Everything You Need To Know About The Urban Beat Dance Co
Who Are We?
We're a motley bunch of Hip Catz & Cool Dames, Lounge Lizards and Salsa Chix, Girly Men and Manly Girls.
We're absolute beginners, intermediates and experts of all ages, races, and orientations.
We're the talented as well as the totally klutzy people you see dancing and having fun while you sit around and watch.
Our History
The Urban Beat Dance Co. was started in Toronto several years ago by Graeme Oxendale and Lisa Jacobs. Their classes soon became so insanely popular they had to expand.
Graeme decided to move back to Vancouver (his home town) to be with his sweetie, Elizabeth, in 1999 and they soon had the most popular classes in town. They were named "The Best/Coolest Dance Instructors in Vancouver" by Vancouver Magazine. They were honored in 2004 by Albert Torres (the #1 Salsa Promoter in the world) at the 2nd Annual Vancouver Salsa congress for their contribution to the Vancouver salsa scene: said Albert, "Their salsa classes are the most popular in Vancouver and they have brought more beginners into the salsa scene than anyone else."
Elizabeth
and Graeme married in 2000 and had their first child, Spencer, in 2004.
Spencer (aka Lil' Dude) can be seen groovin' and grinnin' at many of their
classes and he's already been featured on City TV: "The youngest
member of The Urban Beat Dance Co."
Our Teachers
While virtually every local teacher has asked to work for The Urban Beat Dance Co. and they have their pick of the best, they use only one guideline to hire teachers - can they teach average people well? Dance teachers who've won tons of dance competitions or teachers with many, many, technical qualifications are a dime a dozen. Dance teachers who know how to keep it simple, how to teach the average person, the beginner or the 'challenged person' well AND make it fun at the same time, are rarer than hen's teeth. How to pick a good teacher for you
Graeme
Graeme's strength as a teacher made headlines in the National Post, which
carried his departure to Vancouver: "Toronto's King of West Cost
Swing leaves town." His 15 years+ of dance training and impressive
teaching style ("Vancouver's Best" - Vancouver Magazine) explains
his success. He has been featured in music videos, CBC TV ( the Ralph
Benmergui show), City TV in Toronto, City TV in Vancouver, Urban Rush
in Vancouver, and the Life Network.
Elizabeth
Elizabeth has a background in several dance styles: jazz, hip hop, ballet and modern and over 10 years experience in such partner dances as country, swing, and salsa. Elizabeth's highest achievement was the birth of her baby boy. She makes pretty good blueberry pancakes too. Her dancing has been seen on City TV, Urban Rush, and the Life Network.
Pamela
Pamela Podmoroff is not only incredibly technically knowledgeable and is one of Canada's top competitive dancers - but SHE KNOWS HOW TO TEACH! That's a rare package. Her sweet, down-to-earth disposition have made her indispensable to Urban Beat and simply adored by her students.
Pamela Podmoroff has over 14 years of experience in ballet, jazz, tap and modern dance. Pamela then began partner dancing with ballroom and latin, and eventually went on to take her 1st west coast swing class with the Urban Beat! Pamela is currently one of Canada's top West Coast Swing competitors, with many wins, including a 2nd place finish at the Holy Grail of Swing - the US Open Swing Dance Championships. Pamela teaches a variety of dances for us, including West coast swing (aka Club Style Swing), East coast swing, salsa, freestyle nightclub dancing, and now - ballroom. Pam's ability to teach simply and keep it fun have quickly made her classes very popular.
Roger
Roger teaches our salsa 3, advanced salsa classes as well as our dip/drops, Bachata and Merengue workshops.
Roger Chen started dancing at the age of 11 and has not stopped a beat since then. A big fan of hip hop and pop music, Roger soon found himself immersed in performing hip hop. In '95 he discovered swing dancing and in 97, the Salsa rhythm found Roger and hooked him. Roger knows many styles of salsa: Cuban, Columbian, LA style. He now prefers modern New York style Salsa/Mambo. He has performed with great dancers of Vancouver such as Laura Machi and L.A's Princess of Salsa - Josie Neglia - at the Vancouver Salsa congress. His irreverent and hilarious commentary while teaching keeps the students laughing while they learn.
Angela
Angela Amici has been training as a dancer since the age of 7. Starting with jazz, she then moved to hip hop, ballet, and eventually to salsa. Since she was nineteen, Angela has danced on a professional level competing and performing internationally in a variety of styles. She has worked for local Vancouver performing groups and artists. She has recently appeared on Shaw’s TV’s Urban Rush and the 24hr news paper for her extremely popular pussycat doll dance classes. Students love her for her enthusiasm, sense of humor, beginner friendly classes and her funny stories of her Italian Canadian heritage.