Dawn Tecter

Dawn's dance career began in early childhood, with her parents as her first instructors. Round and round the living room and through the kitchen, she learned to dance to the Big Band sounds that her parents liked to listen to and create. With her Dad playing trumpet and Mom the piano, singing, dancing and moving to tunes were instilled in Dawn at an early age. By grade school, she was choreographing her own dances with girlfriends, and co-hosting twist contests in the backyard with her older brother. The only formal dance instruction she received during those years was in Square Dancing at the local community club.

Although dancing remained an intense interest, the next opportunity she had to learn was during the Disco craze, when she and her husband took lessons in what she now knows was hustle.

Many years, two children and a divorce later, a friend talked her into (not that it was difficult) taking lessons in two-step. This was during the early years of Winnipeg's Country craze. Never before a country fan, she quickly became immersed in the country scene - two stepping, line dancing, and swinging to her hearts content. She eventually joined a performance dance group called the Desert Range Dance Company, then branched off into ballroom - just in time for the demise of the city's country bars. Shirley's Dance Studio filled the gap! First Shirley, and then Todd as well, honed Dawn's skills through lessons and competitions, to the point of inviting her to be their third instructor when they opened their new studio on Tache.

Dawn's teaching career started with line dancing and evolved through country couple dancing and eventually into ballroom, spanning 5 years and shadowing her own progress. She has taught many group sessions in various community venues, as well as private and group sessions at Shirley's Studio.

Coming full circle, she has even had her mother and daughter as students.