip to this eastern country, where traditional Islamic and modern cultures intertwine. In addition, we saw the pace of development of this emirate, its real estate and trade market. We wanted to become a part of this country, to bring the people living here closer to the beautiful.
By the way, our "brainchild" has the status of a club, not a school of ballroom dancing. Our students come here not only in order to learn how to move beautifully, but also with the aim of spending pleasant leisure time. Here you can chat, share news, joke with friends. We often meet with our “students” and outside the club, we go to various entertainment events together.
Anton: I want to add that our club is united by the main idea - dancing. The idea to open a similar club in Dubai arose more than a year ago.
We found significant support in the person of the director of the branch of St. Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics (INJECON) in Dubai, associate professor Vladimir Mikhailovich Troikalo. He kindly provided us with one of the audiences, which was remade into a dance hall. In fact, what does a dancer need? A lot of mirrors, good parquet and music.
Our first students were university students, who to this day regularly attend our classes after the main lectures. Modern ballroom dance today is a synthesis of art and sport. Starting to develop with the European program, today ballroom dancing is popular all over the world in many respects due to the Latin American direction, which we also teach.
- Can a person who has never been involved in dancing in his life, but have a desire to learn, start dancing rumba or salsa?
Anton: Easy! In Dubai, nightclubs with Latin American music are popular and, in fact, it will be possible to learn the basic movements of the same salsa in three lessons. Of course, you will not dance as a professional, since this requires years of intensive training, but it’s possible to move beautifully in the rhythm of music under the admiring glances of those present. The main continent of our multinational club, by the way, the lessons are held in English, are adults, independent people. Of course, in the club we give classes for the smallest. True, working with children is a little more difficult. As a rule, children's lessons are divided into two parts. In the first part, the children learn new movements, and the second part - the game. The main thing here is to be patient, and the results will not be long in coming.
I would like to emphasize that thanks to dancing you can significantly reduce weight. So, as an example, we can cite a case from our club: in three months of dancing, one of our students lost 8.5 kilograms. She studied with her son, whose weight at seven years exceeded all permissible norms. Two months of our lessons allowed the child to lose almost six kilograms. Dancing does not build muscle, and bring them into tone. In this case, of course, it is important to understand that dancing should be done regularly, several times a week. To achieve the ideal weight, the duration of continuous performance of dance movements should be at least 30-40 minutes. The frequency of classes is at least three times a week.
Andrew: The local climate contributes to the fact that we ourselves, without noticing it, gain weight. Firstly, it is a constant movement by car. There is no way, as in our homeland, to walk along the streets of the city on foot. Secondly, because of the constant heat, a person becomes more lazy. That is why there are so many locals and residents who are overweight. While dancing, you can combine business with pleasure: start moving beautifully and holding posture plus lose weight.
- Do you conduct individual lessons?
Anton: Yes of course. Such classes are mainly recorded middle-aged men who are shy to dance in a group. But we still strongly recommend that they join the group after individual lessons. This allows a person to be liberated, and in the future helps him to express himself differently in various matters.
Andrew: Individual lessons are for mastering the theory, and group lessons are for gaining practical skills.
- What is the cost of classes at your club?
Anton: The price of a subscription in our club is 500 drx per person per month. At the same time, students are free to attend any number of lessons per month. We have created a three-level training system. There are only two levels of training in the Latin dance program. Students have a choice: if you want to remember the basics, you can attend the elementary course, if the skills are more stable, go to classes of the continuing group. One academic hour of individual lessons costs 200 drh.
- What in the future?
Anton: In our future plans - the development of a dance club, access to new heights. The dance boom that is going on around the world today, until, alas, has affected the UAE. It’s worth mentioning, for example, such grandiose international television projects as “Dancing with the Stars”, “Dancing Without Rules”, “Stars on Ice”, “Ice Age” and others, which are extremely popular among both participants and spectators .
We would really like the local population and government to pay more attention to this area. After all, since ancient times, the basic cultural requirements around the world were the ability to play any musical instrument, knowledge of a foreign language and dance.
We would like to organize an international tournament in Dubai, there are a huge number of people who want to participate, thanks to our connections in the global dance field. For our part, we commit ourselves to cultivate new young talents so that they adequately represent the UAE at future international ballroom dancing competitions.
- Do you want to wish anything to our readers?
Anton and Andrey: We want it! If you want to move beautifully to music, if you want to lose weight, if you have free time, and you don’t know what to do in the evenings, if you are single and want to make new friends in a foreign country, keep in mind: the doors of our club are always open for you!
Well, until you have finally “grown into” the sofa, until the TV has become the only means of communication with the outside world, until some other interest club has taken you under its wing, it may be worth listening to Andrei and Anton, and try yourself in a new quality. And maybe then life in Dubai will not seem boring and uninteresting to you, and new friends will allow you to discover a new world. Everybody is dancing? Ask yourself ...
