Rock That Swing
Dance Camp Instructors 2013
The Rock That Swing Festival is the place where you can learn from more than 40 of the world’s best international teachers and choose from a huge variety of excellent classes. If this is your first dance camp, you can be sure you get the best tips and tricks to get started on the dance floor. And if you are an intermediate or advanced dancer who is looking for inspiration and growth - this is the place for you! We even have special classes for teachers and high level competitors, where you get to pick the top teacher’s minds about their experience and teaching concepts.
The Rock That Swing Festival is the perfect place to learn from your favourite international teacher. Instead of spending a fortune to travel to every corner of the world to learn from the best, we bring the best to you!
Jean · Gil · Juan & Sharon · Thorbjørn & Susanne · Jeremy & Laura · Remy & Moe ·Michael & Evita ·
Pontus & Isabella · Nicholas & Meava · Olivier & Natasha · Ali & Katja ·Markus & Frida ·
Patrick & Natasha · Mindaugas & Giedre · Pasha & Dasha · Stephen & Chandrea · Matthias & Regina · Augie & Teni · Sergey & Yulia · Alexey & Masha · Danick & Gabrielle · Luc & Shophie · Silvia ·
Marcus & Bärbl
Juan Villafañe & Sharon Davis (ARG/AUS)
Juan
Juan hails from Buenos Aires, Argentina and has been a leading proponent in the revival of vintage jazz dances in South America. Today, he spends most of his time travelling the world with his dance partner Sharon Davis, and with dance troupe The Killer Dillers.
His background in gymnastics, acrobatics and martial arts strongly influence his dancing and teaching, giving him a unique perspective on body movement and awareness, and a distinct – and often spectacular – personal style. Known for his high-flying acrobatics and eye-catching slides, Juan is a consummate performer, a creative dancer and an insightful teacher.
www.sharonandjuan.com
Sharon
Sharon hails from Perth, Australia, where she honed her unique and feminine dance style, and has since built an international reputation in not only Lindy Hop, but also 1920s Charleston, authentic jazz, blues and classic burlesque. She now spends most of her time traveling the world with her dance partner Juan Villafane from Argentina, and dance troupe The Killer Dillers. She holds 1st place titles at the International Lindy Hop Championships, Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown, Canadian Swing Championships, Camp Hollywood and Camp Jitterbug, and has claimed numerous other awards internationally. As an instructor and a DJ, she is known for her dedication to the history of vernacular jazz dances and the music they evolved to. With her bright and bubbly personality, Sharon’s teaching style is energetic, creative and fun. Sharon is also a founder of the European Swing Dance Championships held in Barcelona, Spain.
www.sharondavis.com.au
www.sharonandjuan.com
Juan & Sharon - 1st place Showcase Division - Camp Hollywood 2012
Juan & Sharon - Classic Lindy - ILHC 2011
Juan & Sharon - Lindy Hop Showcase - Rock That Swing Festival 2010
Jeremy Otth & Laura Keat (USA)
Jeremy and Laura united to create this dynamic dance partnership in January of 2006. Since then, they have been accumulating Championship Titles, have been teaching all around the world, and even performed on ABC's hit TV Show, "Dancing With The Stars." They have extensively studied and perform a variety of vintage dances including the Lindy Hop, Balboa, Charleston, Collegiate Shag and Vernacular Jazz.
Jeremy and Laura have successfully earned Championships at all major International and National events such as: International Lindy Hop Championships, European Swing Dance Championships, All Balboa Weekend, Eastern Balboa Championships, National Jitterbug Championships, American Lindy Hop Championships, and the US Open to name a few. And to top things off they were honored by the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame in 2008! They share a passion for preserving dance history which can be seen in their recreation of the classic dance performances such as The Congaroos performed by Frankie Manning and Maharaja by Hal and Betty Takier.
With over a decade of dance experience from teaching to competing they bring amazing insight and dance application into their classes. Laura’s gift of communication and connection along side of Jeremy’s talent for creativity and movement brings a fun and exciting learning environment for any level of dancer. They hope to make the whole world smile along with them as they dance to the music of the Jazz Era spreading their love by sharing its beauty and art
www.fastandfancyfeet.com
Jeremy & Laura - Lindy Hop Performance - Balboa on the Promenade 2012
Jeremy & Laura - perform Hal & Betty Takier's "Maharaja" in tribute - All Balboa Weekend 2012
Jeremy & Laura - Shag, Balboa & Lindy Performance - Rock That Swing Festival 2012
Remy Kouakou Kouame & Moe Sakan (F/UK)
Remy
Remy fell into the Swing Pot at an early age. As an established competitor, he earned many awards such as the French and the World Championships of Boogie Woogie. He has been aswell an established teacher for many years now, travelling around many international camps and festivals, sharing his passion and knowledge. His approach to Swing Dances is special because it combines the authenticity and the respect of the dances – thanks to the education he has learnt from his elders – with an originality and creativity inspired by his experience of many styles of dance, with the addition of some spicy madness that characterizes Remy!
