Mr
Michael Stylianos
At
the age of 18 Michael walked into the Sydney Francis
Dance Studio to join the Latin American beginners class.
12 months later he met his wife and partner to be Lorna
Lee.
During
the next decade they spent a very successful career
in competition dance, culminating in winning the coveted
Open British Professional Latin American Championship.
They continued to captivate audiences all over the world
with their cabarets, performing in front of Royalty
in glamorous venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and
Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
In
1975 they received a Carl Alan Award for the most outstanding
partnership of the world, then in 1982 Michael received
another for the person to do the most for Ballroom dancing.
This was mainly due to his involvement with the British
Ice Skating Team. He contributed enormously towards
the success of Jane Torvill and Christopher Deam, introducing
many of the Latin American movements onto the ice. He
received a third Carl Alan Award in 1993 for the best
Latin American Teachers Award.
Michael
continues to work with the Roller and Ice Skating Associations
and is their National choreographer. He lectures regularly
for the Olympic Ice Skating Union and is their Ballroom
adviser.
Since
retiring from competitions he has directed boundless
energy into the training of other dancers. Internationally
well known, Michael travels the world teaching, lecturing
and adjudicating. He trains the current day champions
and has been responsible for the training of many National,
European and World champions in all grades, including
the 14 times World Professional Champions, Donny Burns
MBE and Gaynor Fairweather MBE.
Michael
has received awards for his teaching achievements from
Slovenia, Greece, USA and Finland, where he also received
the freedom of the City of Olou.
He
holds Fellowship qualifications with the Imperial and
is an elected member of the Latin American Faculty.
In 1998 Michael was invited to become a member of the
Imperial Grand Council. Together with his wife he organises
the successful Imperial Ballroom and Latin American
Championships, the Universal Open and the All England
Latin American Championships.
Coming
from a Greek background he has strong family values
and like to spend as much time as possible with his
wife and two daughters, Kara and Zoë.
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