WORDS FROM DIRECTOR
Linh Rateau
Director and Founder of Dancenter
Member of the International Dance Council/ UNESCO
In July 2007, Dancenter was born with the dream to offer a Home:
For amateurs of all ages and levels to enjoy dancing,
For professional dancers and teachers to explore their art in a dedicated environment,
For choreographers to receive support and have the freedom to create,
For artists from Vietnam and around the world to meet and share their passion with the dance community in HCMC.
Like any family, we always try our best to give each member a special place to call home. Year after year, we proudly watch you blossom through dancing. Dance is our passion and with respect we will continue to serve it with the same dedication in the years to come.
Founded by Tessa Findlay and Linh Rateau, Dancenter opened its doors at 46/2 Nguyen Cuu Van, Binh Thanh District. The motivation was to have a place where we can meet and exchange our passion for dance. Fellow team members who have been with us since day 1 are: John Huy Tran (teacher and choreographer), Tien (Office manager), Hoang and Hung (guardians).
JULY 7, 2007
Dancenter presented its first show titled ‘100% Dance’ at NVHTN gathering our first 300 students to share their passion for Dance. Today, we split our students into 4 shows as Mini Kids Show, 2 Kids & Teens and 1 Adult Show otherwise the show would be almost 7 hours long!
MAY 2008
Urban Dance Group (UDG) was created by John Huy Tran and performed for the first time at the BBGV charity Gala. Since then, UDG have performed more than 200 times in Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia. John is highly recognized and has become a major influencer in the Vietnam dance scene. As a judge for several TV dance competitions, he’s regularly invited to share his passion all over Vietnam and he was recently invited as a speaker for TED Talks Vietnam.
SEPTEMBER 2009
Dancenter organized its first Day of Dance charity event to raise money for the well-known NGO Koto founded by Jimmy Nguyen. Since then, we are proud to be one of Koto’s supporters for their charity gala and graduation events, and today we partner with their team for our 10th year anniversary.
NOVEMBER 2009
Dancenter’s goal is also to produce dance performances for the growing audience in HCMC. Our 1st show production was Spotlight performed by UDG and choreographed by John Huy Tran. After this first success, UDG presented Jazz! in 2012, followed by Song, Life is a Game proudly presented by Gameloft at Nha Hat Hoa Binh in 2014 and our most recent performance was Between Us performed at The Factory of Contemporary Arts in 2016.
OCTOBER 2010
Dancenter moved to a new home in District 2, a modern and comfortable space that allowed us to welcome our growing number of students, to become a residency place for artists from abroad and to hold events for our members. Dancenter was designed by Julien Smith (Less is More), built by Duc Tran (ML Building) and decorated by Lisa Auligny (Idee). In 2015, we extended our space with the neighboring space for a third studio.
SEPTEMBER 2011
We organized our first team building holiday in Ho Tram and since then we regularly reunite all the team with joy, solidarity and family spirit! We love to cook together, eat together and sing together when we aren’t working hard together! Dancenter has a family spirit and we are very proud of that.
DECEMBER 2011
John Huy Tran was invited as a choreographer and judge for the Vietnamese version of the world famous TV Dance Competition: So You Think You Can Dance. The show was broadcasted live on 6 TV channels on Saturday and Sunday prime time and followed by millions of viewers, making John a popular and recognized role model. Since then, John has continued to be a key figure in the dance development in Vietnam.
SEPTEMBER 2012
Dancenter is the official partner of the International Dance Festival in HCMC. Since its inception, it has become our goal to share our passion by teaching but also supporting the dance scene and community in Vietnam. Lately, we co-operated with the Institut Francais du Vietnam for several events, such as the Hip Hop competition for the Autarcie event with the company Par Terre, the Memories X movement event and Krossing Over Festival with Kerman Company, and soon with UZUMAKI company for the performance of Je suis TOI. Developing co-operation and exchange is our goal for the coming years.
DECEMBER 2014
Linh Rateau was named top 5 finalists over 2000+ candidates over the world as best Overseas French Entrepreneur by Trophee des francais de l’Etranger. In the same month, Linh was the Anlene Ambassador and danced with UDG for her favorite group Pink Martini during their Private concert in HCMC. Life is always full of surprises!
MARCH 2015
Sabra Johnson, international dancer and choreographer, travelled in Vietnam and met John, UDG and Dancenter. A great relationship was born and she decided to stay with us. We gave Sabra carte blanche to create and direct Between Us, a unique conceptual show that ravished the audience. Save the date if you missed it or want to see it again: 1st and 2nd December 2017 at The Factory! Stay tuned!
DECEMBER 2016
We proudly celebrate our 10 years with all of you. Our goal is to support the dance development. Our motto is DANCE FOR ALL, for you dancers who want to learn, for you teachers who want to share, for you choreographers who want to create, for you the audience who want to enjoy more dance performances.
JUNE 2017
Ms. Linh Rateau becomes an Official Member of the International Council of Dance of UNESCO. CID is the official umbrella organization for all forms of dance in all countries of the world. It brings together the most important international, national and local organizations, as well as select individuals active in dance. CID cooperates with national and local governments, international organizations and institutions. Its members are the most prominent federations, associations, schools, companies and individuals in over 170 countries. CID is official partner of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
MAY 2018
37 kids and teens students joined the A.T.O.D International Dance Competition in Bangkok and they brought home 15 awards! Our first ever competition, what a SUCCESS! 6 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze and 4 Honorable Mentions.
JANUARY 2019
We are very happy to introduce our 4th studio! 84 sqm and fully equiped with sound system, portable ballet barres, sprung marley dance floor and air conditioning and fans, studio D is now ready for the new dance season!
