Anthony Matlis

Anthony began his dance training at Northwestern University in 1998. In his spare time, while doing graduate studies in electrical engineering, he took classes in ballet and jazz through the dance department. His interest eventually spread to social dancing where he immediately became passionate about swing dancing, salsa, and ballroom. In 1999, Anthony founded the Northwestern Social Dance Club which grew quickly to an organization of 1000 members, 10 classes per week, and a performance team. In 2002, Anthony co-founded B.L.A.S.T. (the Ballroom, Latin, and Swing Thing), a group of 65 dancers dedicated to creating and performing original choreography for a yearly dance production featuring 15-20 dance routines in Rumba, Salsa, Mambo, Cha-cha, Bolero, Swing, Tango, Argentine Tango, Waltz, Fox-trot, Quickstep, Hustle, West-coast swing, Lindy-Hop, and Hip-hop. In 2003, Anthony trained as an instructor at the “May I have this dance” ballroom studio in Chicago. After moving to Washington DC at the end of 2003, he became assistant director of the Salsumba Salsa dance troupe performing throughout DC and the major National Salsa Congressos. Throughout 2003 and 2004, he served as a salsa instructor and dance host on cruise ships as a member of the Sixth Star Entertainments Agency. Anthony previously competed in International Ballroom dancing, taking first place in the Chesapeake Dance Classic and the New York Manhattan Amateur Classic.