What he likes to share the most is the joy that dancing provides. Then he is fighting against intellectualization of the dance and argues for fun and feelings. For him, dancing is... to live... to express !
Moe
Moe had professional training in jazz, ballet, tap and contemporary dance, and has been dancing Lindy Hop since 1999. A pearl of the Orient, she has brought a sparkle to the London Swing scene since she moved there in 2000. Moe is UK’s top female dancer. She won several UK and US competition titles. She has been teaching Lindy Hop internationally. Including-Sweden, Spain, Japan, France, Belgium and of course UK. Also has danced for TV, Movies and theatres. Her most recent appearance was in the music video KT tunstall’s "Hold On". Moe is thrilled to be teaching at her favourite dance camp Rock That Swing Festival in Munich!
Remy & Moe - Boogie Woogie / Lindy Hop Performance - Nothern Boogie Camp 2012
Remy & Moe - Lindy Hop Performance - Provence Swing Festival 2011
Michael Jagger & Evita Arce (USA)
Evita and Michael are full time dancers in NYC. Their combined resumes span the globe from Dubai to the UK, Sweden to Australia! They were the featured Lindy Hop couple in the 2008 Japan Broadway tour of SWING and they advanced to the finals on the American show, "So You Think You Can Dance" – the only Lindy
Hop couple to do so in the United States. They have been members of Ryan Francois company Swing Xtreme and had appearances in commercials and television.
Michael and Evita have won many awards at several national Swing events, most notably are their 1st place wins in the Cabaret Divisions at ALHC and ILHC. Michael and Evita are recognized for their ability to combine technical feats with phenomenal dancing and theatrical storytelling.
As teachers, Michael and Evita emphasize anatomy and efficient use of the body. Connecting movements and clearly projecting direction help create their lead and follow technique. They are inspiring to watch and always radiate exuberant energy and joy. Above all other descriptions, they possess a warm welcome to any student of Lindy Hop.
www.michaelandevita.com
Michael & Evita - Lindy Hop Showcase - Rock That Swing Festival 2012
Michael & Evita - Beantown Camp 2012
Pontus Persson & Isabella Gregorio (S/I)
Pontus
Pontus Persson has been dancing continuously since he was 5 years old, actively competing (since the age of 6) and started teaching professionally as a 16-year old. After graduating, he moved to Stockholm in 2008 to evolve his dancing, being offered membership of the dance company, Harlem Hot Shots. He has since then been spreading the dance on a full-time basis through shows and competitions, not to mention, teaching.
Isabella
Isabella has been dancing different kinds of dance since she was a child. She has been in the entertainment business for a long time, dancing as well as singing.
She is a well-known international dancer, teaches and performs around the globe, exhilarating students and audiences of all ages. Isabella is often mentioned as one of the top three followers of the world. She is well-known for her crazy style and her great expression. Her professional career started in Italy 2002, with a quick start of claiming several titles in numerous international competitions as well as teaching across the world together with Vincenzo Fesi.
Isabella and Pontus started to actively dance together in January 2011.
In this short time dancing together they have won the hearts of the audience around the world and been able to collect following titles, amongst others:
Swedish Champions 2011 in Boogie Woogie
Swedish Champions 2011 in Lindy Hop
Vice European Champions 2011 Boogie Woogie
Vice World Champions 2011 Boogie Woogie
1st place World Cup 2011 Lindy Hop
3rd place at the famous ILHC 2011 (Strictly Lindy Champions division).
www.swingcrashfestival.com
Pontus & Isabella - Boogie Woogie fast - 1st place Swedish Championships 2012
Pontus & Isabella - Lindy Hop Performance - PSSF 2012
Pontus & Isabella - 3rd Place Champions Strictly Lindy - ILHC 2011
Nicolas Deniau & Maeva Truntzer (F)
Nicolas
For Nicolas Deniau, dancing has been a big part of life since childhood. Starting with Rock’n Roll at the age of eight he did his first competition after only one year of dancing. Touring France for competitions Nicolas quickly got experienced within the entertainment aspect of dancing, during his performances you can feel his energy from the very back row. Nicolas later fell in love with swing dancing and in particular with Boogie Woogie. After several victories at the French Championships in Lindy Hop and Boogie Woogie he started to compete internationally. In Boogie Woogie Nicolas has been part of the international elite for many years, taking the fourth place at the International Championships in 2010.
