Katrina Ostrenski: Finding Your Own Dance, Building Community & 20 Years of #WCS

All-Star dancer, teacher, community leader and Southern Lights Swing event director Katrina Ostrenski joins us for a conversation about nearly 20 years of West Coast Swing. Kat shares some great stories from the early days of WCS in Australia, including knowing Zac Skinner when he was just 10 years old, and what it was like years later to draw him in an All-Star Jack & Jill at Swingsation. We also dive into what happened when Kat moved to Tasmania, where she eventually found herself as the only West Coast Swing dancer in the state. Missing the dance and the community, she decided to build one herself. That became Swing Dance Collective, and eventually Southern Lights Swing. But this conversation goes well beyond Kat's story. We talk about the challenge of continuing to develop as a dancer while becoming a teacher and community leader, learning when you don't have access to higher-level dancers, having the courage to ask better dancers to dance, dealing with rejection, and why rankings don't necessarily tell you who someone is on the dance floor. Kat also shares one of the best pieces of advice she received as a developing dancer: “You're never going to be better at being Holly than Holly. You have to just be yourself.” That leads us into a great conversation about learning from the dancers who inspire us, without simply trying to become them. CHAPTERS 00:00 Meet Katrina Ostrenski 01:58 Growing Up Around Zach Skinner 04:35 Dancing With Zach at Swing Station 08:57 Building a West Coast Swing Community in Tasmania 13:17 Teaching When You're the Most Experienced Dancer 20:02 Balancing Your Own Growth With Growing a Community 25:15 How to Keep Improving Without High-Level Dancers Around You 29:43 Should You Ask Higher-Level Dancers to Dance? 34:20 Katrina's Advice for Social Dancing and Handling Rejection 44:27 Bringing West Coast Swing to Tasmania 55:06 What Katrina Would Tell Her Younger Self If you love West Coast Swing and want to keep learning, growing and being part of a community that shares that passion, subscribe to Level Up WCS for more conversations with dancers, teachers and community leaders from around the world. #WestCoastSwing #WCS #WestCoastSwingDance #LevelUpWCS #DancePodcast 👉 Join the Level Up WCS Community: https://www.skool.com/level-up-wcs 🌍 Visit Level Up WCS website: https://levelupwcs.com/ 📸 Follow me on Instagram:   / stevefitzlive   💵 Save 20% when you sign up for DanceLib using code STEVEFITZ20 We’re building a global West Coast Swing community where dancers can learn, grow, and connect, no matter where they live. Whether you’re brand new, improving your social dance, or chasing competition goals, Level Up WCS is here to help you on the journey. 💬 Drop a comment and share your thoughts on the video, I’d love to hear from you.