Instructors

Kenneth Shipp

Instructor Coordinator

Kenneth Shipp hails from St. Louis, MO as an instructor who grew up dancing hip-hop and DJing breaking comps before jumping into blues. He has spent the past few years passionately studying the family of blues idioms, incorporating his nerdy personality along the way. Kenneth’s life experiences inform his dancing and teaching style so that students walk away with a better historical and contextual understanding. With every class and practice, he’ll encourage you to approach social dancing with coolness, relaxation, or in other words “Chill The F$%& Out.” When he’s not dancing, you can likely find him ranting about the latest blockbuster movie, game, or nerd convention, or desperately trying to dismantle toxic institutions.

Video Playlist


Katrina Rogers

Katrina Rogers brings over 8 years of experience as a Blues Dance instructor. Her infectious passion for the art form, combined with her exceptional musicality and quality of movement, will inspire you to find your own unique groove. Katrina’s grace and playfulness on the dance floor will ignite your soul and encourage you to express yourself freely through dance.

She’s not just a teacher; she’s a guide who will help you unlock your inner dancer and groove with confidence.


Andi Hansen

Hallmarks of Andi’s dancing include playfulness, enthusiasm, and a focus on partnership. In classes she likes to highlight not only the exciting and interesting varieties of blues dancing that you can enjoy, but on being comfortable in your body and dancing like yourself while you do them. Her focus on exploration, musicality, and creativity make classes fun and interactive.

Andi dances primarily as a follow and often as a lead, competing whenever she can, as well as making solo and partnered choreography for events like Sweet Molasses and bluesSHOUT!

Based out of Grand Rapids MI, she enjoys organizing locally, road-tripping to events with friends, and spreading the joy of blues dance!


PC: Jerry Almonte

Julie Brown

Julie Brown (any/all pronouns) is a Boston-based blues dance teacher, DJ, choreographer, competitor, organizer, and enthusiastic student. She has been participating in blues dance since 2004 and has since gone on to teach blues dancing around the globe and won many national competitions.

As a teacher, Julie aims to help students connect with and understand blues dance’s deep roots, find their own voice, and connect to themselves & others authentically, joyfully, and respectfully. Julie has taught blues dancing in Austin, Boston, San Francisco, Seoul, London, Chicago, Zurich, and many places in between. They are grateful to have won or placed in many solo & partnered blues competitions, including at bluesSHOUT!, Blues Muse, Mile High Blues, Steel City Blues, Northstar Blues, and more.

During the past year, Julie has been reconnecting to their love of solo blues dancing, continuing to work on Chicago-style Stepping, leading blues, & headstands, as well as continuing to learn about blues history and its connections to later and present-day Black social dances & music.

For dance videos, pictures, and more info, check out https://dancewithjulie.wordpress.com.


Dan Legenthal

Dan Legenthal is a blues idiom, vernacular jazz, and swing dancer currently living in Atlanta, GA.  He specializes in early-to-mid 1900’s era African-American improvised partner dances done to blues and jazz-blues music. 

Since 2012 Dan has taught, DJed, and performed around the world at events like The Blues Experiment (USA), Korea Blues Camp (South Korea), and Swingin’ the Blues (Australia).

PC: Brad Nathanson Photography

Krystal Wilkerson

Krystal loves living in Huntsville, Alabama, although she is originally from southern Ohio. She has an uncanny energy and enthusiasm for blues music and dancing, and can often be seen at events all over. She’s been partner dancing various styles since 2007; Blues stole her heart, however, in 2010, and has never let go. She has taught all over the world, ranging from small community-focused events all the way up to Large-Scale International events including Korea Blues Camp, Blues Geek, and the Blues Experiment. She has a fervor for both competing and judging and enjoys geeking out on strategies for both. She brings her passion for connection into all of her dancing and instruction. Her love of the dance is contagious, and she believes in injecting fun into all of her classes.


PC: Ben Hejkal

Adam Wilkerson

Adam is proud to call Huntsville, Alabama home, but he’s originally from Mississippi. He’s been partner dancing since 2004, starting in Ballroom, Latin street dances, and Lindy Hop, but he followed Krystal into blues in 2010, and it’s been his primary focus ever since. He’s passionate about social dancing and blues music, and loves to explore all different blues styles in his instruction and setlists. He strongly believes in teaching the context and history of the music and the dance, focusing on research in his spare time. His analytical approach to connection and value for intuition in dance provides a unique classroom environment that promotes self-awareness and improvement beyond the classroom. He believes in learning through experience and experimentation, so expect a LOT of getting up and dancing in his classes.


Guest Starring

Gwen Bone

Gwen hails from Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in various dance and movement traditions, and has been Blues dancing for over a decade. She is passionate about crafting partnership and blues music, and loves to explore all the ways to find rhythm and space in a dance. Gwen’s dance technique and approach to practice developed her dance voice and has led to national acclaim- BluesShout, Blues Muse, Signifying Blues, Lindy Focus, Sweet Molasses Blues. As a teacher, she encourages dancers to explore the partnership space and bring their own individual voice to each dance.


Zach Brass

It was a (most likely dark and stormy) night in 2011 when Zach Brass wandered into a group of people dancing and accidentally fell in love with it. Ever since then, he’s spent over a decade putting his pure, unbridled enthusiasm into dancing and teaching both lindy hop and blues dancing. He’s danced and taught all around the world, from Canada to Italy to the Middle East, but is passionate about developing the local scene in New York City. As a teacher, Zach is always looking to make sure everyone walking into a class for the first time not only learns, but also relaxes enough to have a great time. As he puts it, “Dancing ruined my life in the best way possible!”