Tessa profile picture

Tessa

www.mylesandtessa.com

About Me

I am a professional dancer and teacher. My partner/boyfriend Myles and I travel all over North America (and now overseas) competing, performing and teaching workshops. Most of my friends are in the West Coast Swing dance community. See us dance at www.canadianswingchampions.com


I discovered a natural talent for dancing late in life after getting my Bachelor of Human Kinetics degree. Until then I thought I was just a musician. I had a fully established professional swim coaching career for 12 years before I decided to dance full-time. I went back to school a few years ago and got my Education degree, which I am using a little by working as a Teacher-on-Call (sub) but my main focus is dance.My friends would say I am: independent, creative, organized, ambitious, disciplined. Two summers ago I got involved in Landmark Education. I now (try to)live as the possibility of empowerment, contribution, and warmth. I am very loyal to my friends and deeply committed to people achieving more than they think they can. My personal matra is "Kaizen", a Japanese word meaning constant improvement. Free Myspace Layouts by TheMyspaceLayout.com.
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My Interests

Dancing. Fashion. Travel. Motorcycles. In that order. The type of Swing dance I do is the most modern, most evolved kind (West Coast Swing). It's like a fusion of Hip Hop and Jazz and Retro Swing. See a clip of me dancing at www.canadianswingchampions.com.I get to travel alot with dancing, but not far from the hotel. My dream is to dance and travel on every continent. I ride sport bikes, and I used to own a Ninja 400, but we travel too much for me to enjoy riding right now. I eat really healthy and abhor fast food, but I have a sweet tooth. I love rollerblading and try to take advantage of living near the beach by running or skating around the seawall every chance I get. I like most other sports, as I am athletically inclined and pick up physical skills quickly. I'm willing to try anything, except baseball, which I think is a waste of time.

I'd like to meet:

Dancers from around the world. Friends I admire. Landmark graduates. Enlightened people. Young people to inspire. People who inspire me. People who are making a difference. People who lead thoughtful lives. Soar Routine

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Music:

I am terrible at remembering song titles and artists. I own almost no music. Ever since high school I have been satisfied with the music (mix tapes!) boyfriends have made for me. It's kind like a life-soundtrack. I remember songs based on who I was dating when I heard them. I'm always hunting for my next routine song. The kind of music I dance to ranges from old-school Soul and Blues to Top40 R&B and Pop. I love the late-80's-early 90's era of Pop music. I didn't listen to alot of Pop music until 1987 because my parents didn't let me. I was a musician growing up, played all saxophones in the school Jazz Band. Loved it, and now I love all the big-band, jazz, and method pieces like we used to play. I was a singer and I can still carry a tune, but my voice is ruined from years of yelling as a coach.

Movies:

Living in Hollywood North, we actually occasionally dance in movies. Here's some that we're in: "Fantastic Four 2" starring Jessica Alba (for release 2007) "Marriage" starring Pierce Brosnon (for release 2007) "Chasing Christmas" starring Tom Arnold "Murder on Pleasant Drive" starring Alan Arkin

Television:

Crime Drama: Can't get enough of "Law & Order: SVU", CSI, and "Design on a Dime" on HGTV. My VCR is set to record "Fashion File" and "MadTV" every weekend.

Books:

Non-fiction only. Fiction affects me too much. I start empathizing with the characters and taking on their emotions. I recommend "What Clients Love" by Harry Beckwith. "Self-Promotion for the Creative Person" by Lee Silber. "Ask and It Is Given" by Esther and Jerry Hicks. "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber

Heroes:

My Myles: he has so much patience and love and always thinks the best of people.

My Blog

Tour Conclusion Blog

PICS COMING TODAY AT www.canadianswingchampions.com   So, this tour has been soooo good for us on so many levels. It has been a learning experience for us, and it has provided us many "firsts": ...
Posted by Tessa on Tue, 10 Oct 2006 03:06:00 PST

Blog: Last stop on tour: BbB

We arrived in San Fran relaxed, rejuvenated, and ready to rendezvous with our Aussie friends again! There were 25 of them that came over specifically to dance at Boogie, and a few were extending their...
Posted by Tessa on Tue, 10 Oct 2006 02:59:00 PST

Last Hawaii Blog

We woke up in the middle of rolling fields of tall grass and palm trees. We were in farmland at 2000 ft elevation, but our hosts only had their chalet house and the sauna on their property. We hiked b...
Posted by Tessa on Tue, 10 Oct 2006 02:53:00 PST

Hawaii Blog .2

HI all, Hawaii was spectacular! Unbelievable, outstanding, incredible! I got a cold over the weekend, but I was so busy teaching I didn't really notice much until Sunday night. I was down for the coun...
Posted by Tessa on Sun, 08 Oct 2006 05:22:00 PST

Aloha from the Big Island

HI all, Great news - our website is back up and running! Well our BIG NEWS is that we got to go SCUBA DIVING for the first time ever! Myles has never tried it but always wanted to. I on the other hand...
Posted by Tessa on Tue, 03 Oct 2006 05:22:00 PST

From Australia to Hawaii

Hi all, Okay, let's see, Tuesday night we taught private lessons and demostrated lead-follow WCS for a big class of Modern Jive students who were floored with amazement, and now are interested in lear...
Posted by Tessa on Sat, 30 Sep 2006 03:27:00 PST

Australia Blog .3

Okay so this is the last Blog from OZ, the next one will be from Big Island, Hawaii! Our workshop weekend began Saturday morning 11am. We had about 65 people attending from all over Sydney area and fr...
Posted by Tessa on Fri, 29 Sep 2006 02:45:00 PST

Australia Tour Blog .2

HI All, Sorry I understand our website is down...I am looking into it. Thanks for following us here! We would have written sooner, but the power has been out! There was a huge windstorm and we are in ...
Posted by Tessa on Tue, 26 Sep 2006 04:11:00 PST

Arrived in Australia!

HI All! We have safely arrived in Sydney, Australia! This past weekend we were at Bridgetown Swing in Portland, where we got to catch up with Margaret, Sam and Chris and the OSU crew. Myles placed 4th...
Posted by Tessa on Wed, 20 Sep 2006 09:24:00 PST

Countdown to Australia

HI All, Myles and I are in countdown mode to our marathon tour. I'm going to start a blog to journal our tour: Next weekend will start by teaching and performing at Bridgetown Swing in Portl...
Posted by Tessa on Thu, 07 Sep 2006 06:07:00 PST