Teachers

Born in the year of the monkey, Calico is innovative and playful on the dance floor. She has been accused of being ‘creative’ and ‘fly’. The improvisational qualities of lindy hop and blues dancing suit her monkey nature down to the ground. In spite of her intractable bias towards these dances, she loves all dances, with an especial fondness for balboa.

Her teaching style includes words, counting, making
rhythmic noises, constructing evocative metaphors, analyzing movement, recognizing body intelligence and and putting tape on the floor in different geometrical patterns.

Calico Goodrich has been lindy hopping since 2003 and blues dancing since 2006.

Heather has been dancing for 21 years and discovered blues dancing in Portland, Oregon in 2005. She is inspired by the historical importance and emotional rawness that is unique to blues music and movement. Heather has organized events and taught in Calgary, Vancouver, Providence, Portland, and Seattle.

Since 2004, Jared has been bringing his love of dance to hardwood across the world. From his Mom’s kitchen, to Buenos Aires, Argentina – from London, England to Seattle, Washington, Jared is known for his solid lead and his complete disregard for looking silly. He has been teaching since 2006, and emphasizes posture, core control and connection.

Dance is life for Jeremy.

It is in dance that Jeremy becomes truly present and truly alive. His dance is passion, intensity and vulnerability. He constantly searches for that four-minute moment of creation that can only come by completely merging with another and the music. This search means he’s always up for a blues party, and usually the last to leave. When it comes to dance, Jeremy is also a true polyglot: equally at home on a blues, contact improv, swing or tango floor.

Jeremy teaches dance nationally and locally at workshops, venues, and retreats such as Blues Rising, the Portland Fusion Exchange, and Burn Blue. His classes usually focus on things like pause, intensity, momentum, balance and dynamicism. A professional consultant and facilitator, Jeremy often explores these ideas with fresh and unconventional techniques, like improv games or cooperative groups.

Joe is unmissable, unmistakeable, and unforgettable. He also dances.

With nearly 12 years of teaching under his belt, John has inspired generations of new dancers. Coming originally from Detroit, and then by way of Cleveland and San Francisco, John has taught his unique style all over the US and even into parts of Canada. To learn more about him check out his new site www.FluidandFormless.com

Karen has been dancing since 2001, with her main emphasis in Swing and Blues. With her background in juggling instruction and massage therapy, she brings a high degree of body awareness, playfulness, and over ten years experience in teaching movement to her dance instruction. Karen has taught as a full-time instructor for the notable Go Dance Studios in Austin, TX, and now regularly hosts, moderates, and teaches at Seattle’s own Burn Blue and Blues Progressions. She loves the partnership dynamic inherint in the dance, and that, because our job as a leader or a follower is so entwined with other people, it’s an activity and a culture that promotes cooperative interaction.

You can see her dance at http://youtube.com/watch?v=6PGlbbyGPe0. Ask her about private lessons, for feedback, or to dance!

Karissa is known around the country for her energy and creativity in blues dancing. She has been dancing for 10 crazy years, during which, she’s traveled and danced extensively around the world.

She brings vitality, drive, and pure joy to her students.

Kelly is a decade-long student of American vernacular dance who is passionate about bringing the rich social history of these dances to her students. As a performer, she has graced stages across North America to acclaim. As a teacher she is known as much for her sense of humor as for her ability to articulate difficult concepts and nuances. Her classes stress the joy of improvisation, dancing with guts (metaphorically speaking), and the humanity of a long and soulful dance tradition. She has a special affinity for historical dance crazes and spends a lot of her spare time hoarding black and white dance clips, collecting lo-fi recordings and mastering obscure dances like the ‘snake hips’ and the burlesque fan dances of Sally Rand. Kelly is also an avid collector of early jazz and blues, and is generally recognized as one of the US’s exceptional lindy hop DJ’s, playing for the most demanding dance audiences throughout North America including those at Showdown, The Rhythmic Arts Festival and on radio. During daylight hours Kelly is a graduate student of museology and works in the anthropology division of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle. She also plays a pretty killing spoons and kazoo solo.

Known for his unique Charleston technique, and eclectic style, Kevin has been teaching and dancing for 12 years. He has taught swing dancing all over the world, in places such as Switzerland and Sweden. Currently he is teaching in Western WA with his partner Lizzy Boyer. He is also staying very busy DJing and playing his saxophone at venues all over the South Sound. You will learn things you didn’t know were possible in his classes. Kevin placed 1st in the 2005 Camp Jitterbug Charleston Competition, 3rd in the 2004 Fast Feet Competition at Herräng Dance Camp, and 4th in the 2005 Fast Feet Competition in Herräng.

Maggie has been dancing since 2002. She started in East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop, later picking up West Coast Swing and Blues. After moving to Seattle in 2006 Blues became her primary dance focus. Maggie is attracted to Blues for the depth of emotion in the music and the room for expression in the dance. Her teaching is often complimented for her clarity in conveying dance concepts and for her warm presence.

Miles discovered partner dancing in 2002, the same year he moved to the Seattle. Immediately he was taken by it. Abandoning a normal sleeping schedule, other hobbies and the bulk of his vacation time, he has since immersed himself in a life of late nights and achy feet. With the remainder of his energy Miles works full-time as a developer at Microsoft.

Miles began teaching in 2007, getting his start as a tango instructor for the8thstyle.com. In 2008 he created the entity now known as BluesProgressions, where at first he taught Blues to couples living in the Redmond area. In 2009, he moved his classes to Seattle and focused his teaching on social Blues dancing, hoping to give something back to the community that has helped feed his dance appetite for so long.

Ryan was born and raised in Marin county, CA, where he studied theaterand dance throughout high school. Since discovering swing dance duringhis role of Baby John in the Mountain Play’s 1999 production of “WestSide Story”, he has practiced and taught dance to countlessindividuals. He transplanted to Seattle in 2002 and attended theUniversity of Washington for a year, at which point he decided to bedone with school. Subsequently, he attended the Actors Theater ofLouisville apprentice program appearing on stage in “Amadeus,” “Balmin Gilead,” and an original work for the 2004 Humana Festival, “Fastand Loose”. His travels then took him through western Europe, New Yorkcity and the east coast, and finally back to Washington to finish hisBA degree in Drama and Dance. Since 2005 in Seattle, Ryan hasproduced, written, directed, choreographed and performed in fulllength and short films, works of theater and dance, fundraisingevents, public performance art and circus. He has been invited todance with the Oregon Country Fair, NW Folklife, Dream Science Circus,The Moisture Festival, ACT Theater and Lucia Neare’s TheatricalWonders. He is a proud co-founder of the Harlequin Source School inGreenwood, Seattle. Ryan doesn’t know what he believes, but he has apretty good idea that dance is absolutely a fundamental necessity formaintaining one’s sanity, and should be indulged in whenever possible.

Solomon is well respected worldwide as a teacher of Lindy Hop, Balboa, Charleston, and Vernacular Jazz, and has a reputation as a Blues Dancing specialist; he has taught Blues workshops in Australia, Singapore, Korea, Canada as well as many of the 50 states.