Today we’d like to introduce you to Mikhail Nikolaev.
Hi Mikhail, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I ended up as a profession ballroom dance because of my mom. She brought me to my very first class at 5 years old and of course I didn’t like it. It took me some time to get into dancing and actually to start enjoying it. Somehow I stick around and continued my dance practice. With time ballroom dancing became my hobby for life and I was deeply into it, my dance school became my place of happy escape. I remember my first serious travel to Germany for a big annual competition when I was 14 years old and the level of my excitment was insane because I have never traveled abroad before!!! Time passed and I graduated from my high school, went to college which was located in Moscow and I had to move there from my home town. That was my first serious move. I moved to Moscow and obviously I had to split with my previous dance partner in order to start new beginnings. I found a new dance partner in Moscow, continued training and mastering my dance skills. That partnership wasn;t for very long time, after couple of years I started thinking about new partnership because existing one didn’t seem to be working out any longer because I was really aiming for a serious dance career and my partner had more fun part of it rather than pursuing some professional dance goals! I split again and after some time, I found a new dance partner, her name is Ksenia who was also into her professional career. This partnership brought us the most successful achievements on the professional dance field. We traveled almost all over the world for the difference most prestigious competitions and we became partners for life not only on the professional level but also in our personal lives. We got married and made our decision to move to the United States to continue our career but thinking abou different level. Our thoughts were about having our own dance studio and California seemed to be the best place for us to start our new project!!! Here we are right now having two dance stdios, two beautiful small daughters and a great team of employees who work with us!!! There’s way more to come!!!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road is never smooth and I think it’s not even suppose to!!! The biggest struggle is always to find your inner strength to not give up on your way, keep finding self motivation and purpose!!! I’d like to mention that I wasn’t born in this Country and my wife and I had to go through the whole entire process of immigration, already being on a high professional level, recognized in your country in your community when your life built up you have to leave everything and start all over again in the new place, that takes a lot of inner strength, courage and patience. Also when we decided to open our first studio we were in the middle of Covid and things like starting your own business seemed to be very questionable… but we made this decision, took a risk and never regretted it!!!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’ve been a dance teacher for many years! Now my position is different, I manage two dance studios and spectrum of my responsibilities is way wider. Even though I have more different business related things to do I’m still not quitting teaching part of my life. I’m teaching mostly ballroom dance style, also some social styles… . I’m most proud of my commitment to what I’m doing in life… . The level of professionalism, dedication, responsibility and knowledge of the subject!!! I can work with beginners who never ever had any dance experience before and on the other hand I can work with professional dancers… .
What are your plans for the future?
Building more dance studios, organizing dance competitions and different dance events!!! Giving more work spaces and new opportunities for dancers and providing happiness and new experiences for our dear students!!!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fredastaire.com/diamond-bar/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fads_diamondbar/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FredAstaireDanceStudiosDiamond-Bar/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/.fred-astaire-dance-studios-diamond-bar
