Sharon Pakir
Sharon is recognised internationally, and has been invited to teach and perform at dance events in cities around the world including Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong, Seoul, San Francisco, Tokyo, New York, Kuala Lumpur, Bali, Wellington, and Los Angeles.
A regular at salsa congresses around the world, Sharon was selected to instruct, with Gupson Pierre, at the West Coast Salsa Congress in 2006, the largest salsa event in the world. Sharon is Melbourne's first and only salsa instructor who has taught at this event, which draws over 25,000 dancers from over 42 countries each year.
In 2004, Sharon emerged the Australian Salsa Champion after taking part in the Tropicana Australian Salsa Competition.She was also named the Victorian International Dancesport Association Salsa Champion in both 2004 and 2005. In 2007, Sharon and her Singaporean dance partner Wee Tze Yi emerged the top Singaporean couple winning the ASEAN Salsa Championship. As a result, Sharon regularly represents Singapore and Australia when attending international dance events.
Sharon teaches and performs all over Australia, having been invited to every major latin event held Australia-wide. She consistently commands full-house attendances for her renown workshops in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Canberra.
Sharon now sits as an adjudicator of many salsa competitions. Each year, she judges at the World Qualifier, Australian Salsa Classic and the Australian Salsa Solo Competition in Sydney. She also brings teams to perform at international and interstate events; since 2007, she has regularly led student and professional dance teams to perform in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, all over Australia and New Zealand, where they wowed international audiences.
Sharon's foremost passion in dance is teaching. Her teaching methods are clear and nurturing, and her ability to communicate to people the joy of dance is unsurpassed. While Sharon focuses on technical precision in dancing, she also emphasizes teaching musicality, the importance of meaningful interaction, and how to communicate with your partner and express yourself while dancing.
Sharon is known around the world for her unique teaching methods, which emphasize not just dance itself but how to use dance as a tool to enrich one's life in aspects ranging from posture and deportment to engagement and communication skills. Through this, along with her professional achievements, Sharon has helped to put Melbourne and Australia on the world salsa map.
In Jan 2004, Sharon partook in the Tropicana Australian Salsa Competition, where she emerged the Australian Salsa Champion with her Australian Dance Partner, Alex Bryan (Channel 7’s Dancing with the Stars). They also emerged the runner up in the 2005 Tropicana Competition. Sharon, with Alex, is also the Victorian International Dancesport Association Salsa Champion for both 2004 and 2005.
Sharon now adjudicates salsa competitions, such as the bi-annual Copacabana International Amateur Salsa Competition in Melbourne. In addition, she judged at the first Australian Salsa Championships in Sydney 2005, and was the only interstate artist chosen to judge the world qualifier Australian Salsa Championships in 2007.
Sharon teaches group and private lessons, and has pioneered Melbourne’s only on2 (New York Mambo) Salsa classes, as well as Australia’s first salsa-funk courses. In 2005 and 2006, she also taught a weekly elective course at the Victorian College of the Arts to the Dance Scholarship students, in Latin dance.
Sharon’s performances are highly sought after at events both dance related and otherwise, for their universally appreciable talent and humor in choreography. In 2007, she led a student team as well as a professional team to perform at the prestigious Sydney Salsa Congress, where they wowed international audiences. Through this effort, Sharon and her team were invited to teach and perform recently in Singapore, as well as at the Korean Salsa Congress 2007.
Sharon has always represented both Singapore and Australia when she attends events. The breadth of her representation of Australia (and Singapore) at international, national and local events is one of the widest in Australia, and her excellent achievement when overseas has helped to put Australia on the world salsa map.
Her teaching methods are clear and nurturing, and her ability to communicate to people the joy of dance is unsurpassed. More importantly, whilst Sharon has the ability to teach people how to dance with technical precision, she also teaches musicality, the importance of interaction and communication with your partner while dancing and the expression of ones’ self through dancing. With her emphasis on using dancing as a tool to enrich ones entire life in aspects such as posture and deportment and communication skills, Sharon’s students have benefited not only through fitness and a passion for salsa, but also in their personal lives, and their inter-personal skills.