Andrea Gordon’s dance journey started in the late 90s, when she decided she hated jazz dancing. Much like her taste in brussel sprouts, several years later she discovered she in fact loved vernacular jazz dances when prepared with a bit more flavor. Since that time, she has become an award-winning lindy hopper performer, a celebrated Master of Ceremonies, and a sought-after voice in the discussion of inclusion and equity in jazz dance spaces within our community. While she enjoys the pursuit of improving her own art as a practitioner of African American vernacular jazz dances, she finds her greatest passion now comes from actively participating in a community that holds space, safety, love, and appreciation for all its members and the expression of their art. While she takes great pride in placing well in a number of contests and joining the touring company of Sw!ngOut, she will always love the social floor best.

As a serial hobbyist (and sufferer of ADHD), Andrea also has interests in road cycling, playing clarinet, getting distracted, yarn crafting, her dog, Murphy, lists, cleaning, whatever hot people are into these days, spreadsheets, ooh burlesque, awkward silence, moments where you realize you preferred the awkward silence, Jeremy Allen White (amirite?), key lime pie, WebMD, friendship bracelets, enemy chokers, ordering things from Amazon she knows she’s not going to like because she knows she can return it easily but never ever actually returning it), wasting money, and her stagnant but promising career in stand-up comedy.

Andy Reid is one of the most well-known and influential swing dancers out there. Since he started dancing in the late nineties, Andy has left an indelible mark on the dance scene. Andy's style is a balance of the refined and the eccentric. His proficiency with rhythm and partnering makes his dancing rich and inspiring to watch and experience. While Andy's dancing has many influences, Andy credits his greatest influence as the Harlem-born Black American social and performance dance called Lindy Hop - the original swing dance.

Since 2002, he has performed and taught in countries around the world including Korea, Australia, Japan, and all over Europe. Always striving for harmony with the music, Andy's experience playing music in his current hometown of New Orleans affords him the opportunity to give his students a deeper musical connection to their dance. Andy's teaching aims to bring the best out of his students both physically and mentally. 

Andy has been a part of numerous very prominent dance teams. He is a founding member of Silver Shadows - undoubtedly one of the most influential Lindy Hop dance teams. He is also a member of the highly innovative troupe Minnie's Moochers. Finally, Andy is also a founding member of Mad Dog!, a Lindy Hop Crew who is infamous within the Lindy community for some reason.

Andy currently resides in New Orleans, LA, where you can regularly see him playing bass with local traditional New Orleans bands.

Anthony's first ingress into the performing arts was at age 8 when his parents convinced him to learn and perform Chinese lion dances. Since then, he has trained in other dance styles including West Coast Swing and various modern street dances, but most of all he enjoys using this background to expand upon his technique and creativity in Lindy Hop.

His love of both leading and following, combined with his professional background in education, make the classes that he teaches both clear and intuitive. He is an active scene builder in his community and founded Salt City Swing, a non-profit in Utah where he teaches locally.

Bobby White has taught Lindy Hop and Balboa around the world for over a decade. He is the writer of Swungover, the book "Practice Swing," and is co-director of the Harvest Moon Hoppers, an NYC-based group that hopes to honor the Black American pioneers of Lindy Hop.

Chisomo Selemani is a dance and teaching enthusiast. She loves movement, learning, collaboration, and cultural exchange. Her artistic endeavors in the Swing dances are inspired from her Zambian tradition and Afrobeats. Her teaching methodologies invite you to explore your own style and artistry. When she’s not dancing, she is co-hosting the podcast Integrated Rhythm and is highly involved in global issues and practices in communication sciences and disorders.

Dee Mathews is a balboa and lindy hop instructor based in Greensboro, NC. They learned balboa in 2010 both as a lead and a follow working with Randy Maestretti and Kara Britt, who taught them a love of pure balboa and the original dancers. 

Since then they have danced, taught, and competed all over the world. They have won balboa contests at California Balboa Classic, All Balboa Weekend, and the International Lindy Hop Championships, as well as been a mentor at The Balboa Experiment.

 Dee is invested in balboa as a dance of connection, playfulness, and dynamism. They are excited to explore the fundamental mechanics of the dance and help students find new ways to be musical, converse with their partner, and find new ways to enjoy balboa.

Dancing in all forms has been a lifelong passion for Irina (she/her). In 2009, at the age of 15, she stumbled upon Swing dancing and it took only one night of social dancing for her to fall head over heels in love with it. Though Lindy Hop was her gateway into the world of Swing, Irina's passion quickly expanded to include Balboa, Collegiate Shag, and solo jazz. She is proud to have spent her formative years of dancing in Southern California, home to some of the best Swing dancers, teachers, and music in the world.

