Owner and manager of Dance Station, Lawrence Black is a native New Mexican who since 1994 has taught hundreds of Santa Feans to dance.
He came to Santa Fe to attend St. John’s College, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts. It was at St. John’s that he discovered ballroom and other forms of partner dancing.
Lawrence enjoys competing with students of all levels. Even when he is not working, Lawrence enjoys dancing for fun. He is currently competing in the Professional Smooth division with dance partner Mary Brennecke.
He is also a dancer and choreographer with Dance Station, which performs often in the Santa Fe area. Lawrence has been recognized as a top Pro-Am teacher at several competitions during his career.
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Mary Brennecke started dancing at the age of four and hasn’t stopped yet.
As a child growing up in Houston, Mary studied ballet, tap, jazz, and clogging. She performed and competed through high school.
Even college didn’t slow her down. Mary was a member of the Kilgore College dance team and got to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and at the Cotton Bowl.
In 2003, Mary graduated from Southwest Texas State University with two bachelor’s degrees, one in anthropology and one in history. After briefly pursuing a lifestyle by the beach in San Diego, Mary moved to Santa Fe in 2006 and began working at Dance Station.
When she isn’t teaching at Dance Station or dancing with Lawrence her dance partner, Mary enjoys running and snowboarding — and, of course, dancing!
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It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got Mike Garcia’s swing. A professional dancer since 1996, Mike realized early on that swing dancing was his calling. As a member of the local dance company High Altitude Swing, Mike taught and performed all over New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona. He’s also worked with other local groups including the Santa Fe Social Club and Tango U.S.A., and has been a member of the Moving People dance company since 2000.
An evangelist of swing, Mike has taught swing dance at St. John’s College, the College of Santa Fe, the World College in Las Vegas, N.M., and for a year was a mentor at the Monte Del Sol middle school.
Mike’s quest to learn from the best teachers and dancers in the world has taken him as far as Sweden. Among his coaches was Frankie Manning, the “Ambassador of Lindy Hop.”
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His willingness to try something new brought Jason Miller to Dance Station. He had considered various options and decided one night to join an introduction to social dance class, and that class changed his life. Given Jason’s background as an athlete, he was immediately drawn to the dancing, both as social outlet, as well as an athletic art form.
Jason is a native Santa Fean and works with PV Constructors, building mostly commercial properties. Despite his physically demanding regime of building by day and dancing by night, his favorite hobbies are still playing soccer and snowboarding.
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It’s all because of her third-grade drillette team, Cheryl Noonan says. The Santa Fe native says that her early experience got her hooked on dancing. Cheryl studied jazz dancing off and on through high school, but when she was introduced to ballroom dancing that was it.
“As a child I always wanted to become a dancer, and I feel safe in saying that I am living that dream,” Cheryl says.
Cheryl and her husband, a Santa Fe firefighter, have two young children. When she isn’t dancing or taking care of her kids and the family dog, Cheryl likes riding her bike and going camping with the family.
