Extend Dance has been run by Olya and Richard Peters since 2014 in New Zealand. It is now run by Olya, with help from Richard, in the UK.

Both Olya and Richard are fellowship qualified dance professionals having over 35 years of combined teaching experience. They specialise in dance tuition in Ballroom, Latin, American Smooth and American Rhythm.

Olya and Richard have taught complete beginners to become advanced dancers by tailoring their tuition to each individual. Some of their students later became Pro/Am dancers or competitive dancers. A Pro/Am dancer is where a professional teacher (Pro) is dancing with an amateur dancer (Am). Under the tuition of Olya and Richard, their Pro/Am students took home top prizes in the UK, US, Europe and New Zealand. Their competitive couples also became New Zealand National Champions in Ballroom, Latin and New Vogue in all age groups.

Contact us now to book your first lesson and become part of the Extend Dance family.

Olya

Fellowship Qualified Dance Professional

Olya started dancing as a 5 year old in Irkutsk in Russia. She has had an extremely successful career achieving 3rd place at the international Youth Open Championships (Spartak Cup) in Moscow. In 2001, she moved to New Zealand. There, she made many National finals, becoming an Asia-Pacific Open Championships representative in Korea before partnering with Richard. Olya has over 20 years of teaching experience.

Richard

Fellowship Qualified Dance Professional

Richard began dancing as an 8 year old, following in his family’s footsteps. He enjoyed many successes as a juvenile, junior and amateur adult winning numerous National and South Pacific titles. Richard worked in the same studio as Olya and they decided to partner up in 2012. Richard has over 15 years of teaching experience.

Achievements

Since joining forces, Richard and Olya have had a lot of success in their personal and teaching careers, including:

  • International Dance Festival Professional Ballroom (over 35) Finalists (2023)
  • Professional Ballroom British National semi-finalists (2023)
  • Awarded 20th placing in the world by the World Dance Council (2022)
  • Blackpool Dance Festival Ballroom 18th – Quarter Finalists (2021)
  • Blackpool Dance Festival Latin top 33 (2021)
  • UK Professional Open 10 Dance Championships finalists, England (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021)
  • Richard – 1st place of Top Teacher award at the Killick Royale, London (2018)
  • Olya – Top Teacher award, coming 5th at the Holiday Classic, Las Vegas (2017)
  • Ranked number 1 New Zealand Professional Ballroom couple since (2012-2022)
  • Professional New Zealand National Ballroom Champions (2012, 2016)
  • Asia Pacific Latin Championships quarter finalists, Japan (2013,2015)
  • Open Professional Latin Galaxy Masters semi-finalists, Japan (2015)
  • Asia Pacific Ballroom Championships semi-finalists, Japan (2013)
  • World 10 Dance Representatives (2019)
  • World Latin Representatives (2018)
  • World Ballroom Representatives (2015, 2018, 2019, 2021)

Contact us now to have your first class and become a part of the Extend Dance family.