Irina has since received numerous accolades from events such as Camp Hollywood, The International Lindy Hop Championships, and Lindy Focus and has taught these dances all across the U.S., Asia, Europe, and Australia. Additionally, she is honored to have been inducted into the Camp Hollywood Hall of Fame in 2019 and the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame in 2022.

Irina's teaching style can best be described as patient and encouraging. Her goal is to guide her students through building solid foundations while inspiring individuality in personal movement, as well as helping build confidence through dance.

Jon Tigert is a world recognized Swing Dancer and musician. Specializing in Vintage dances such as Lindy Hop, Balboa, Blues, and Charleston, he has won titles from the International Lindy Hop Championships, The Canadian Swing Dance Championships, Lindy Focus,  and many more. Swing Dancing since 2005, Jon has made a home in the swing community as a teacher, an MC, a performer, an organizer, and a musician.  As a teacher, Jon is well known for his historical and musical knowledge, clear and concise communication, and endless supply of terrible dad jokes.

Julie Brown (any/all pronouns) is a Boston-based blues dance teacher, DJ, choreographer, competitor, organizer, and enthusiastic student. By day, they work as a UX Researcher.

An artist at heart, Julie grew up doing visual art and theatre (acting, improv and some lighting, sound, & costume design), and running mildly amok in the malls of central Florida. As an initially-awkward mover, Julie has perplexed & delighted her childhood self by becoming acclaimed at solo & partnered blues dancing. 

Julie has been participating in blues dance and lindy hop since 2004 and has since gone on to teach blues dancing around the globe & to win many top blues competitions. As a dance 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. Interacting with Julie in or outside of class can range from silly or joyful, to gentle, genuine, or even mischievous.

Aspirationally, Julie seeks to use art as an in-road to social change and to explore what that could look like for her in the intersections of activism and blues & jazz dance.

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.

Matt Richey has been dancing Lindy Hop since the tender age of 11. His dance career started with a performance team, including dancing on cruise ships and at Disneyland. In 2004 Matt attended Camp Hollywood for the first time (he hasn’t missed a year since) and he quickly fell in love with what swing dancing can offer; not just Lindy Hop but all swing.

One of Matt’s accomplishments he is most proud of is the Juniors program he started in Nevada County, CA. Matt has gone around to teach at countless schools to spread the love of dance. Over the 7 years he ran the program he brought juniors to competitions and events in California and also brought teens to compete at the International Lindy Hop Championships 3 years in a row. His students brought home the 1st place award in the Junior Jitterbug Showcase at ILHC in 2018.

Over the years, Matt has won hundreds of titles in multiple styles of swing, including West Coast Swing, Lindy Hop and Balboa. He is becoming the most recognized crossover dancer in the circuit as well as being a familiar face on the social dance floor everywhere! In 2018 Matt was inducted to the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame. As much as Matt loves swing dancing, he loves teaching and sharing his love for dancing and music just as much! He currently teaches adults and kids in several local schools and studios in Orange County.

He is known for fun loving energy, musicality, showmanship and performance.

My name is Natalia (she/her) and I am a jazz dancer, teacher and performer from Southern California and based in St. Louis, Missouri. I have been dancing most of my life but discovered Swing dance in Southern California in 2010 when I was 17 years old, falling in love first with Balboa and Lindy Hop and soon after venturing out into Solo Jazz, Collegiate Shag and Carolina Shag. What I love most about Swing dance is Jazz Music and the freedom to improvise through movement, both solo and with a partner. Building community and creating together in class, social dances or jam setting is a beautiful and vulnerable experience that I feel privileged to be a part of.

Timothy Christopher was first a musician! His journey with jazz starts with self taught piano from youtube and old recordings. He stumbled into dance years later while looking for a jazz jam when he got back to his home town from college.

He found himself in a room full of people moving their bodies around to swing music, but there was one couple that was dancing! The next day he found himself in the couples house learning this lovely dance called the Lindy Hop!

Clearly he got obsessed with this dance and the culture surrounding the dance and now he is competing, dancing, and teaching internationally! He was in the most recent installment of SW!NG OUT in New York 2023 and has performed at the Lincoln Center in New York.

David was one of the many youths coached by the famous Mama Lu Parks in the 50s with the goal of keeping the legacy of Lindy Hop alive for future generations.  He was later a leader of her dance troupe, the Parkettes.  The Parketts performed worldwide, served as cultural ambassadors to Africa, and performed for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.

David won the 1962 Harvest Moon Ball with Betty Silva.  He danced and performed for many decades, often seen telling the band they weren't playing fast enough.