In 2005 Nicolas formed the dance group "The Crazyers" together with William Mauvais, with which he has been touring and performing in all of Europe. He has also toured with the famous choreographer Charlie Moser and his troupe for the musical "Fashion ou l’infer d’Eurydice". To deepen his general dancing skills, Nicolas attended a dance education in jazz, ballet and contemporary dance in 2008.
In the last years Nicolas has focused a lot on his Lindy Hop, resulting in a 2nd place at the European Swing Dance Championships 2011. Today Nicolas travels all over the world to compete, perform and teach Lindy Hop and Boogie Woogie. When teaching, Nicolas radiates great energy and focuses completely on his students. With a smile on his face he shows you that even the trickiest things can be possible to learn.
Maeva
Native of Montpellier, France, Maeva started modern jazz dance at the age of 4 years. A few years later she started participating in Rock Sauté competitions. After several years, Maeva was attracted by more rythmical dances like Boogie Woogie and the Lindy Hop. With easy and surprising abilities, Maeva rose through the ranks to become the Supreme Champion of Europe and the World in Boogie Woogie, Junior, at the age of 15 years. She repeated this achievement three years later in the highest category of this discipline. At 18 years of age, Maeva left her hometown and her own hairdressing business to teach in Paris at one of the most prestigious dance schools with her partner. Subsequently, she joined the musical comedy troop, "L'enfer d'Euridice", which produced several shows at La Cigale in Paris. Maeva continues her training with several choreographers with whom she has acquired numerous competencies in dance, teaching and theatre.
For four years now, she has traveled the world to teach Boogie Woogie in international workshops. She is now much more oriented towards the world of Swing in general.
After having received the fourth world championship titles in Boogie Woogie Maeva has also won many competitions in Lindy Hop and in the Showcase category (1st place showcase at Lindyshock, 1st place Strictly Lindy at Boston tea party, Camp Jitterbug, Lindy showdown, ESDC, not to mention all the finals they have reached alongside today’s greatest Lindy Hop dancers. ....)
With a strong character and great charm, Maeva is determined to succeed in this artistic domain.
www.williametmaeva.com
The Crazyers - 1st place Cabaret - ILHC 2011
Boom-Cha-Ka Boogie Team - 1st place Team Division - ESDC 2011
Olivier Harouard & Natasha Devyatkina (F)
Natasha is Russian and has been dancing since she was seven (ballroom dancing, competing and teaching at a very high level). In 2001 she discovered swing dancing and simply fell in love with it. She joined innumerable swing dancing workshops in Russia and other countries, and soon became one of the best Russian dancers and teachers. Olivier is French and discovered his big passion for Swing in 2001. He started competing and soon he placed in the first eight in the French Boogie Woogie ranking list. They have met at the Herräng Dance Camp in Sweden in 2001 where they fell in love with each other.
They studied together and started teaching in 2003. Since their marriage they have build up regular classes in Toulouse and in 2005 when they moved to the Côte d’Azur near Cannes, they have started to develop the Swing culture there. They teach mainly Lindy Hop, Boogie Woogie, Balboa and West Coast Swing. In 2006 Natasha and Olivier started competing together and became NJC Balboa Champions in the Amateur division for their first run in US Championships and 5th in the NJC Lindy Hop Championship and jumped up into the Pro Division. During the same year they became finalists in Jitterbug competitions in Italy, Munich and in the Balboa Open (BOTP in Cannes), the Euro Bal’ Cup (Frenchie Balboa Festival in Toulouse) and reached 3rd place in the Balboa Cup at the Rock That Swing Festival in Munich.
