John Young has been dancing since 1947 and Anne since 1977.  John brings to dancing the accumulated knowledge of a lifetime as a full time professional teacher for the 57 years since he founded his studios in 1952. Since then 100,000 Aucklanders, including 4,000 tango dancers have been taught by the John Young system. He was the first to teach Argentine Tango in Auckland, introducing it in 1989.

Ballroom and Latin American

John trained initially with Ivy Biberstein, New Zealand's greatest dance teacher and has had additional training with world titleholders.

He has trained a number of New Zealand titleholders.

He has appeared on a number of television programmes, including Target and Sky Sports, and was dance director for the Topp Twins and City Life.  He danced in the TV One News commercial with Helen Medlyn and has directed the dancing in other commercials.

John was recently awarded the Queens Service Medal for his Services to Dancing and is a life member of the Society of Australasian Teachers of Dancing and an Associate of the NATD London.

Anne was trained by John and Ivy Biberstein and has attained Oscar level in both Ballroom and Latin American - the highest amateur level in medal dancing.  

She has appeared on television, including Ice TV and on Sky Sports where she and John tried to teach Stu Wilson how to dance Argentine Tango when the Argentine football team was visiting New Zealand.

Argentine Tango

John and Anne were the first to teach Argentine Tango in Auckland, introducing it in 1989.

John originally learnt from Pedro Monteleone (who taught Madonna for the film Evita).  He has also trained in Argentina.

Graham and Denise, the 2002 World Intermedios Argentine Tango Champions and five other New Zealand Argentine Tango champions have been taught by John using his system that is derived from Tango greats Juan Copes, Eduardo Arquimbau, Osvaldo Zotto, Carlos Coppella, Mingo Pugliese, Omar Vegas and others.

Latin American and Salsa

Born in New York, Mega grew up in the Latin Quarter where she studied salsa, studying with Eddie Torres among others.  Mega travelled to Havana, Cuba where she danced Salsa Cubano non stop for six months. She then went to Pelourinho in Bahia Brazil where she learned Samba, Lambada and Axe and danced in the Bahia Carnival.

Her partner is Robert Bridgart, who also teaches for John Young.  

Mega and Robert have taught some of our most accomplished dancers including a number of New Zealand and Australasian champions.  The first three New Zealand Salsa champions were trained by Robert. 

Mega has been teaching salsa since 1997 at John Young Dance Centre and has trained a few thousand Aucklanders.  She also toured south east Asia, Japan, China and Korea taking workshops in 2001.

Mega has her own dance group called Sabor Latino which she choreographs , Sabor Latino does performances throughout Auckland and New Zealand.

Both Mega and Sabor Latino have danced in television articles and commercials for both New Zealand and overseas.

She has appeared teaching salsa in a DNZ episode for TV One.  Her group appeared in the HSBC Rio Carnival commercial.

Mega and Sabor Latino were the dancers with the Village People for the Warriors debut game in the NRL in 1996. 

ROBERT BRIDGART ASATD BB

Ballroom and Latin American

Robert has been with John Young since 1988.  He was trained by John Young and Ivy Biberstein.  He is an Associate of the Society of Australasian Teachers of Dancing (Ballroom Branch).

He first learned Mambo from John Young and had additional training in Mambo and Salsa in Miami and New York.

Robert appeared in an Air New Zealand sponsored dance show in the Cook Islands.

He has trained a number of Salsa teachers including his partner Mega and Terry Pereira (Christchurch), as well as a number of Auckland teachers.

His students won first place in the first three New Zealand Salsa competitions.

TONY POOLE

Ballroom and Latin American
New Vogue and Old Time

Tony has been dancing Ballroom and Latin American since the early 1980's.  He learnt to dance with John Young Dance Centre and received his professional training from John Young.

Tony won Oscars for both Ballroom and Latin American before he began teaching.  Oscar is the highest award in amateur medal dancing.

Tony has also studied Argentine Tango, New Vogue and Old Time dancing.

After a lifetime in secondary education, he now teaches Ballroom and Latin American from the beginners Social Style level to Gold Medal level.  He also teaches New Vogue and Old Time dancing in private lessons.

BRENDA DUNCAN

Ballroom and Latin American Social Dancing

Brenda originally learnt Ballroom and Latin American from John Young in the 1980’s, gaining Oscar status – the highest level achievable in amateur medal dancing.

After trips to Europe and Canada, Brenda started teaching for John Young Dance Centre.

She has specialised in beginners Social Style classes for many years.

Her classes have been filmed on a number of occasions for television articles.