Instructors
Juan Rando. Founder & Co-Principal Instructor.
Primary Dances : Argentine Tango, Salsa, West Coast Swing, Triple Step Mambo
Secondary Dances : Zouk, Samba de Gafieira,
Amanda Metcalf. Co-Principal Instructor.
Primary Dances : Argentine Tango, Salsa, West Coast Swing, Samba no Pe.
Secondary Dances : Zouk, Samba de Gafieira, Triple Step Mambo (Cha Cha)
Amanda began dancing at the age of 19 and has immersed herself in the passion ever since. As studio principal and senior dance instructor, her style repertoire covers Argentine Tango, Salsa (Cuban, Millennium “On1” and New York “On 2” styles), Cha Cha, Brazilian Samba and West Coast Swing.
Training in the United States, Argentina, Cuba and Sydney, Amanda prides herself in presenting the very best in individual technique, partner connection, style and sentiment in all her dances. In her full time position at JRDA, Amanda conducts private lessons, Beginner to Advanced course classes (including specialist classes), performance groups, school groups and styling classes.
Amanda is now the most high profile & successful female instructor in Samba, Salsa & Argentine Instructor in Perth, and is currently booked full time with both private and group classes.
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Premala Sangarananda.
Premala has danced since 1985 doing Classical Indian Dancing. She is an acclaimed professional dancer, having travelled and performed in India, Malaysia, Singapore, United States, and parts of Europe. She still performs and teaches Bharatha Natyam and Odissi under Mudhra Dance Company. Premala is now choreographing for a variety of WA based dance schools and sits on the board of Ausdance WA. In 2006, she was the Festival Director for the West Coast Salsa Congress (Australia) and is still involved in organising the Congress, as well their monthly Saturday Salsa Fiesta nights.
Starting Salsa in 2005, Premala has developed her love of Salsa and other Latin styles by turning her hobby into a profession in May 2006. Premala now teaches Millennium “On 1” and was instrumental in developing the Afro Cuban Contemporary movement at JRDA. Her love for the dance means that not only does she dance all styles of Salsa taught at JRDA, but also Bachata, Merengue and Cha Cha. Premala has also performed Salsa at the 2005 Perth Latin Festival and the 2006 and 2007 Sydney Salsa Congress. She has performed Afro Cuban with Modus Vivendi, under Latin Motion at the Hong Kong Salsa Festival 2007 and the New Zealand Pacific Congress 2007.
Ben Leane
Ben started attending classes at JRDA in 2003, having come from a strong musical background, playing as a percussionist and multi-instrumentalist for most of his life.
This knowledge has given him an insight into the rich Latin music, which he uses to express his own individuality in his dancing. Ben has experience in the many styles of dance offered at JRDA, with a passion for New York “On 2” and Bachata, as well as Millennium, Cuban, Cha Cha and Argentine Tango. He performed at the 2006 West Coast Salsa Congress (Australia) and 2007 Sydney Salsa Congress, plus various other functions. Ben also trains and competes in Ballroom dancing and is a DJ for many Latin parties and events.
Karl Ullrich
Karl was first introduced to dancing by friends in 2004. This first class in Cuban salsa ignited a love for Salsa that has now led to a full time career at JRDA. After taking up Millennium “On 1” in 2005 (the style that is still his primary addiction), Karl became passionate about developing Salsa in Perth and these days not only teaches and dances at JRDA, but also runs the Administration side of the studio.
He was a member of the West Coast Salsa Congress (Australia) Committee in 2006 and continues to be involved in the Congress, as well as the WCSC (Australia) hosted Saturday Salsa Fiesta nights. In 2007, Karl performed at the Sydney Salsa Congress, the Malaysian International Salsa Congress and the India Salsa Congress. He is committed to constantly developing his own dancing by attending congresses, both interstate and abroad, and learning from the best Salsa instructors in the world.
Phil Whitecross
Phil started his dancing career in 1987, at the young age of six. After dancing jazz/ballet for two years, he moved into Ballroom dancing and completed all of his Ballroom medals before becoming a professional competitor in New Vogue.
Whilst still competing in Ballroom, Phil began to extend his repertoire by commencing club style and break dancing. After only two years of training in those styles, he competed in the 1996 World Break Dance Competition, held in Kuala Lumpur, winning the Individual and Teams events. Upon his return, Phil moved into the Latin styles of Ballroom, before starting the Cuban salsa classes at JRDA in 1998. Phil began teaching Cuban Salsa for JRDA in 2001 and after a break, is now back bigger and better than ever, becoming a full-time dance instructor.
