New York, NY

Joshua grew up loving music and moving to it. He took his desire for movement and put it into fencing, which he competed in and taught for ten years. He learned Lindy hop in ‘98 at Beantown and started his infatuation for Blues dancing in early ‘03. Wanting to know more, he began following in order to learn how to blues dance and work on his connection. Eventually he got into micro-blues and developed a style for which he was known. Now his tastes have grown into more vintage style movements, driven by a hard backbone of Delta blues.

New York, NY

Devona first began swing dancing, at the age of eight, as a Carolina Shagger taught by her dad in his North Myrtle Beach kitchen. While in college, pursuing a dance degree, she took her first Lindy Hop class in 1998, and her first Blues class in 2000, both in North Carolina. She moved to NYC in 2001 and resides in Brooklyn. In her daily life she is a Body Therapist and Pilates teacher.

Dallas, TX

Tina Davis has been dancing Swing, Lindy Hop and Blues since 1999, first in Florida and now in her current home of Dallas, Texas. Tina started teaching Blues and Lindy in 2007 and has taught at events large and small, across the nation in Dallas, Austin, San Francisco, Chicago, Wichita, Minneapolis, Boston, Virginia Beach and Canada.

Tina has competed in various competitions, most notably winning the Solo Blues Competition at Enter the Blues 2009, the Jack n' Jill competition at Blues Shout in 2007 and placing as a JnJ Finalist at Emerald City Blues Festival 2009. In addition to becoming a sought after DJ, Tina has also organized several Lindy and Blues events in Florida and Texas.

Seattle, WA

Profile will be available soon!

Philadelphia, PA

Mike began dancing at a ballroom studio in 2001; by 2003 she was hooked on lindy; by 2006 she was performing with the Hoodoo Ladies, an all-girls blues troupe; and by the end of 2007, she'd quit her PhD program to teach dance full time. She has judged, performed, DJed, and taught in over 20 states in the US. When she isn't judging, she's often winning awards, including an Ann Johnson award for "Most Inspirational Follow" and 1st place in the BluesShout Strictly Ballroomin competition.

Mike combines an intuitive understanding of connection with an analytical speaking style to give her students technique, but also strives to challenge and inspire her students to push themselves further into the music. She aims to help leaders create artistic compositions that are clearly led; she wants follows to have the ability to be the completely literal follow, and the inspiration and freedom to be an imaginative and dynamic contributor. In the classroom or on the social floor, she seeks a connection that involves active communication from both partners, to make a dance together.

Seattle, WA

Brenda is fulfilling her childhood dream as a professional dancer and instructor. She studies African American street dances from the turn of the century to the present. Brenda travels around the world teaching and training with various coaches and historians. Her strength is breaking down the dances in a way that is accessible for anyone, even if they don’t have a dance background. She strives to help her students find the dancer with-in themselves, taking inspiration from dancers of the past.

Brenda is working with the Blues dance community during this time of growth to develop curriculum and events that raise the community’s level of dancing. Her hope is to provide structure for duplicable material, while keeping the inherent character and nature of the dance.

Montreal,QC

Davis was born in Nashua (Nash Angeles as some residents like to call it), a mid-sized town on the central, southern border of NH. It seems as though all of his experiences in life have led him to Lindy Hop. He grew up playing all types of sports and continued his athletics in high school and college: a tri-varsity athlete (football, basketball, baseball) at Phillips Academy Andover, a Boston College cheerleader. The son of a musician, Davis has been playing guitar since the age of 9, bass since the age of 15, and has a background in piano, drums, and voice. As a double major in Psychology and Music at BC, he also studied professional audio recording and worked in the Audio Visual Department cutting and editing all of the music for the Dance Ensembles performances.

Since 2004, Davis has submerged himself in the study of Lindy Hop – the oldest authentic American partner dance, which evolved out of Harlem’s Big Band Swing Era. He had studied a little East Coast swing as early as 2000, but since taking the plunge into the Boston dance scene, Davis has picked up other forms of dance including Charleston, Balboa, Blues, West Coast Swing, Hip Hop and Salsa. Davis is now a full time dance instructor traveling the world so make sure you keep coming back here to see what’s new and exciting in his life.

Davis can be contacted at: contactdavis@gmail.com

Dallas, TX

Don West has been dancing since 1997 and teaching since 2000 in Dallas. He's been in a number of dance troupes including Smiley’s Lindy Hoppers, Uptown Swing, founder of the Madcap Maniacs, and the creative director for the ACME Swing Company. He was also the 2000 American Lindy Hop Championships Jack and Jill Champion as well as first place winner in several competitions in Austin and Houston, and served as co-organizer for Lone Star Championships in 2008.