Anahit Arustamyan Anthropology 102 Dr. Leanna Wolfe 11-19-2013

Natella Devitskaya and her partner Keril Kurish have a dance studio together called Queen of DanceSport. They are known worldwide for their performances and they do everything to teach their students what they are capable of doing. They are champions in ballroom dance which include cha-cha, samba, jive, rumba, and paso doble. Natella is the main instructor and she is the one who deals with the children and prepares them for many competitions.

Natella teaches six days a week. She believes that a dancer must be in motion all six days of the week. Her dance session begin from 4:00 pm to 9:00pm. Saturdays class begins from 1:00 pm. She has children from all ages and according to their ages they are divided into groups. She has one main rule that everyone must respect one another and must be friends. Once the clock hits 4:00 pm all the children gather up in the studio dressed in the proper clothing and ready to begin class. They are dressed in black hues and black skirts and their hair must be tied. Natella walks in and starts to take roll and begins class with warm-ups and stretches.

After some warm-ups, the next exercise Natella does is puts music and has the children dance under the different beats to check at the way they listen to music. The children dance individually under the song while the rest sit and watch. Every child dances to a different beat and must show a new move they learned from the previous class. In Latin American dances there are different beats to every song, which is why she does this exercise to prepare the children during the competition. At competitions, they put songs that children have never heard of and since they know the beats to every type of dance they must count and begin their performance. Towards the end, Natella goes by every child one by one and shows them the mistake they made and teaches them the correct way to do the move.

Natella now begins to prepare the children for the competition they all have been waiting for. She starts off with the cha-cha where she demonstrates the hand and leg movement. The position that all the children are in is the basic movement for cha-cha. Their body must be straight with dramatic face expressions. She works with them day and night because she wants them to succeed in dance and be called from all over the world just like she has.

Natella then moves to the next dance known as the samba, which is a lively, rhythmical dance. Samba is mainly known for the movement of the body. It is a difficult dance because people must know how to move their body in the correct way. Natella is demonstrating how the body must move in circular motion. She Is not moving her head or her legs the only thing that is important in samba is the arms and posture movement. The little ones always have trouble with samba, but they are very intelligent that they grasp very quickly. Natella puts a lot more effort with the boys when it comes to samba because most of them get shy to move their bodies like they are supposed to.

The competition that everyone was waiting for had a great end. All of the Queen of DanceSport students received first place medals for cha-cha. Natella was very proud of her students and how each and every one of them supports one another and they won as a team together. She feels proud of her students and is eager for the upcoming events. She is confident in her students.

Natella and her first place champions at the Hollywood Championships. She is a proud instructor as we all can see. Her students won first place in samba, known as the difficult dance of all. Her student Ani and her partner Samvel worked as a team together and won that first place medal. Natella believed in Ani and Samvel because they didn’t miss any class sessions and they practiced together on their spare time.

Natella’s students Mariam and Samvel won second place at the Hollywood Championships performing a solo cha-cha. She was still proud of her students because it was Mariam’s first competition she has ever attended. She believes in Mariam because she is consistent and works very well with Samvel.

Natella and her little ones are preparing for a samba competition at Desert Classic Dance Championships. The little ones prepared a group performance of samba. The girls are dressed in polka dotted crop tops with the matching skirts and the little boys are dressed in vests with short white pants. She believes her students as a team will make the best out of their performance.

Another competition Natella and her students attended was the Embassy Ballroom Championship. During this event Natellas students Misak and Kristina performed samba and received first place medal. The little ones worked very hard and also stayed extra time on Saturdays. Being beginners and winning a first place medal in samba was a huge deal for Natella. She is very proud of her students and feels confident at every competitions because she knows her students will do everything to make her proud. They work as a team to make their instructor proud.