They compete for fun but they enjoy especially the social dancing and exchanges around the world by sharing their passion with others. Since 2003 their blend of two cultures has been creating an original style of dancing and a very personal style of teaching in particularly all kinds of swing dancing: Lindy Hop, Boogie Woogie, Balboa and West Coast Swing. Natasha fills the most complicated step with grace and makes it look so easy. Olivier is one of the best leaders in the world and bewitches each lady with his French charm and esprit. They are permanent students in all styles of dancing and are constantly trying to learn how to improve their skills and way of teaching.
www.rockswing06.com
www.balboaonthepromenade.com
www.westieonthepromenade.com
Olivier & Natasha - Balboa Performance - Swingfest 2012
Olivier & Natasha - Lindy Hop Performance - Rock That Swing Festival 2012
Olivier & Natasha - Balboa Perfprmance - Balboa Castle Camp 2012
Ali Taghavi & Katja Uckermann (D)
It was love at first dance: Ali & Katja have been dancing together ever since they met on the dance floor in 2003. Based in Heidelberg and Darmstadt, Germany, they are working to spread the Lindy Hop bug through their local classes and workshops around Europe.
Ali & Katja’s unique background of PhD studies in chemistry and translation studies allows them to compose classes that are focused on clarity while letting you explore your own creativity and understanding of the dance and technique. Ali & Katja have the ability to transform fuzzy conceptual elements like "having fun", "musicality" and "stretch" into clear, step by step "how to" instructions that you can use on the social dance floor the same day to impress your partner.
Ali & Katja’s classes stand out because of their counter-intuitive teaching methods. For example: you learned that stretch means moving away? Does that sometimes feel heavy or like pulling to you? Learn to mimic the “middle molecules” of a rubber band that stay still (here comes the chemistry) and how to be stretch instead of stretching your partner. Feel the magic of dancing with just the right “weight” .
In their classes, you’ll also get the tools how to practice and tell if you’re “doing it right” outside the class room. This way, you can continue to improve and practice on your own and take your dancing to the next level.
www.swingstep.de
www.AliandKatja.com
www.TippingSwingDancing.com
Ali & Katja - 2nd place All Star Strictly Lindy - ESDC 2012
Ali & Katja - Lindy Hop Classic - ESDC 2011
Ali & Katja - Lindy Hop Performance 2012
Markus Rosenthal & Frida Borg (SWE)
At the age of 5, Frida started her dance career in the Swedish Bugg and Rock’n Roll federation. Since, she has been studying different type of dances like ballet, modern, jazz and swedish folk dances but Swing dances are the closest to her heart.
Between 2001 and 2010, she has been representing the swedish national team together with Markus Rosendal in Boogie Woogie. Frida loves this dance and is still teaching it both nationally and internationally. Since 2009, she is a member of the world famous company “Harlem Hot Shots“ and spend nowadays most of her time rehearsing, travelling and performing with them.
Frida teach Lindy Hop and Boogie Woogie for both youth and adults. She loves to share her knowledge in the art of dancing.
Markus is described as a swing dancer with a personal style, full of energy and with a special love for all that vintage styling.
He has been dancing since his early years, starting with the Bugg when he was 9 years old, close after,
he discovered the swing dancing in the form of Boogie Woogie (East Coast Swing, Jitterbug) and The Lindy Hop.
He got stuck right away and have not been standing still since.
During his youth he was traveling all over Europe competing in different dance competitions and was ranked together with Frida Borg as No 1 in Sweden
where he won the Swedish Championships twice!
He was also ranked as one of the top leading couples in Europe with a second place in the European Championships
and the 3rd place in the World Championships in his luggage.
Nowadays Markus is practicing a lot of different dance styles from the swing era and they are all close to his heart, the music and the history is taking a bigger and bigger part and Markus is, when not teaching at different camps, DJ:ing or coaching couples, running his two own clubs; The Cotton Club and Rock´n´Roll Saturdays, focusing on bringin´ the good ol´ times back!
A class with Markus bring positive mood and comfortable atmosphere, as he says: "You gotta enjoy yourself when dancing, having fun while learning will make you remember it longer and do it with more passion then ever before!"
Markus & Frida - Social Dancing - JND 2011
Markus & Frida - Boogie Showcase - Pfingstseminar 2010
Patrick Szmidt & Natasha Ouimet (CAN)
Patrick & Natasha founded their dynamic partnership in 2007, while training with the champion team the Swinging Air Force and working at Studio 88-SWING in Montreal. They have since acquired extensive performance, competition, teaching and coaching experience and now live in Paris, France. They have coached many of the Swinging Air Force teams and have had the chance to work for the Cirque du Soleil training dancers from their show "Banana Shpeel" in the art of Swing aerials.
The challenge of competition is something they have always enjoyed and they are proud of their numerous podium titles from such events as ILHC, ALHC, Camp Hollywood, CSC and ESDC.
