Michael Diven started dancing 20 years ago and he hasn’t stopped
since.
What began as a hobby has mushroomed into a life style and a
reputable business. This 38 year
old from Mifflintown, PA is a country
line dance instructor at the Winner’s Circle Saloon in
Grantville,
Pennsylvania and an award
winning choreographer with a number of 1st place trophies to his credit. Over the course of his
dancing career, he has hosted various dance events and held numerous
country dance lessons
throughout the Central Pennsylvania region. In 1993 he entered his first
dance competition in
Gatlinburg, TN (Great Smokey Mountain Line Dance Festival) where he took
first place in the
couples division and 2nd in the line dance competition.
One of his
earlier dances, “The Dizzy
Cowpoke” was released within 2 years of his first competition and has
become a huge hit in the
UK as well as all over the world. Since his early beginnings, Mike
has choreographed a number of dances including “Binghamton Boogie”,
“Holy Cha”, “Atlantis”, “Love Revival”, “A Shot of Whiskey”, “A Little
Bit More”, “Bankin’ Beer”, “Somebody’s Somebody”, “Fairy Tales”, “The
Blitz”, “Terrace Terror”, “Romeo Stroll” “Holy Cha” and many more.
He
has 1st place awards in choreography for dances titled “One Hot
Mama”, “Nothin’ 2 Lose” and “Shut Up and Dance”. His dance “Trough Creek
Affair” is winner of two first place awards. With his love for dancing, he
returned home from the 2004 JG2 Line Dance Marathon in June and quickly
choreographed one of his hottest dances “Cowboy Ridin’”, a phrased line
dance done to Big & Rich’s “Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy” which won
second place in the choreography competition at the JG2 Line Dance
Marathon in 2005.
Throughout his career, Mike has hosted dances to raise money for the
American Cancer
Society and the local Relay for Life team, as well as volunteer his time
and talents to local
children’s organizations, giving back to the community wherever he can.
Dancing is what he does
and he does it with flair. Country, Latin, or Rock and Roll: he’s
committed to memory thousands
of steps in hundreds of different dances, all presented with a style
distinctively Diven. If a new
recording hits the airwaves, you can bet that Mike is already dancing it
in his head,
choreographing as he goes, finding just the right sequence of steps for
every beat of the music,
soon to be committed to paper and then transferred to the dance floor.
One of his trademarks is
his resolve to choreograph a dance to commemorate each of the special
events and memorable
places in his busy life. The award winning “Trough Creek Affair (T.C.A.)”
was such a dance,
which was choreographed after a weekend spent at Trough Creek State Park
with a group of
friends. It went on to win a first place at the Eastern Dance Classic in
Alexandria, Virginia as well
as first place in Raleigh, NC at the JG2 Line Dance Marathon in June
2005.
Mike’s future doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon. He has
taught country
dancing to Special Olympic athletes at the PA State Games and has
performed in a number of
local talent shows, demonstrating what country dancing is all about. He
has traveled to
Switzerland where he spent two weeks teaching his own choreography as
well as participating in
workshops with Guyton Mundy, Barbara Prosen and various other country
dance venues.
He has
choreographed dance routines for a local high school musical, “Little
Shop of Horrors” in 2005
and is looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead, as well as
planning a country western
cruise scheduled for Summer of 2006.
In August of 2005, he and 14 other dancers traveled to Connecticut to
participate in a Country Dance Weekend teaching dances and participating
in a country dance
demonstration for a large audience of vacationers. In November 2005, he
taught
at the “18th Annual Country Western British Championships” in England.
Mike has danced, both as a performer and as a choreographer in numerous
competitions
in the United States, from Texas to the Carolinas. He has been involved
in “Dance for the
Dream”, which is a National line dance workshop program sponsored by
recording artist, Scooter
Lee to raise money for research into the cause and prevention of
Alzheimer’s Disease. In
September of 2004, he had taken his talents internationally to
Switzerland, where he has
presented his own original choreography and style of instruction to a
group of dancers and
instructors from that country as well as the surrounding areas.
His
dances have been downloaded
from the internet and are currently being danced around the world.
Between weddings and
teaching at a dance club, Mike continues to find time doing what he
loves…….dancing.
He has
volunteered many hours helping couples learn some of the more popular
dances, by spending
one-on-one time with both partners. He realizes a lot of men don’t want
to learn dances in front of
a crowd, and is willing to work individually with couples. Regardless of
where he travels, Mike is
always out on the dance floor and hardly ever spends time resting in
between dances. “I hate to
waste any good music,” he says.
So from the first note of the first
song, to the last note of the last
song, Mike will be out on the floor doing what he does. You probably
have already seen him out
on the dance floor. Wearing his cowboy hat and boots, this choreographer
loves to spin. The
dancers from Switzerland have referred to him as the “American Energizer
Bunny”.
Exciting achievements for what began as just a hobby. But Mike hasn’t
lost touch with why he
started down this path many years ago. He might be dancing in
competition in front of thousands
of people one day and patiently teaching an 8 year old the steps to the
Canadian Stomp the next
day at the Winner’s Circle Saloon.
The achievement, the success, the
semi-celebrity status, it’s
all good, but first and foremost is the dance. He makes a living at it,
but he doesn’t dance to live,
he lives to dance. It’s what he does, it’s who he is.
His name is Mike
Diven….and he’s a dancer.
If you are ever in the Central Pennsylvania area and are looking for
somewhere to go dancing,
give Mike a call. There is always room on our dance floor for one more. |
