BALLROOM DANCE INSTRUCTOR

INTRODUCING

Imre Gombkötő

When I was six, my mother introduced me to the world of dance in the Rumba Dance Studio in my hometown of Gyomaendrőd, Hungary. Dance was the most popular activity in my town. The studio had more than 200 amateur couples at the time, an exciting dance community. I fell in love with that world. From a young age I believed that dance would be my career, though I wanted to study urban planning.

Amateur Career

When I was 18, I moved to Budapest to go to university, and I found a new, very competitive studio and a new partner. At that time, I discovered a love of teaching dance while coaching students at three Hungarian ballroom clubs. I was happy to see my young students win various world and national titles. But I did not lose my own drive to compete as a dancer.

My partner and I earned a number of awards, including:

• Standard B Budapest Champions
• Standard B National Champions
• Standard A Budapest Champions
• Standard A National Top 3
• Standard Hungarian Champion Finalists three times
• Third-best Hungarian couple (top 106) on the national rank list of 4,000 couples
• Finalists for some Open standard championships in several European countries  (Slovakia, Austria, Croatia, Italy, Serbia and Romania).

Pro Career

After earning my ballroom dance instructor certification in Smooth and Rhythm from the Terpsichore Association, I began my pro career as a ballroom dance instructor of Smooth and Rhythm at SuperShag Studio in Waltham, Mass., in 2015. I founded my own studio in 2021.

In the past six years, I have competed extensively on the worldwide ProAm (ballroom dance instructor dance with student) arena with students of all skill levels, many of whom have enjoyed winning as well as the rewards of continuous improvement. 

I earned various competitions’ top ballroom dace teacher spot several times, including Yankee, Caribbean, Boston Dance Sport Cup and Patriot. I was named to the Top 50 professional male ballroom dance instructor’ ranking in the U.S. in 2019. 

Above all, I enjoy working with a wide variety of students of all skill levels and helping them achieve their dance goals. Dance is a lifelong pursuit, and I am happy to be along for the ride with my students.