Patrick and Natasha have appeared in several Canadian television shows; La Vie est un Cirque, La Culture pour ou Contre, Ben et Jarrod, Relève en Folie, and L'heure de Gloire. They have also been featured in the Sam Roberts video clip ''Them kids'' and very recently in ''Dramophone'' from Caravan Palace.
They have traveled all around the Americas, Europe and Asia to teach this wonderful dance and have taught at world class events. You’ll surely enjoy their enthusiam, humour and their clear and detailed teaching methods.
Helping to build the Swing Dance community is very important to Patrick and Natasha. They like to contribute with their free online instructional videos and their event coverage. Check out these videos at Building The Community.
One of their latest projects is "Around the Back Around the World". Check it out!
patrickandnatasha.com/
Patrick & Natasha - Lindy Hop Showcase - ILHC 2011
Patrick & Natasha - Open Showcase - ESDC 2012
Mindaugas J. Bikauskas & Giedre Paplaityte (LIT)
Mindaugas
Mindaugas started dancing in 2006. From the very beginning it was obvious, that jazz dances and jazz music will be his main activity for most of his life. After half a year he joined the local Lindy Hop dance troupe. After a year Mindaugas started teaching and spreading the spirit of traditional Lindy Hop like it was in the old days.
Mindaugas has already traveled through most of popular social scenes (New York, Stockholm, Ljubljana, Hamburg, Blogna, Budapest etc...) and says that this is the main thing making jazz dances more and more popular.
Mindaugas's biggest passion in jazz culure is the music. Being a DJ and a dancer he came up with an idea to expand jazz culture in Vilnius scene. In winter of 2008 he started a band, consisting only of dancers. The band Rhythm Junkies are getting more and more popular among lindy hoppers around the world. Mindaugas says, that the most important thing is to know jazz music from the inside. That experience Mindaugas and Giedrė always tries to share in their classes: rhythm, musicality, expression and individuality.
Giedrė
Giedrė started dancing before she went to school. As a child she was always surrounded by music but never thought that dancing could become the essence of her life. After taking a bunch of folk and modern dance classes Giedrė discovered Lindy Hop in 2003. Since then jazz dances became her own art of life.
Together with her fellow dancers Giedrė started teaching Lindy Hop in her hometown Vilnius in 2006. She is a member of Lindyhop.lt dance troupe with whom Giedrė travels and performs. Sharing the love for jazz dances and teaching jazz dances is her biggest passion. Since 2007 she is teaching solo and with Mindaugas Bikauskas.
Giedrė has made her first steps as an international teacher in spring of 2010. After the first success she has participated in several international jazz dance contests and has been seen on the social dance floor in New York, Rome and Stockholm just to mention a few.
www.lindyhop.lt
Pavel Sotnikov & Daria Chupyrkina (RUS)
Pasha (Pavel) & Dasha (Daria) is one of the best Boogie and Lindy couples in Russia. Energetic and talented they are not only good competitors, but also a quite experienced teachers known all over former Soviet space.
This couple is not addicted to only one style - their dance is a crazy mix of Boogie, Lindy, Shag and Charleston. Combining different dance moves and styles is one of the main their strengths.
During whole their life they dance: Pasha did Ballroom dancing for 6 years in the early childhood, attended theatre classes, learnt basics in choreography and art of directing shows; Dasha did modern dances for numerous years, did tap, performed in theatre.
As a couple they dance since early 2007, when the immediately become winners of almost all Russian competitions.
What is most important - that Dasha and Pasha are winners of almost any Jack&Jill contest they participate, which means that they are not only good competitors, but also great social dancers.
At the classes they put a lot of attention to the leading and following and connection in couple - the art of enjoying the dance and creating something new together with your partner. Being able to split the move to pieces they are able to describe the most difficult things in simple and understandable words.
www.pashadasha.com
Pasha & Dasha - Boogie Performance - Rock That Swing Festival 2012
Pasha & Dasha - 1st place Boogie fast - Open Championship of Russia 2011
Stephen Sayer & Chandrea Roettig (USA)
Stephen
Stephen Sayer began swing dancing in Ohio at the age of 16. In 2005 he moved to Los Angeles and soon fell in love with the dance all over again. In 2009 he began teaching and competing, winning many local Los Angeles contests like the Bayside Lindy Battle and the Paladino's Jitterbug contest. He immediately fell in love with the thrill of performing/competing and began winning many national titles. He is the 2010, 2011 and 2012 National Collegiate Shag Champ at NJC. He won the 2011 National Jitterbug Championships, 2011 US Open, and 2012 Camp Jitterbug Strictly Lindy divisions with his partner Chanzie. Also in 2012 they won 2nd place in the International Lindy Hop Championships-Champions Strictly Lindy Division.
