Professional Coaches
Ikaika Dowsett
Ikaika Dowsett is a top teacher and award winning international ballroom dance coach since 2002. He specializes in international ballroom competitions. He has numerous titles in standard ballroom and produced over 30 national champions in 10 years. His coaching methodology is systems based and he enjoys coaching the dancers to think about frameworks, understand body mechanics, nutrition and cross training, and how to think like an athlete.
Rhett Grant
Rhett Grant has been a coach for the Cal Ballroom team since 2018. He specializes in Latin. He has several national titles in Latin, teaches Latin technique, and offers private lessons to the team.
Student Teaching Assistants
Standard
Kat Smoot joined the team in Fall 2019 as an undergrad, and returned in 2021 as a PhD student in plant biology. A Two time USA Dance National Standard Champion, she has a background in ballet, tap, and jazz, and enjoys socially dancing bachata and Lindy Hop. Feel free to ask her any of your houseplant questions, but be warned it could easily turn into an hour long lecture.
Latin
Hayley Kibrick- latin assistant
I’ve been on the team for two years learning Latin and Standard. Before that I taught myself for an inconsistent four years, learning some social dances and Latin just using YouTube and the kitchen counter. Turns out you can get a pretty good underarm turn when you open the fridge to grab pesto.
Marco David- Latin assistant
Marco David grew up dancing in Hannover and Bremen, Germany. With seven years of competitive experience in Latin Ballroom and Latin Formation, Marco joined the team in Spring 2024. Whenever not working towards his PhD in mathematical physics, he is seen dancing a variety of styles around the bay, including ballroom, ballet and modern/contemporary. As an alumni of the German national team, Marco is a WDSF World Champion in Latin Formation, and has five years of experience teaching both social and competitive ballroom. It is rare to find Marco at lessons without his miraculous pack of snacks and fresh fruit.