Ed Henderson
Ed became a member of JRDA in 2001. Although he started as a student, he became hooked on Salsa within weeks and soon started to help with running the administration side of the classes.
He was a part of the 2002 and 2003 salsa performance groups and went on to complete the necessary internal training to become a Cuban Salsa instructor at the start of 2003. Combined with several stints as the studio Administrator, Ed has become an integral part of JRDA. As well as teaching, he has been responsible for managing various off-site classes for JRDA (including the popular Cuban classes at the Deen Hotel) and has also been involved in the organisation of other large events, including JRDA’s Tango and Salsa Balls, the 2005 Perth Latin Festival and 2006 West Coast Salsa Congress (Australia).
Don Webb
Don has been a member of JRDA since late 1999 and began teaching in 2002, whilst completing the Cuban Salsa curriculum as both a student and an instructor.
In 2004, he completed the entire Cuban curriculum and was proclaimed a JRDA master instructor. Don is a regular at salsa events Australia-wide and has sampled numerous styles of dance, including Millennium “On 1”, Argentine Tango, Bachata, Merengue and Cha Cha. His enthusiasm for New York “On 2” style salsa has never wavered and continues to be his preferred style of salsa.
Jaime Shepherdson
Jaime started out in Ballroom dancing at the age of 12 and spent the next 10 years completing her ballroom medals (including her Oscars).
Whilst looking for a new style of dancing to move into, Jaime came across an article about Argentine Tango at JRDA. She decided to give it a try in 2002 and is still hooked, having performed at JRDA’s Tango Ball in 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2003, she was finally persuaded to try salsa and like many others, instantly became addicted. Jaime became a Salsa instructor in 2005 and teaches both Cuban and Millennium style. She was also involved in organising the 2005 Perth Latin Festival and 2006 West Coast Salsa Congress (Australia).
Stewart McLean
Stewart spent four months at Gilkinsons in early 2000 learning ballroom dancing. When he was introduced to Cuban salsa at the Varga lounge a few months later, he knew this was the dance for him.
One year later, in mid-2001, Stewart was invited to join instructor training. He started teaching shortly after completing his Beginners 1 training and has been teaching his way up through the Cuban curriculum ever since. Stewart was a member of the Rueda performance team in 2002 and 2003 that performed at the LACA Winter Carnival and WA Ballroom Dancing Championships. JRDA’s introduction of LA Style salsa (now Millennium “On 1”), saw Stewart immediately attending classes and it has now become his preferred style of salsa. He attended the 2005 Perth Latin Festival and 2006 West Coast Salsa Congress to learn from internationally renowned instructors, such as Oliver Pineda and Jaime Jesus and in 2007, he has started learning New York “On 2” to continue to expand his salsa repertoire.
Zara Howard
Zara spent her childhood dancing Jazz Ballet, before starting Salsa at JRDA in 2001. She soon became addicted and started dancing four nights a week. 2002 proved to be a busy year for Zara, as she not only started instructor training, but was teaching by the end of the year and performing in “Latin Legends” at the Burswood Showrooms.
Zara has continued to work on her dancing, travelling to London several times and taking classes with a variety of instructors, including the ever-popular “Super Mario”. Her addiction to dance has spread to other styles, including Cha Cha, Jive, Argentine Tango, Merengue and Bachata. In addition to her dance experience, Zara is also a qualified school teacher and has recently started teaching basic dance skills to junior primary students.
Chenelle Dewar
Chenelle started learning jazz, ballet, contortion, acrobatics and tap from the age of four. At 12, she started Ballroom and soon began competing, specialising in Latin. In 10 years of competition, Chenelle competed in many countries (including UK, Italy, Singapore, Belgium and Holland).
She has won a number of prestigious competitions including the Singapore International Junior and Singapore Super Star Amateur Championships and the Pan Pacific. Whilst competing in Ballroom, Chenelle became interested in Salsa and won the Western Australian Salsa Competition in 2001 and 2002. After retiring from Ballroom in 2002, Chenelle began teaching Salsa for JRDA. She continues to teach Salsa, Ballroom and Latin Dancing and specialises in choreographing Wedding Dances.