Steve and Chanzie now have turned their focus to the LA scene by starting 3 performance teams in September 2012. They also plan on starting 2 more teams in March 2013 in hopes of having 4 or more teams compete at the 2013 Camp Hollywood.
Chandrae
Chandrae "Chanzie" is one of the most versatile performers/teachers on the market today. After an early career in advanced gymnastics, Chanzie got her start in contemporary dancing at Dance Vision in Portland, Oregon. Soon after, she was invited to audition at The Edge Performing Arts Center in Hollywood. Chanzie was granted a scholarship at The Edge, and she ultimately graduated its Professional Program in 2006; specializing in Jazz, Hip Hop, Modern, Contemporary, Ballet, and Theater dance styles.
Since her graduation from The Edge, her experience in stage productions includes, Spirit Productions, U.K., Princess Cruises and Astra Dance Company, where Chanzie served in the dual roles of dancer and co-choreographer. Recently, Chanzie completed work on a major motion picture entitled “Gangster Squad”, where she worked with her current dance partner, Stephen Sayer.
Chanzie and Steve partnered up in 2010. Together they have taken First Place in the Strictly Lindy divisions of Camp Hollywood, the U.S. Open, and Contest Viejas, as well as Second place at the International Lindy Hop Championships in Washington, DC. More recently Chanzie and Steve have been turning their focus to teaching; in particular, to their recently formed performance groups.
Chanzie started teaching dance at age 16. When she discovered the world of Swing Dancing and the power that connection to a partner brings, she became infatuated with teaching the art of Swing and all its variations. Her passion lies in Connection, Fluidity, Symmetry and Creating Freedom of movement through Technique.
Stephen & Chandrea - 1st place Strictly Lindy - Camp Hollywood 2011
Stephen & Chandrea - 1st place Strictly Lindy - Camp Jitterbug 2012
Matthias Rein & Regina Kuglstatter (D)
Regina
Her early passion for the music of the 20s to 40s was the initial spark for her first Boogie Woogie steps in 2007. Only three years later she could call herself a German Champion. Besides her main focus on Boogie Woogie the blonde girl has a broad experience in Lindy Hop, Modern Dance and Hip Hop. That way she developed her personal dance style - with a pinch delicacy of feeling, a splendid shot of power, and a love for details. As a practicing physiotherapist not only Matthias calves benefit from her trained eyes but especially the students in the workshops.
Matthias
The year 2000 was a lucky one and meant the beginning of a great friendship. Since that day, he has been a competitive dancer and instructor in the European region. His passion is the diversity in dancing and the love for Swing music and Lindy Hop. Different kinds of dance educations have shaped his understanding of motion and expression. Fun and interest in the good old times are driving him to explore the never-ending possibilities of music and motion.
As the present German Champions, members of the national team and teachers, they are travelling the world of Boogie Woogie together since 2010. They show that they love what they do. With their newly founded "Tanzkommune", they bring the "good-old-Rock'n'Roll" closer to everyone between the Königssee and the Chiemsee.
www.tanzkommune.net
Matthias & Regina - Boogie Showcase - Rock That Swing Festival 2012
Matthias & Regina - Boogie Weltmeisterschaft 2011
Augie Freeman & Teni Lopez-Cardena (USA)
Augie
A dancer and instructor from Los Angeles California, Augie Freeman brings a blend of authentic
movement and historic perspective with an understanding of where the dance is today. His
dancing brings haracteristics of the Los Angeles style that was seen in the old Hollywood films
and mixes them with what the dancers were doing in the Savoy. Although Augie loves to compete,
his passion can be found on the social dance floor and sharing his ideas and knowledge with his
fellow dancers. He is a recent inductee of the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame and a recent
National Jitterbug Champion in Advanced J&J. He has competed and placed in many reputable
contests in Lindy Hop and Balboa across the United States including the National Jitterbug
Championships, International Lindy Hop Championships, All-Balboa Weekend, and the Balboa
Rendezvous. As an instructor Augie is clear, focused, and fun and is looking forward to bringing
his ideas and unique perspective to the Rock that Swing Festival.
