Oksana Ponomarenko is a salsa and bachata instructor at Heart Crystal Dance Academy in Naples, Florida, specializing in helping adults learn social dancing in a relaxed and approachable environment.
From 2010 to 2021, she taught through Latina Club studios in Alushta, Yalta, and Kharkiv, offering group classes, private lessons, social dance practice, parties, and festivals. Much of her work has focused on adult beginners, including students who began dancing in their thirties, forties, and fifties.
Oksana trained in the teaching method developed by Irina Yasnogorodskaya, founder of the Latina Club school, and became a certified instructor in 2010. The method is designed to help adults with no previous dance experience build their skills gradually and confidently. She later continued her dance education at ISA in Havana while attending the Baila en Cuba festival.
After moving to Naples in June 2024, Oksana began teaching at Heart Crystal Dance Academy alongside Sergey Stepaniuk. They teach together so students can see both sides of partner dancing at the same time, including how a lead is communicated, how a follow responds, and how the two dancers create connection together.
