website: michellebadion.com
email: michelle (michellebadion.com)
phone: (206) 525-5928
Michelle has been dancing her entire life, beginning with classical ballet, and has taught partner dancing full-time since 1990. She specializes in Argentine Tango, Salsa, and West Coast Swing.
Michelle discovered Argentine Tango in 1993 and it was love at first sight. She knew this was her dance. She has performed and taught with Carlos Gavito, Fabian Salas, Manuel Ortiz, Daniel Lapendula, Jorge Nel and many others. She has spent over 15 weeks in Argentina studying from the best and continues her education here by attending tango festivals and taking private lessons from the traveling instructors. She is also a prolific producer of Tango performances, and has brought stage shows (5) and cabarets (14 to date) to Seattle, Portland, Tacoma, and Hawaii.
Evan and Michelle have been dancing, teaching, and performing Tango in Seattle since 1996, and travel frequently to Argentina and other Tango communities throughout the world in pursuit of their shared obsession. Together, they have taught and performed alongside the world's finest Tango artists, including teaching at international events such as Buenos Aires in Las Vegas (with Julio and Corina, Chicho and Lucia, El Pulpo and Louisa, Nito and Elba, Gavito and Marcela and others), and have been featured in cabarets and traveling stage shows such as Tango Nights, Tangoretro and Tangoing (with Fernanda and Guillermo, Carolina and Diego, Armando and Daniella, El Indio and Marianna, Patricio and Eva, Fabian and Carolina and many others).
Michelle also loves Salsa. She has taught, performed and judged at many of the Salsa congresses in the US and has taught and performed with Alex DeSilva, Enio Cordaba, Jose Negela and may others. Michelle was one of the first people to teach salsa in Seattle and is still dancing and teaching many nights of the week.
West Coast Swing is a great dance for Michelle. She one the Washington State West Coast Swing Championship in 1995, but prefers teaching and dancing to competition. She is well known in the North West as a fun, creative and well connected follow with solid technique. She has taught workshops in Washington, California, Oregon, New York, Chicago, Hawaii, and Europe.
Although she is a well known performer Michelle's greatest gift is her ability to teach others to dance. She makes her classes fun and accessible by giving clear, concise instruction. She cares about every one of her students and it's impossible for them not to feel her enthusiasm. Michelle strives to help her students grasp the endless beauty, sensuality, excitement, fun, strength, and passion of dancing with another.