Teni
Graceful and fiery. Feminine yet dynamic. Known for her swivels. Teni Lopez-Cardenas is an accomplished competitor, teacher, and performer, and has the pleasure of working with many well-known leads and teams. In the classroom, Teni maintains a fun and accessible attitude while focusing on the importance of connection, body awareness, and technique. Her passion for the dance shines through in her teaching, and she strives to instill a sense of playfulness while encouraging her students to develop their own personal style. To achieve these goals, she makes a lot of sound effects, draws pictures in the air, makes faces, and generally just makes a fool of herself.
Teni is happiest when dancing her heart out, both socially and in competitions and performances; she has performed for events such as All Balboa Weekend, the Great Southwest Lindyfest, and Camp Jitterbug’s Jump Session Show. On the competition circuit, Teni is one of the few unpartnered follows who consistently places in top Lindy Hop and Balboa divisions at many prestigious events including the International Lindy Hop Championships, Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown, American Classic Balboa Championships, American Lindy Hop Championships, Lindy Focus, Eastern Balboa Championships, National Jitterbug Championships, and Lindy on the Rocks.
www.tenilopez.com
Augie & Teni - Balboa - ILHC 2011
Teni & Andreas - 1st place Open ACBC - All Balboa Weekend 2012
Augie & Mimi - Lindy Hop Jack'n'Jill - ILHC 2011
Sergey Kryuchkov & Yulia Kalegina (RUS)
Sergey
Sergey is a dancer with a 25-years’ experience in Ballroom Dancing and Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll. Since 1998 he dances Boogie Woogie and has become a real veteran of this dance in Russia. Starting in 2000, he hasn’t missed a single competition.
There are more than 60 writes in his qualification book. Sergey is a multiple champion of Russia and has won lots of other prizes. In 2003 Sergey took part in the European Championships.
In 2005 Sergey was the first who taught Shag in Russia and since then he has been actively promoting this dance. He initiated the Shag Competitions in Russia.
Yulia
Yulia Kalegina came to Boogie Woogie in 2003 starting to exercise and dance with Sergey. In 2007, 2010 und 2011 Sergey and Yulia took part at Boogie Woogie World Cups.they have earned a lot of prizes and became finalists in important Boogie Woogie competitions in Russia and ex-USSR countries. Several times they have won Shag competitions.
Sergey and Yulia are in the organization team of the Moscow Christmas Dance Camp since its beginning. The Moscow Christmas Dance Camp is an annual event with about four hundred dancers from Russia and abroad.
xmasdancecamp.org/en
Sergey & Yulia - Shag Performance - Rock That Swing Festival 2012
Alexey Gudovich & Masha Krohina (RUS)
Alex (Alexey) & Masha (Maria) are both experiences dancers and teachers, one of the best couples in Russia and post-Soviet space. They have been giving regular classes in Moscow since March 2007 and started teaching at international workshops and camps about 2 years ago. They have been finalists and winners of many local and international competitions, both classic and Jack'n'Jill.
Masha is a dance freak in a good way and expands her dance experience not only to different styles of swing dancing, but also Argentinian Tango and different styles of salsa and afro-cuban dances. Though she still stays married to Balboa for life.
Alex, on the other hand, is a true Balboa fan and never cheats. Well, maybe just a couple of Swing-Outs here and there...
www.russianbalboa.com/teachers_eng.html
Alexey & Masha – Balboa Finals at Swing Sultans 2011
Alexey & Masha – Introduction Balboa – MOST 2012
Danick Hamel & Gabrielle Couture LeCavalier (Kanada)
Danick & Gabrielle met in Montreal, Canada. Both starting with Rockabilly Jive, as an outlet for their love of old Rhythm’n’Blues and Jump Blues music. They connected instantly and worked together to make Rockabilly Jive evolve in the Montreal swing community.
Their hard work payed off quickly, getting them noticed and earning them in 2008 a second place during the Quebec Jump’n’Jive festival. Three Canadian Jive Championships titles soon followed at the Jump’n Dance festival in 2009 & 2010 and at the Canadian Swing Championships in 2010. To this they added numerous awards and performances in dance events and on television shows. Their raw energy, friendly ways and just have fun on the dance floor attitude has given them a chance to travel around Canada to teach and share their passion for Jive and Rock’n’Roll to fellow dancers at numerous prestigious events in Canada.
In doing so, Dan & Gab are delighted to be able to pursuit their passion even further. This humble little dance couple really do poor all their heart and soul into that crazy swing dance called Rockabilly Jive.
