2017 Arthur Murray All-Star Spotlight: Area 8
TOP Counselor: Oksana Ivanova from Arthur Murray Vincenza
AML: What's your All-Star backstory?
OI: It's the third time for me, but its very interesting to learn something new and do this in the real business life.
AML: Who are some people that helped you get to this point?
OI: Oh its a lot of people in my life, Arthur Murray Team Italy, my family, and my students.
Top Supervisor: Mattia Venturelli, Arthur Murray Verona
AML: First off, congratulations on moving into the finals in Last Vegas. How did you react when the announcement was made?
MV: I was happy and satisfied. I felt responsible for representing Area 8 Supervisors. I was also glad to return to Superama in Las Vegas, one of Arthur Murray's biggest events.
AML: What's you All Star backstory? If you can give a little synopsis of the highs and lows of this competition over the years.
MV: First of all, this tournament means training and improvement of skills, for me and my team. I don't feel the competition with the other, it is a personal challenge. I won in 2012 and then I always placed second in the area.
Top Specialist: Tamara Assaf, Arthur Murray Lebanon
AML: How has All-Stars made you a better professional?
TA: When I first started at the studio I thought everything was about just teaching dance techniques. It is true that people come to us in order to learn dancing, but each person hides the reason why they really want to start dancing and the benefits they want to get from it.
It is here that I realized that I should do a bigger effort in improving myself in the communication part of the job. To know how to make a connection with students, how to talk to people and convince them that they're in the right place. So I set out and started working and developing these skills everyday since.
AML: What makes this event so special for you?
TA: A little secret about me is that since I'm a French-educated person. I do not feel comfortable, nor confident, while talking in English because of my accent and because I take time to find the words - so I find it difficult to express myself. I still put it in mind and I challenged myself with the support of everyone.
Studying and practicing the releases was a chance for me to practice my English as well so I feel a lot better today while communicating in this language.
TOP Administrative Assistant: Andrei Fusea from Arthur Murray Bucharest
AML: How has the All Star Tournament made a difference in your area?
AF: Being the 3rd year in which our studio staff participates and studies the material, I think it helped us a lot in filling some big gaps about how to handle some particular situations that happened in the studio, and made a huge difference in our way of thinking, culture-wise.
AML: What do you wish more people understood about how the staff train in this industry?
AF: What I think people need to understand is that our fundamental and basic intention is to help them. I consider every Arthur Murray Staff / Executive a very fortunate human being for being able to change another human's way of living. More happy, more positive, more versatile, more alive.
TOP Teacher: Gabriel Alistar from Arthur Murray Bucharest
AML: How has the All Star Tournament made a difference in your area?
GA: I think that the All Star Tournament has a positive influence on all studios and staff that are participating. We all learned a lot of valuable information and doing mocks we also learned how to apply it.
AML: What do you wish more people understood about how the staff train in this industry?
GA: I want more people to understand that we train continuously here at Arthur Murray, because we want to the best services we can, and also we always try to learn from the most successful people.
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