Meet Our Instructors
Barbara Nicholas-Owner/Director and instructor at Barbara's Dancing Tonight!
Teaching people to social dance is a real adventure! Everyday is different and rewarding.
I started teaching social dance in Davis in 1992. I am an East Coast transplant and was a self-proclaimed multi-career woman until the day I started to teach ballroom dancing at Arthur Murray's in New Jersey. There, I realized a job doesn't have to feel like work. Since then I settled into being a hometown Davis, ballroom dance instructor.
Barbara's Dancing Tonight Studio has been my California family since 1992. Through the years I have been blessed and privileged to have taught many Davis residents the art of social dancing. Learning to dance is not only fun, but also a life changing experience. At Dancing Tonight, you may come in a wallflower, but you'll leave a dancer!
Brinda Lee
Brenda is a Comparative Literature and Art Student at UC Davis. She started dancing Swing in middle school and was introduced to Latin dancing in high school. Traveling, reading and outdoor advertising are among her hobbies and of course, she loves to dance! As a teacher, Brinda has found a new passion: Sharing her love of dance with those around her.
Mallory Gorenzel
Mallory took her first dance lesson at the age of sixteen at Barbara's Dancing Tonight Studio in Davis, CA. It was there that she discovered her passion for Latin dance, particularly, Salsa. At Barbara's and many Bay Area clubs and studios, Mallory continued to improve her skill and love for the dance. All of the hard work and time has paid off and she is now an instructor teaching Latin, Ballroom and Swing throughout the Davis Community.
Van Lay
Van graduated from UC. Davis with a B. S. degree in Food Science and Technology. Van started with Chinese Folk Dancing at age eight. After three years she took a long hiatus from dancing which ended in college. Van learned Salsa and West Coast Swing in college and since moved into the ballroom world. She is now a Multiple Subject Credentialed Teacher and Zumba Instructor. Van hopes to promote dancing and fitness in the education field and community.
 Sheila Eghbali
Sheila began her dance training at the Madam Yelena School of Ballet and Iranian Classical Dance in Tehran Iran, at the age of 10 under the instruction of Mrs. Khachaturian. At the age of 12 she began her training in choreography and has been actively choreographing Iranian dances since. Upon immigrating to the U.S. at the age of 12, she continued with her dance activities through participating in international events.
In college, she joined the Iranian Student Cultural and Aesthetic Organization at UC Davis and began teaching dance and performing at major on and off campus events. She started with a group of 5 female students and upon graduation, her group composed of 25 male and female students and won the "Outstanding Choreographer" award from the organization. During her residency at UC Davis, she took classes in Ballet and Jazz to further develop her classical dance skills. Meanwhile, she taught kids at the Persian Language program of the Sacramento LIbrary Association.
Upon graduation, she continued to teach at UC Davis for two years while taking Ballet, Jazz and Hip Hop classes as well as participating in a few rare opportunities of Iranian dance workshops.
She returned to UC Davis for her graduate studies and began to teach classes through the Experimental College at which point she developed her own syllabus for all the basic steps in classical Iranian Dance. She also established the Iranian Dance Team on campus and trained 26 dancers through out the year for various performances. In the meantime, she reestablished her classes for kids and youth ranging from the 7-15 years of age. In 2006, she returned to Iran for an intensive training in regional folk dances by the well known Iranian dance instructor Mrs. Kishipour (mother and daughter). The Iranian Dance Team is now subdivided to an average of 9-11 dances per year of 8 different classical and regional styles. Sheila has always been interested in Latin and Ballroom dance but hadn't found the best venue through which she could more effectively learn. Upon returning to Davis, she joined Barbara's Dancing Tonight and he interest rapidly grew. Given her extensive dance background, Sheila quickly picked dup the various dances and because of immense enthusiasm and motivation, through a year of intensive training and private lessons, she reached a level of proficiency to join the staff at Barbara's Dancing Tonight.
Ian Brown
Ian Brown is a dance teaching type of person. Imagine That. He's been dancing for about 2 years now and has enjoyed every minute of it. His favorite dances are Swing and probably Cha Cha, although he's gotten and elbow to the face doing that one on at least one occasion. Ian attends the local high school and spends most of the rest of his time sleeping, doing homework, or at Barbara's with the teen class, levels 1 and 3 and the Swing Kids. Outside interests include computers, art of all types, music-everything from trance to rock, video games and writing.
 Allison Johnson
Allison Johnson has been working with Barbara Nicholas in the Davis dance community for over 10 years. She started at Barbara's Dancing Tonight Studio in 1994 when she joined the Davis Swing Kids Dance Team. Prior to starting ballroom dancing she was a tap dancer with the Curry Dance Academy. There she was fortunate enough to study under the tutelage of Jere and Julie Curry and Bill Strickland. Her love of dance began at the age of three with her first tap recital and has since grown into a love of sharing social dance with others. Allie invites you to come to Barbara's Dancing Tonight to see what ballroom dancing has to offer.
More bios and pics of instructors coming soon!
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