Dance is alive and kicking in the 209.
Just ask Nicole Dickey, who is working with the Delta College dance program along with a local non-profit dance company.
“I try to keep up with anything dance-related in Stockton – it’s a good business,” said the local mother of two.
At Delta College, she’s one of the instructors of the Movement Discovery workshop class, which is one to all ages.
Dickey is also helped out by the Yameci Dance Company (www.yamecidancecompany.com). This non-profit group looks to raise money to further dance education within the many communities while promoting the arts and culture.
She’s a longtime member of Kaos Dance Company.
Dance is her passion. Her father, Don, who is an accomplished area musician, had wanted his oldest daughter to continue pursuing the piano, but Dickey chose to follow her heart.
“Dance is your pulse, your heartbeat, your breathing. It’s the rhythm of your life, it’s the expression in time and movement, in happiness, joy, sadness and envy,” she said, sharing a quote from legendary dancer Jacques d’Ambroise via social media.
Dickey does break dance, contemporary, modern dance, hip hop, jazz, African, hula and Tahitian.
When it comes to ballet, Alexei Badrak and Rinna Roberts are in charge of the International Ballet Institute (www.intlballettheaterinstitute.org) in Lodi.
“(Alexei) is also teaching a ballet class this semester at Delta,” she said.
Badrak, a Russian immigrant formerly with the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, and Roberts are in the process of writing a book about the origins of ballet, according to Dickey.
He’s a graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory and Ukraine Choreographic School, and is laureate of the Moscow Competition of Ballet Masters.
When it comes to swing (East Coast, West Coast or Lindy Hop), smooth dances – namely, Waltz, Tango, Fox trot – or Latin dances such as Salsa, Cha-cha, or Rumba, Cathy Medeiros is the ballroom dancing queen.
On the first Wednesday of each month, Medeiros conducts a 90 minute sessions at Oak Park Senior Center, 730 E. Fulton St. Stockton, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
The program is through the City of Stockton and is open to anyone age 9 and up with a skill level ranging from beginner to advance.
No partner is required.
At her Ballroom Boot Camp in Weston Ranch, 1299 Lloyd Thayer Circle Stockton, Medeiros offers private lessons for one or two people via appointment-only on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday evenings.
Some of her clients are engaged couples who are looking to make that first dance at the wedding a memorable one.
More information and prices are available by calling 209.406.9239 or logging on to www.theballroombootcamp.com.
