Brenda Collins-Krstanovic

We're so lucky to have Brenda teaching Shag and Balboa at 200 Grand!

Brenda entered the world of dance a little later than she would have preferred. As a child she dreamed of being a dancer but classes were too expensive. She was a school teacher for 5 years at which time she always enjoyed club dancing. Eventually her childhood dreams were realized and she started dancing Ballet and Jazz in January of 2000. This was just the beginning and since then she has more than made up for lost time studying Gymnastics, Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, African, Middle Eastern, Ballroom, Latin, Salsa, Lindy Hop, Nightclub 2-Step, West Coast Swing, Hustle and Argentine Tango to name but a few. Basically once she caught the dance bug there was no stopping her! With dance quite obviously consuming her life, it was a natural transition for her to make the change from teaching school to pursue studying and teaching dance. Performing, in the eyes of the audience is quite obviously Brenda's forte, she truly shines on stage! Brenda was the creative director for Boogie Back Productions, a Portland Swing Dance Performance troupe, she also performed, competed and created choreography for the troupe. During this time Brenda was also a performing with Salsa Con Sabor a Portland Salsa troupe. Deciding to focus her energy more on teaching and individual performance and competition, Brenda started choreographing and teaching routines for The Viscount Studios Salsa Performance Class. Brenda was also working at Lake Owego Academy of Dance teaching children's Ballet, Tap, Jazz, and Hip Hop until June of 2003.

Brenda embarked on yet another adventure and opened her own Portland dance studio in 2004 where she was coaching both Salsa and Swing Dance performance groups, and eventually a Women's Eclectic Dance Company.

Brenda took just about every Salsa and Lindy Hop workshop in Portland since she started dancing and traveled monthly to seek out top notch instruction and bring home the latest trends from around the country.

Brenda has also spent a great deal of time in recent years focusing on West Coast Swing, Balboa, Argentine Tango, and NY Mambo, working with world famous coaches Barry Douglas, Sylvia Sykes, Duplessy Walker, and Mary Ann Nunez.

Here's how Brenda describes her introduction to and experience with Balboa:

I started taking Balboa from Christian and Thea in 2000, My partner Brian and I got addicted to Balboa that year and went around learning from whoever we could, Erik and Sylvia, Sylvia Sykes, Steve and Denise, then Nick and Denise, In 2001 I met Joel and Valerie and we did some work with them, then later Marty and Valerie and Joel and Alison. We have taken from many more at festivals and workshop weekends.

In Winter of 2005 we brought Willie and Lila Desatoff to Portland to do some intensive training with them. We held a weekend workshop together, which Lila says was one of the best weekends of Willie's last 4 years, and definitely one I will never forget.

I attended Cleveland All Bal in 2004, 2005 and Balboa Rendezvous in 2005, 2006. NW Balboa Fest in 2005, 2006. San Francisco Balboa Fest in 2005.

Balboa was the 1st dance I taught back in 2001, with the encouragement of my partner Brian Todd. I have been working for 5 years to keep Balboa alive in Portland despite the slow groovy reputation our town had always had. I am still traveling to Portland and bringing other national instructors there to continue the work in the Balboa community.

Although Brian and I were more focused on our teaching and dancing than on competitions we were Balboa finalists at Camp Hollywood in 2003. I also placed 4th at the NW Balboa Fest in 2005 with a new partner I was training, Russell Bruner.

I have an extensive and varied dance background which brings a lot of technique and understanding to my Balboa dancing and teaching, in addition to the traditional forms I have studied from the greats.