Luc Osmani & Sophie BÉdard (Canada)
Luc
Based in Montreal, but always being on the road, Luc is well known in the whole North American rockabilly scene as a DJ and promoter, but also as the owner of Rock Avenue dance school, a pioneer in the rebirth of Jive in North America.
Actively dancing since 2001, starting with swing dances, he discovered Jive in 2004, as a sidekick of the swing scene then. In 2005, he moved from his home town to Montreal, mostly for dancing, as being recruited by major swing dancing schools right on the spot. As per 2006, most of his dancing was Rockabilly Jive and as per 2009, he founded Rock Avenue, to spread the passion of Rockabilly Jive, as well of the 50s, not only by the dancing, but also with different events.
Requested through North America as a teacher, from New York to Toronto, it's his first time overseas and is proud and happy of this opportunity to share with you his love of this true 50s classic dance!
www.rock-avenue.ca
Sophie
Sophie has been a Swing dance teacher for several years. She fell in love with the Swing dances seven years ago, and since this passion has been always growing.
President of the swing dance association Saguenay Swing, Sophie is also organizing dance events and she’s very involved in the cultural sphere of her town.
Sophie started competing 2008 and has since managed to take several placements at national competitions. She recently won the 1st place in Advanced Rockabilly Jive at the Canadian Jive Championships and many other places in Boogie Woogie, Lindy Hop and Rockabilly Jive.
Her many travels have allowed her to work with several dancers and therefore develop versatility and a broader vision of dance. It’s with the sweetest smile that she will teach for the first time at the Rock that Swing Festival, the Rockabilly Jive.
www.saguenayswing.com
Silvia Plankl – Dixie Dynamite (D)
.jpg)
Dixie Dynamite, in her everyday life known as Silvia Plankl, is a Munich based professional Vintage Dance Artist. She is highly specialised in the dances of the 1920s to 1950s. She likes to mix tap dancing, clogging, charleston and sometimes singing into her vintage inspired solo burlesque acts. In tap dance she is a four-time German champion.
She recently opened her own Vintage Dance Studio in the heart of Munich (Maillingerstr. 6) where she teaches evening classes, privates and workshops in the dances of the good old glamorous Hollywood musical era: burlesque, tap dance, charleston/vintage jazz and clogging. She performs all of these dances at many events and showcases. If you want to see her on stage: since 2009 she is a member of the Nuremberg based Late Night Burlesque where she can be seen in Germany’s first ever full evening burlesque show. The current show is called "That’s Burlesque" (tickets/info: www.rote-buehne.de)
She is also a select performer of the 2011 London Burlesque Festival (opening night, April 26th). Dixie is a dancer, instructor and assistant to the choreographer on the recent DVD "Learn the Art of Vintage Burlesque", which was produced in Los Angeles by Rusty Frank (sold by Silvia in Germany). She taught and/or performed in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, USA, Russia and Ukraine
and is very happy that she could make her vintage passion to her profession.
mail@silviaplankl.de
www.silviaplankl.de
Silvia Plankl - Charleston - Tollwood Festival 2011
Silvia Plankl - Burlesque - Varieté Show Varietätärä 2010
Marcus Koch & Bärbl Kaufer (D)
Marcus and Bärbl are the organizers of the Rock That Swing Festival and the Munich Balboa & Shag Weekend. They are well-known around the globe for their great knowledge, fun and high energy classes. Despite their great successes they are down to earth and love to pass on their knowledge and joy for the vintage dances.
Marcus & Bärbl are multiple national and international Boogie Woogie and Swing Champions and hold a World Champion and three Vice World Champion titles. They introduced Boogie Woogie, Swing, Balboa, and Shag in many corners of the earth. Their World of Swing videos are worldwide popular and well-liked learning objects.
They have been distinguished by the prestigious Feather Award in the USA and by the International Dance Teacher Award in Germany. Marcus was also deeply involved in building up the Boogie Woogie in the German Rock ’n’ Roll and Boogie Woogie Federation in his function as a sports manager.
Marcus and Bärbl celebrate their 20th anniversary of their dance partnership in 2011 and are one of the longest working international teacher couples. They teach regular classes in their new dance school "Vintage Club" in Munich. With a lot of dedication they are working hard to get more people to experience the great joy of Swing and Boogie.
www.worldofswing.de
www.worldofswingstore.com
www.rockthatswing.com
Marcus & Bärbl - Shag Performance - Doublehop 2011
Marcus & Bärbl - Balboa Performance - Hep Cats Holiday 2009
Marcus & Bärbl - Social Dancing - Groovie Movie 2010
More TBA.
Subject to change!