For those of you who are familiar with the ABC show "Dancing with the Stars", Kathleen Corey is the "Julianne Hough, Cheryl Burke and Charlotte Jorgensen" of Pacific Palisades.  Over her more than twenty years as a professional ballroom dance instructor, she has distinguished herself nationally by her incredible record of transforming male amateur dancers into non-celebrity championship-winning "John O'Hurleys", "Drew Lacheys", "Emmitt Smiths", "Apolo Anton Ohnos", "Helio Castroneves", "Jason Taylors" and "Warren Sapps".

Kathleen began her career in ballroom dancing at the former Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Beverly Hills and has been trained and coached by many of the top international names in ballroom dancing.  In 1987 she founded her own independent studio, Ballroom Magic, in the Westchester / LAX area.  Kathleen and her studio regularly participated in some of this nation’s largest NDCA- (National Dance Council of America) sponsored  competitions  with its students, and from 1988 on, had an unbroken record of winning the Top Studio award at every competition they participated in.   Kathleen was a regular in the Top Teacher award lineup, and in 1991-92, was the highest-placing female instructor at the Emerald Ball Championships, the third largest in the nation.  Ballroom Magic was the favorite “home away from home” of several large groups of Southern California dance enthusiasts, including the South Bay (formerly Hughes) Social Dance Club in El Segundo and the UCLA Ballroom Dance Club.

Following the death of her parents, Kathleen returned to Pacific Palisades and retired for a few years, but by 2004, ready for a fresh start, she founded Palisades Dance Connection and began teaching in earnest again.  Aside from her regular schedule of group classes and private lessons, she accepts invitations to be guest instructor at the South Bay Dance Club, and many local private events.  She has made guest appearances at the Palisades AARP and for the Palisades Junior Women's Club, and served as a judge at the 2006 Mr. & Miss Palisades Pageant.  Until 2005, the focus of Kathleen's teaching skills was always on adults, from college-age on up, but the tide of social change made itself apparent with the huge number of Palisades mothers who took their 10-year olds to see the movie all their friends were talking about.  As a result, Kathleen helped Palisades Charter Elementary (PEP) design its own continuing "Mad Hot Ballroom" program (based on the 1995 award-winning documentary film).  Kathleen has also taught ballroom dancing to the 5th through 8th grades at Corpus Christi School, and 7 to 12 year-olds at Rustic Canyon Rec Center.