Matei Livianu / Hirlley Livianu

Teaches at The Dance Complex

Matei Livianu (pronounced 'mah-tay')

Matei started dancing ballroom in 2000 in Los Angeles with the Clarement Colleges Ballroom Dance Company. Competing in International Latin events around the country, he and his partner won the Collegiate Open Paso Doble Championship, and with the tour team, the Collegiate Formation Team Championship in 2003. Inspired by the salsa scene, he spent many evenings learning and dancing in the Los Angeles area clubs. Since 2004, he has been teaching salsa, cha-cha, bachata, and merengue, starting in Los Angeles, then Atlanta, and now Boston. In 2006, he co-founded the Salsa Club at Georgia Tech and, together with a stellar group of dedicated volunteers, built a thriving campus organization, complete with weekly classes, salsa socials with live music, and a performance group, for which he helped choreograph a 6-couple salsa routine. Over the years, he has taught many new dancers not only dance steps, but to move with rhythm and style that grabs attention on the dance floor. Matei's genuine interest in the improvement of his students' skills has contributed greatly the evolution of his own skills as a dancer, performer, and teacher.

Hirlley Livianu (pronounced 'ear-lay')

Born and raised in the Amazon, Brazil, Hirlley started dancing at the age of twelve at the Academia Plena Forma (Community Dance School Center), where she studied jazz, modern and national folkloric dance. In the year 2003, Hirlley joined the Brazilian Cultural Center of New England, located in Boston, USA, where she works both as a performer and choreographer. Later, Hirlley also joined Afro Brazil group, where she has taught and performed Brazilian national folkloric dances. In 2008, she founded the Samba Braza Dance Group, a company that disseminates Brazilian folkloric and contemporary dances. After moving to Boston Hirlley has learned Salsa on 1 and on 2 and continues to perfect her dance skills by taking salsa classes in Minneapolis and New York City. Hirlley teaches salsa, L.A. style, and is one of the principal dancers for Samba Tremeterra from Boston. Hirlley's creative choreographic approach for teaching includes a mixture of modern latin, traditional samba, contemporary samba from Rio and Bahia, salsa, bachata and merengue. As co-Director, Hirlley helped to propel SMDC from a small dance school into a dance company serving hundreds of students per month.