First of all Happy New Year to you all and welcome to another term @ Latinissimo Dance Studios!

We are writing this message to you on a more personal level as would like to share our plans for  2014.

2014 will result in a big change for us personally and for Latinissimo Dance in general. The main part being that we (Giancarlo & Masha) will be leaving New Zealand for good in May.

For some time now we have felt that we have achieved everything we can achieve here in New Zealand with salsa dancing. There is nothing else for us to prove as a dance school and there is nothing else for us personally to achieve with our dancing. Which brings me to the reason why we are ready to move on.

We are not done competing or performing at top level. NZ has been a great place for us, we have proudly represented New Zealand at numerous international Salsa and Latin dance congresses, festival and competition around the world. Plus NZ until now has given us great opportunities, however it has also held us back and prevented us from many other even greater opportunities that we have painfully and at times regretfully had to let go... because of the NZ's geographical position. Although NZ is in a beautiful, unique and secluded part of the world, when it comes to the dance industry it is not the best location to be in for our purposes.

We are not getting any younger and time is ticking for us and there are still many things we want to achieve and experience with our dancing.

Latinissimo will continue with us, but will have two bases, one in the USA and one in southern Europe. Being able to reside in both continents makes it very convenient and the opportunities as you can imagine are endless. This is what we have always wanted. Secondly, since Masha's family is moving and none of my (Gian's) family live on this side of the world, we see even more of a reason to move on.

The studio will terminate in May and we will have a final and farewell party on Saturday 03 May where we will showcase our student teams, instructors and ourselves one last time in New Zealand. Make sure you keep this date in mind.

We are moving purely for personal reasons. We want to continue growing, learning, performing and competing. Unfortunately we don't get that opportunity here in NZ. We feel we have been giving and giving, but have not been receiving anything back in terms of dance... what we mean is inspiration and knowledge within our own dance industry. Since we are still competing and performing at top level... it is necessary for us to fill up that "bucket" all the time. Every time we have gone overseas, specially to the US and Europe, we see what we are missing out on and it is incredibly frustrating for us when we know we could be there and have it all.

The performance teams, courses and classes commencing this term will be the last ones under our direction.

Please note that out of the 4 months that is left until May, we are only available 3 for any private tuition.

We hope to see you all dancing at Latinissimo for one last term!

A second email will follow with all details about upcoming teams, courses and classes.

Sincerely,

Giancarlo & Masha