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. Dance teachers who've won tons of dance competitions and 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

While we do occasionally hire other teachers, the only other permanent teacher we use is Pamela Podmoroff - not because she's incredibly technically knowledgeable or because she's one of Canada's top competitive dancers (all of which she is) - but because SHE KNOWS HOW TO TEACH! 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.

Angela

Angela Amici has been training as a dancer since the age of 7. Starting with jazz, she ten 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.