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Dunai School of Ukrainian Dance Instructors
Natalia Iwaszko-Soto
With over 30 years of Ukrainian dance experience, Natalia’s very first dance lessons began at the Verkhovyna Dance School. The Verkhovyna Ensemble and CYM has been a major part of her life. Natalia was a member of Dunai Ukrainian Dancers for 15 years where she performed and toured with the group throughout the world across North and South America, Europe and Costa Rica. With the Verkhovyna Ensemble she took part on the 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 anniversary tours. On the 2019, Georgia and Ukraine tour, Natalia took on the role as assistant to the Artistic Directorof Dunai and co-directed the tour show. Her training in Ukrainian Dance consists of a wide variety of local and international instructors. She has training in the Shumka Dance Syllabus Academy and has attended workshops in Tier 1 - Syllabus for Ukrainian Dance.
Natalia began teaching at Verkhovyna Dance School in 2009. She has had the pleasure of getting to know all the dancers in the school and has seen their progression and growth over the years. She has traveled with the school to many competitions and various dance performance venues including Disneyland in 2016 and 2018. In 2014 and 2015, she was recognized for her hard work and dedication, and was nominated by her students for “Ukrainian Dance Instructor of the Year” by Ukrainian Dance World. Throughout her dance career, Natalia’s passion for dance and music continues to grow and is driven to learn a variety of dance. 2016-2018 she competitively salsa danced and placed 2nd and 3rd in small teams amateur and open divisions, at the World Salsa Summit in Miami, Florida. Natalia is always looking for new and innovative ways to make dance and choreography fun to all the students. She is very excited for the new dance season and is looking forward to sharing her passion for dance with returning and new students to the school. Her expertise and enthusiasm for dance are a great addition to the instructional team.
Loren Winnick
Loren has been instructing with the Verkhovyna Dance School since 2009. He has been developing and mentoring dancers of all age levels over the past 15 years with the dance school and loves to see the growth with each individual student. Loren has traveled with the dance school on numerous out of town school trips for competitions, various dance performances and tours. In 2023, Loren started instructing the Dunai Ukrainian Dancers, and travelled with Dunai on their tour of Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro in 2024.
Previously he was a member of the Volya Ukrainian Dance Ensemble from 2009-2023 where he has performed in Turkey, Portugal, France, Great Britain, Greece, Colombia and Croatia. Preceding Volya, he danced for nine years with Kupalo Ukrainian Dance Ensemble where he performed throughout Canada, Western U.S.A., Ireland, Ukraine and Scotland.
With over 30 years of Ukrainian dance experience, Loren is extremely excited to be back again to share his knowledge and passion of Ukrainian dancing with the students.
