{"id":8223,"date":"2025-01-07T09:42:15","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T14:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/ny-downtown\/?page_id=8223"},"modified":"2025-01-07T10:01:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T15:01:53","slug":"news","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/ny-downtown\/news\/","title":{"rendered":"Fred Astaire Dance Studios, in the News!"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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News & Press<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Latest Fred Astaire News and Press<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAt Fred Astaire Dance Studios, it\u2019s always exciting when our talented staff & students, and exciting events & locations are celebrated in the media! From local community stories to national news, our goal is to help share the inspiring examples of how the positive and transforming power of dance enriches lives \u2013 physically, mentally, emotionally and socially. Browse these links, and perhaps discover something new and engaging about dance. Then, step in to Fred Astaire Dance Studios and experience the joy and confidence that dance lessons can bring to your life.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Getting into the Swing of It at a New Downtown Dance Studio<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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By APRIL KORAL
Posted May. 03, 2018
From its corner windows set eight floors above Broadway, at Reade Street, Lower Manhattan\u2019s only ballroom dance school commands a far-reaching vista of Downtown. In the evening the city lights are the made-to-order backdrop for this spacious studio with its sparkling chandeliers and perfectly polished floors, where students and teachers twirl to elegant Viennese waltzes, foxtrot to velvety Sinatra numbers or glide, closely pressed, to sultry tango rhythms.<\/p>

The students at the Fred Astaire Downtown Dance Studio are a lively crowd\u2014new parents and retirees, a dentist and a psychiatrist, old hands and first-timers. The oldest student, 87, commutes from Murray Hill by subway for her twice-a-week lessons.<\/p>

\u201cAnyone can learn how to dance,\u201d Svitlana Gliebova said one recent afternoon as a young couple practiced the foxtrot, their upcoming wedding night dance. Gliebova and her husband, Artur Sveshnikov, along with Mykhailo Azarov and Tetyana Makarenko, who are also married, are the instructors and co-owners of the studio, which opened last fall. Friends since their days at Ukraine\u2019s National University of Culture and Arts in Kiev, they come from a country where ballroom dancing is deeply ingrained in the culture.<\/p>

\u201cBetween the first and third grade, everyone took ballroom and Latin dancing, Sveshnikov, a native of Odessa, said. \u201cIt was another subject like math and reading.\u201d Some students took dancing lessons after school, too. \u201cOne of the girls in my class was doing that, and I was in love with her so I did it, too,\u201d Sveshnikov recalled. By the time Sveshnikov was seven, he was competing.<\/p>

Azarov and Makarenko, who perform together, are world champions in ballroom dancing as well as theater art\/cabaret dancing that features the male dancer performing dramatic lifts and spins of his partner, routines that require tremendous strength and stamina. This month the couple is competing in the invitational Blackpool Dance Festival in England, an international competition and the most prestigious of them all.<\/p>

Students at the school have more modest ambitions, of course, and their motivations for taking dance as varied as they are.<\/p>

Katie and Aneil Shirke, who began taking lessons in January, practice their steps at a studio dance party. As parents of two young children, they say dancing has been a good way to leave their roles as mom and dad.
Bob Townley, executive director of Manhattan Youth, said he was looking for something to do at night instead of being a \u201ccouch potato.\u201d He took up yoga for a while but hurt himself and Pilates didn\u2019t appeal to him. Then he heard about the studio and it seemed worth trying.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m not really concerned that much with my proficiency, more with just doing it, with the experience,\u201d he said. \u201cI won\u2019t be putting on my top hat any time soon.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a way to burn calories,\u201d said Dr. Pasquale Malpeso, a dental surgeon who takes double lessons at least four times a week. \u201cI\u2019ve lost 30 pounds in the last six months.\u201d<\/p>

Ten years ago, Lorraine Dimson, a longtime resident of Southbridge Towers near the Seaport, wanted to fill some free days on a visit to Arizona. She remembers happening upon an ad for a Fred Astaire Studio and thinking, \u201cI\u2019ll go dancing.\u201d She hasn\u2019t stopped since and now takes lessons twice a week.<\/p>

While Lorraine Dimson takes a lesson with Artur Sveshnikov, Mykhailo Azarov and Tetyana Makarenko practice the routine they will perform at an upcoming competition in England. The couple are World Duel de Cabaret champions and three-time Fred Astaire World Champions. Photo: Carl Glassman\/Tribeca Trib
Though generous with their praise, the teachers hold their students to a high standard. \u201cThe teachers really put their heart and souls into it,\u201d Malpeso said. \u201cThey want to make sure you understand all the basics, A to Z and why you\u2019re doing a particular move.\u201d<\/p>

During a recent lesson, Dimson worked on her tango with Sveshnikov, repeatedly wrapping her leg around his and then lifting it.<\/p>

\u201cPut your foot up and then release it right away,\u201d he tells her until she finally gets it. Sveshnikov gives her a high five, \u201cThat\u2019s it!\u2019 he exclaims.<\/p>

\u201cI said to Artur, \u2018Let\u2019s cut that one out, I can\u2019t do it,\u2019 Dimson recalled. He said, \u2018No, we\u2019re not.\u2019 They know you can do it.\u201d<\/p>

Gene Young, the studio\u2019s 87-year-old student, does a graceful waltz and foxtrot but doesn\u2019t think she has the \u201crhythm\u201d to learn the rumba. Azarov thinks otherwise.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s all in your hips,\u201d he tells her, demonstrating with some rubbery moves of his own midsection.<\/p>

\u201cIf I want to be a dancer,\u201d she concedes, \u201cI should be able to dance everything.\u201d<\/p>

A Tribeca couple, Katie Shirke (she teaches ballet at Manhattan Youth on weekends) and her husband, Aneil Shirke, began taking lessons in January.<\/p>

She especially extols the benefits of ballroom dancing for parents, like them, of young children. After their Friday night class she and her husband get dinner or a drink and she says the weekly ritual gives them the chance to step out of their usual roles as mom and dad of a 4 and 6 year old. \u201cIt\u2019s nice not have any obligations,\u201d she said, \u201cand just laugh and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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