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 also a dancer and choreographer with Dance Station’s professional dance company, Body Flight, 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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Kristine Poole, originally from Michigan, spent her early years participating in various team and individual sports and pursuing her art. After graduating from Northern Michigan University with a Fine Arts degree, she relocated to Santa Fe where she worked at the foundry at Shidoni.
It was in Santa Fe that she first discovered ballroom dancing and was immediately hooked. She applied her determination and extraordinary talents to become a nationally recognized dancer and teacher. She is also head choreographer for Body Flight, Dance Station’s professional company.
Kristine still enjoys the respite of her art and spends time working in various mediums.
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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 Body Flight, Mary enjoys running and snowboarding — and, of course, dancing!
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Born in Ruidoso, Karen Collazo grew up square dancing with her mom and dad and watching ballroom competitions on PBS. Mom would make the family’s dance costumes, including Western shirts for her dad and can-cans with matching skirts for Karen and her sister. “When I look back at my life there has always been dancing,” Karen says.
Karen competed as an amateur level for five years, frequently with Lawrence as her professional partner and Dave Cremers as her amateur partner. She danced with both at the 2006 Holiday Classic in Las Vegas, a huge event that attracted more than 11,000 entries. She’s also studied with Kristine and has been coached by national champions. “Dancing has always lifted my heart and brought me pure joy,” Karen says.
Now Karen has made the transition from amateur dancer to professional, passing on her love of dance to her own students.
“I use to have dreams of dancing in front of mirrors; now I have memories of dancing under chandeliers,” Karen says.
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Born in the San Francisco Bay area, April Evans grew up in California, Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico and Pennsylvania before settling down in northern New Mexico. She started ballroom dancing when she was 15. Her parents were taking lessons and encouraged April and her sisters to dance instead of just watching. April has been dancing ever since.
In 1998, April moved to Santa Fe to teach social and ballroom dancing full-time. She also belongs to the Body Flight dance performance team. “I love being part of Body Flight because I get to share my love of dance with a very talented and creative team of performers,” April says.
When April is not in the studio, you can find her camping, hiking and doing just about anything in the outdoors. All of the tone and balance she practices as a dancer pays off in her latest hobby, the motorcycle sport known as trials. Instead of high-speed racing, a trials rider navigates an obstacle course of logs, boulders, and other impediments at slow speed while trying not to put a foot down.
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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. She is also a member of Body Flight.
