Mick Malek

Mick Malek has established himself well as an up and coming professional. He quickly went through training at the Steps in Time studio and truly began his professional career after trying out may top pros to land his current partner Sara. Together they quickly gathered the attention from the top competitive dancers in the standard division. This attention allowed them to take instruction from the US standard champions Jonathan Wilkens and Katusha Demidova. His professional accomplishments include being crowned the 2005 Future Rising Star’s in International Standard Champions at the Empire State Challenge 2005, and has been a consistent rising-star semi-finalist/finalist regionally at Heritage, Constitution State Challenge, Yankee Classic, and Tri-state Challenge. He has qualified for the national championship every year that he has competed. He is currently highly respected on the staff of the Ballroom Fever studio
in Enfield, Ct, which has won top studio 3 times in the last 7 years, including 2007 at Dancing a la carte. He has been training other professionals in the standard style at the studio for the past 3 years, in addition to his many amateur students.

Mick has been a quality instructor in the New England area for 10 years. He has coached and mentored students for college amateur and amateur competitions. He is ISTD ( Imperial Society Teachers of Dancing ) certified and has passed the medal tests for the Student Teacher, Associate and Licentiate levels in International Standard. He is also NDCA certified in the American styles. His amateur students are among the top in the country, many having consistently placed in the top 3 at the Bronze and Silver levels in Smooth and Standard styles at major competitions including Ohio Star Ball ( the largest competition in America ), Heritage, Constitution State Challenge, Yankee Classic, Tri-state Challenge and Dancing a la Carte. He has produced many Bronze and Silver champions and vice-champions at these competitions. On the collegiate circuit he has taught numerous couples from Bronze through Gold and Open levels from the UConn and UMass Amherst competative Ballroom teams. His students are semi-finalists and finalists at the major college events including UConn Competition, Brown Dancesport Challenge, Yale Winter Ball, Harvard Invitational, Holy Cross Competitions and MIT Open. He also has been the lead in initiating competitive dancesport at the High school level for Connecticut, including organizing an annual competition for the High school competitors, and coaching the East Hartford and Simsbury High Ballroom dance teams, both top teams in Connecticut; Simsbury being the strongest Ballroom dance team in the state at the High School level. Many of his High school students seek competition at the college level, competing at the Bronze and Silver levels with placements in the top 6 at MIT Open Competitions in 2006 and 2007 – the largest college ballroom competition in the country.

Helle Rusholt

Helle Rusholt started dancing at the age of 3 at her local dancing school in Aalborg, Denmark. Growing up she trained in Ballroom, Tap, Ballet and Jazz. At the age of 17 she joined the performing group at her dancing school and did her first big tour in Thailand. Since then she has toured 3 times in Thailand, Kenya and across Europe.

In 1994 she moved to London, England to concentrate purely on Latin American dancing and trained with some of the best coaches in the world. In 1998 she turned Professional. In May 2000 after nearly 7 years in London she moved to Boston to teach Ballroom dancing. She taught at a local dance studio, at MIT and at Harvard. In January 2002 Helle joined Burn The Floor and went on tour in USA, Australia and Japan.

Her results include: South of England Champion, Danish Championship Finalist, UK Rising Star Finalist, Celtic Classic Finalist, Danish Representative in the Worlds and European Championship, Quarterfinalist at the International Championships in London, England.

Helle is the Co-Owner, Artistic Director and Master Instructor of Extreme Dancesport.

In addition. Helle currently coaches the Boston University Ballroom Dance Team, UCONN Ballroom Dance Team, and the Tufts Ballroom Dance Team.

Sara Schilling

Sara Schilling was drawn to dance as a child and after experimenting with multiple styles of dancing, discovered her love of ballroom, and became a teacher 10 years ago. Sara has trained extensively with some of the world’s best coaches including Max Kozhevnikov, Yulia Zagoruychenko, Katusha Demidova, Mark Nocera, Paul Holmes, Lynn Jolicouer, Alain Doucet, and many others.

Sara began her teaching career at Arthur Murray. Following Arthur Murray, Sara used that experience to springboard her dancing career, going on to further her dance education in both American styles as well as focusing on International style. Sara is certified by the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) and has passed the medal tests for the Student Teacher, Associate, and Licentiate levels in International Standard. She is also CDF certified. After spending some time coaching for personal improvement, she went on to compete professionally. Her professional accomplishments include winning the Future Rising Stars division at the Empire State Challenge in 2005. She went on to be consistent rising star semi-finalist/finalist at Heritage Classic, Constitution State Challenge, Yankee Classic, American Star Ball, Tri-State Challenge, and the Southwestern Invitational.

Outside of her competitive career, Sara has been busy teaching throughout the New England area. She teaches East Hartford High School’s ballroom dance team, and has helped them develop into one of the best high school dance teams in CT. Sara also coaches the UConn Ballroom Dance Team as well as the Tuft’s University Ballroom Team. She currently teaches independently at the Laurie Nash Centre for Dance in CT, as well as at Studio 665 in Woburn, MA. Studio 665 is one of the top studios in the nation, winning the title of top studio in New England for 2007 and 2008. They were also ranked as the #1 Studio in the Eastern US for 2008. Among these titles, Studio 665 has won many top studio awards including Commonwealth Classic, Dansesport Montreal, Yankee Classic, and many more.

Sara is currently dancing as a representative for Canada along with her partner, Evgueni Chaoulski. They have been dancing together for 1 year, and have already became a rising couple to watch progress. They have been making finals in both the US and in Canada, including Vegas Showdown, Crystal Leaf 2008, and Dansesport Montreal. Currently, Sara and Evgueni are ranked 4th in Canada.

Garry Gekhman

Rita Gekhman

Suzanne Hamby

Dan Radler and Suzanne Hamby, graduates of MIT and Brown University respectively, gave up their careers for the love of ballroom dancing. Since teaming up in 1979, they have amassed many titles, including North American Champions, US Champions, Eastern US Champions, US Ten-Dance Champions, and New England Champions. They were chosen on four separate occassions to represent the US at the World Championships and have been invited to compete all over the world.

Dan & Suzanne have appeared in several television commercials, and have been featured on such TV programs as Evening Magazine, Good Day, CBS Evening News and The US National Grand Championships. From 1983 to 1995 they appeared nationally on Championship Ballroom Dancing with Juliet Prowse and Rita Moreno. In 1995 they were honored in a national television tribute to their many years of competitive dancing when they retired from professional competition. They are two-time recipients of the prestigious Feather Award for Best Professional Dancers in the US, having won in 1992 and 1994. Suzanne has won the 1997 Feather Award for Best Female Ballroom Dance Teacher in the US.

Dan & Suzanne have received numerous Top Teacher and Top Studio Awards, as evidenced by their students who have won many of the top dance championships. They are also among the few World Championship Adjudicators (judges) in the USA.

Dan and Suzanne teach ballroom dancing at their studios in Watertown and Southborough. Classes are also available in Framingham. They offer a full range of ballroom dance activities, group classes, private lessons, and social dance parties that are open to the public. Dan and Suzanne are also available for exhibitions, seminars and private functions.

Mark Sheldon