Your Teachers
Toshko Kondov
Owner/Teacher
Todor "Toshko" Kondov ,originally from Varna, Bulgaria, started dancing and competing at the young age of 5. Competing in International Latin and Ballroom gave him a very diverse set of skills, that helped him in the American styles. During his career in Bulgaria, Toshko has won over 45 medals in both domestic and international competitions in countries such as: Hungary, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, France, Romania, Moldova, Russia, Croatia, Slovakia and Ukraine. One of Toshko's first major successes was winning the Bronze medal in Latin in the Junior division in 2003. He was Bulgarian Latin Vice-Champion in 2010 and bronze medalist in 2011. He has represented his country at 2 World Championships: 2009 Maribor, Slovenia and 2010 NYC, USA. He also represented his home country in the European Cup in 2012 in Austria. He won the Bulgarian National Ranking as well as the Bulgarian Cup - a chain of competitions throughout the year in 2011 and 2012. Along with his competitive career, Toshko started teaching at the age of 18. Many of his students won medals and reached finals in National and International championships. In 2014 one of the couples he was training, became National 10 dance champions in the Under-21 division.
After arriving in the USA & starting a partnership with Kristen they became Fred Astaire New England Open Latin Champions at their first competition together. Since then they have won a received several titles including USDC National Open Rhythm Finalists, Chicago Crystal Ball Champions, Virginia State Dancesport Champions, Volunteer State Champions, 3x Ohio Star Ball Open Rhythm Finalists, Ohio Star Ball Rising Star Rhythm Champions, USDC Rising Star Rhythm Finalists, Capitol Dancesport Rising Star Rhythm Champions & Open Finalists, Chicago Harvest Moon Champions, Cleveland Dancesport Challenge Champions & Northcoast Dancesport Champions.
Toshko especially feels proud of his Pro/Am career training several Top Students and helping them achieve many awards from Regionals to Nationals! Most importantly Toshko enjoys sharing his love and understanding of movement.
Kristen Kondov
Owner/Manager/Teacher
Kristen, an Ohio native, took her first dance class at the age of 4 as a way to overcome her shyness. Needless to say her mothers plan worked and she was like a fish in water! Since then she has trained in several styles of dance such as tap, jazz, acro, hip-hop and ballet. At the age of 18 she came across a show on PBS called America's Ballroom Challenge or Ohio Star Ball. That was it, she fell in love with ballroom and started her training. Very soon after she auditioned and was selected as the featured ballroom dancer in "Ballroom Bravo" with PGT Entertainment aboard Regent Seven Seas. Upon returning she auditioned for the popular TV Show So You Think You Can Dance season 8 & 9, where she was a featured contestant and made it to Vegas Week. SYTYCD Link: https://youtu.be/twXi-0oYQ94 .
After starting a partnership with Toshko they became Fred Astaire New England Open Latin Champions at their first competition together. Since then they have won a received several titles including USDC National Open Rhythm Finalists, Chicago Crystal Ball Champions, Volunteer State Champions, 3x Ohio Star Ball Open Rhythm Finalists, Ohio Star Ball Rising Star Rhythm Champions, USDC Rising Star Rhythm Finalists, Capitol Dancesport Rising Star Rhythm Champions & Open Finalists, Chicago Harvest Moon Champions,Virginia State Dancesport Champions, Cleveland Dancesport Challenge Champions & Northcoast Dancesport Champions.
Kristen's passion is sharing her love of dance with students from beginner to advanced! She believes dancing is for everyone and can truly change lives!
Aaron Blizzard
Teacher/ Dance & Events Director
Aaron started his dance training at the age of 10 at the Waterbury Arts Magnet School (School of Performing Arts Division) Located in CT. Through out high school he attended Earl Mosely's Institute of the Art where he had the privilege to train with and work on repertoires under artists such as Sidra Bell, Camille A Brown and Meredith Rainey. Aaron trained in Ballet under Nutmeg Conservatorys Senior Ballet Master and Russian Choreographic School Graduate Donna Bonasera at the Connecticut Dance Theatre. Upon graduating high school in 2010 he went on to apprentice under Donna Bonasera in teaching the Vaganova Method. While at CDT, Aaron completed an apprenticeship with Elm City Dance Collective. A postmodern company based in New Haven CT through Yale University. This venture took him into Ballroom dance at Fred Astaire Dance Studios where he trained and competed professionally and taught private dance lessons. Aaron left Connecticut Dance Theatre and Fred Astaire in 2017 to relocate to Cleveland Ohio.
Aaron moved to Cleveland in order to further his competitive dance career with dance partner Jenny Lu. In 2019 Aaron joined the staff at Above the Barre Dance and Gymnastics as a ballroom instructor. Upon its reopening in late 2020, Aaron was promoted to Assistant Director of the Ballet Program where he teaches and assists in the direction of their Nutcracker Ballet production.
During the hight of the pandemic and after his competitive retirement , Aaron completed his CDCA and became a licensed therapist in the State of Ohio. He then integrated dance into his therapy in order to create his own Dance Therapy curriculum.
Shannon Dobbins
Teacher
Shannon always had a love for music and all things that come with it. This love lead her to join choir and learn to play flute, guitar, sousaphone and clarinet. She found K-Pop, also known as Korean Pop, around the age of 12. Through K-Pop she also discovered her love for dance. She competed in multiple K-Pop dance competitions and won different titles. Shannon first discovered ballroom dancing through an anime show called “Welcome to the Ballroom”. Diving more into the style she instantly became infatuated with it. Since then she has dedicated herself to understanding and becoming knowledgable in all the ballroom dances. She has trained under Kristen & Toshko Kondov and attended dance camps in NYC. Her speedy understanding of movement and genuine love of teaching shows on every lesson she teaches! We are excited to have her as our newest teacher addition to our Designed to Dance family!