AUGUST 2019
HISTORY
PRESS - THEY TALK ABOUT US!
WHAT OUR MEMBERS SAID?
Jessica Likens
My daughter has danced at different studios in the US and Hong Kong, but Dancenter is our favorite studio anywhere. She does Acro with Mr. Hiếu and he was able to teach her things in just a few short weeks that she had worked on for months in the US to no avail. His class is both incredibly fun and the kids are super motivated to work hard. My daughter wants to practice all the time. My husband (who is picky about teachers) also is very impressed with Mr. Hiếu and Dancenter. Highly recommend!
My Lan Hoang
Thank you for giving our kids opportunities to learn, to practice, to shine and to grow! for giving us the opportunity to feel the power of connection! You are amazing!
DC Student
After several years of not dancing, Dancenter brought me the freedom and enthusiasm to really love dance again.
Tâm & Yannick
Great emotions seeing our kids dancing. The perfect school with perfect teacher.
Alice
I’ve been dancing with Dancenter for more than 10 years, and each year keeps getting better and better. DC was for me an escape from any daily problem and a way to express myself in the best way. DC is a second home that helped grow into the person and dancer I am today. Unfortunately, I must say goodbye to my home and continue growing elsewhere. But Dancenter will forever remain rooted in me. Much love to the staff and teachers.
Adriene Puget
I remember I decided to try my first class at Dancenter, after I saw the show in 2012. It was so beautiful and there were a lot of adults class performances. So, I did it, but it wasn't easy for me at the beginning as I was 13 years without dance in my life. But it just took some months and I was back in shape again and really happy with the results. I think the dance class doesn't help just your body to be fitter, but also your mind.
Ani Petrova
My first class at Dancenter was like a new page in my life. I could hardly follow the steps, it was tough. However, I found other students so motivated and enjoying the class. So, I said to myself, I want to feel the same way.
Beata
I’ve planned to stay in Vietnam 6 months. It’s been 15 years because of Linh and Dancenter. The best dance memories were born here. Thank you!
Lisa
I like dance because I like to see the aesthetic of the moves and the emotion they give, it’s more like an art than a sport. I like seeing what a body can do creating movements on music. I like dancing because it’s an escape for me, when I dance I forget everything, I focus on my body work (muscles, emotion, coordination). You have fun and exercise at the same time. My first class was in 2004 Jazz with miss Linh. It was tough, challenging but the class was great, the teacher very good and professional, encouraging me to continue. Dancenter is a great school, everyone is here to enjoy dancing and there is very good atmosphere. I met very nice people there. When I started dancing at Dancenter, I could not imagine to go on stage, but I did about 6-7 shows, it is an amazing experience (backstage, costumes, energy, applauses…) Find your style (Jazz, Ballet, Tap, Contemporary, Flamenco…) try many classes and then you can choose what you like the most. My kids also are learning dance at Dancenter and there are really enjoying it. Can’t wait to see them on stage this May!
Hani
Happy Birthday lovey Dancenter. Life keeps moving so shall we! Thank you for creating a home for ALL OF US! Here’s to 10 MORE YEARS. Love!
Michelle Preston
I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all the teachers and staff at the Dancenter for the incredible job that you do throughout the year and for the amazing End of Year Show. It was truly spectacular. We have been at Dancenter now for 3 years and this year’s show was by far the best! I loved the new theatre, it really pushed up the professionalism of the show. All the costumes were beautiful, the lighting and sound were excellent. It was also lovely that you provided snacks and refreshments. I also noticed that you turned down the music so we could hear the tap dancers this year too. 🙂 Of course I loved the Acro performance by my daughter Sophie’s class and I really liked being able to see some of the little ones perform. They were so cute! A real stand out to me though was the slow Hip Hop performance by Mr Minh’s Advanced Hip Hop Loneliness in Space. What a wonderfully unique take on traditional hip hop. Thoroughly enjoyed watching it! Unfortunately I did not get the chance to watch the Love Love Love Show but will hopefully be able to watch the adult performances next year. Thanks again.
Lisa Auligny
Best Dance School Ever! Great teaching, amazing teachers and atmosphere. We are lucky to have DC in Saigon!
Raluca & Christoph Gilles
Ana’s dancing experience started a few years ago with Ms Lydia & Ms Rosie… since then, with every year she wishes to join one more style! Lucky we can choose between Ballet, Hip-hop, Jazz, Tap, Acro, Zumba…. So lucky that we choose them all. We value Dancenter as team of professional dancers, passionate to teach and to innovate in every class. We appreciate also the safe environment and prompt communication with the Admin team. The cherry is the Annual Show in May – well-organized, a creative exercise every year! Very happy that you are here, Dancenter!
Maria Kouteili
Dancenter has always been a place where I can express myself freely and let off some steam. Every week, I look forward to forgetting about all the stress and dedicating myself to dance. This can't be done alone, that's why I think it is necessary to thank all the hard-working teachers that take the time to ensure that you have the steps and are enjoying the class. I have chosen to stick with Dancenter throughout these past 10 years because we have created a bond, a community that only exists with the Dancenter teachers, dancers and staff.
Heather Dinwiddie
Dancing has been part of my life since I was 4 years old when I started ballet lessons. I cannot imagine what I would do if Dancenter was not here to feed my need! Besides the dancing, the camaraderie with the teachers and fellow dancers, the excitement of the annual show, the magnificence that is UDG, all make the Dancenter experience a valuable part of my life here in HCMC.
Etsuko Soma
Before I came to Dancenter, I haven't danced for 40 years so I was so nervous and regretted that I came to learn a dance. However after taking class, I felt happy and realized that "I love dancing!!" Teachers of Dancenter always teach me not only technique but also how express feelings and emotions through dance.