A 28 year veteran of the swing dance community, Adam is known for his musical and humorous dance style that focuses on empowering self expression for him and his dance partner. Notable accomplishments include his long time work with Norma Miller as well as his ongoing front line advocacy for LGBTQAI+ people in Lindy Hop. Adam has been a leading critical voice in addressing inequities for intersectional LGBTQAI+ identities in dance spaces in an effort to push the community towards enacting actionable and sustainable change. Adam is delighted to be sharing his unique Queer+ positive class style and lectures on Queer+ Jazz and Swing subjects this year at Lindy Focus.

Andrea Gordon is a social dancer’s dancer. Lover of music, rhythm, connection, and the ability to express your individual style, Andrea started dancing in 2006 to supplement her need – not desire – for human connection. From that time until 2013, she traveled to dance and occasionally compete, placing at a number of Lindy Hop events across the country including first place in the 2013 ILHC Pro-Am with Mikey Pedroza, first place in the ILHC Strictly Open of the same year with Jack Chen, and first place in the 2014 Inspiration Weekend Lindy Hop Tournament with Matt Richey, where she exclaimed victoriously “…damn, this is about to get real hard…” and left on a pretty high note if you ask her. Now, she’s returned to the community to teach Lindy Hop at Atomic Ballroom with her award-winning partner Matt Richey. Best known as your favorite friendly registration lady and “that one girl from the video”, let Andrea regale you with stories about how she almost took a class with Frankie Manning, what she almost learned, and how she almost placed at Camp Hollywood, a story better than the one about actually placing at Camp Hollywood.

Annabel is addicted to the communication and spontaneity of social dancing. She caught the Lindy Hop bug over 20 years ago and soon developed a great love of Balboa as well. She has taught and competed all over the world, taking home many top prizes, including at the International Lindy Hop Championships, All Balboa Weekend, and the California Balboa Classic. She is passionate about fostering a fun and inspiring class environment that honors the history and legacy of the various swing dances while spurring her students to explore their potential and embrace their individuality. Currently, she resides in Washington, DC and is a founding board member and Director of Education at New Columbia Swing, DC’s premier swing dance organization.

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.

Dancing since 1974 and a protege of Fayard Nicholas (of the Nicholas Brothers) Chester has been dancing his way around the world. These days he is a dancer, teacher, performer, choreographer, director, stunt man and entertainer. His choreography can be seen in music videos for Boys II Men, Sugar Ray, Teena Marie as well as working with artists such as Savion Glover, MC Hammer, Prince and many more. Also a highly renowned drummer and band leader he has worked with some of the best in the entertainment industry. He has performed with his dance company Black Ballet Jazz, with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra and the great Miles Davies. Chester exudes boundless positive energy and passion for dance and is a born entertainer. HIs contributions have been far too many to name them all. He can only be seen to be believed.

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.

Hello, I’m Christian Frommelt (he/him/his), a jazz artist and activist from St. Louis, Missouri. I’ve dedicated much of my life to bringing people together through music and dance, guided by the African-American vernacular dance values of self-expression, improvisation, and collective action.

Damon has been dancing his entire life, starting with vernacular Jazz/Blues first taught to him at the tender age of six by his grandmother. After nearly a decade of learning at the heels of his elders, he went on and eventually studied a numerous dance forms until coming full circle in 1995 to focus primarily on the history and styles of Swing and Blues as his family danced them with a special focus on the Southern styles from the Mississippi Delta region. He has studied the development of vernacular Jazz/Blues dance across the United States learning from a number of the original dancers.

He is largely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on Blues idiom dance and has been interviewed as a dance historian in documentary, radio, and newspaper. Damon has been a featured instructor at camps, festivals, and workshops across five continents.

Felix Berghäll is a choreographer, performer and educator as well as a music researcher and DJ in Lindy Hop and African American Vernacular Jazz.

Currently, he is also part of leading a new NGO as board member and treasurer, Collective Voices for Change, along with other dancers and scholars in order to create a platform to address social issues in the Jazz dance community. The current focus of the initiative is to discuss the issues of cultural appropriation and racial injustice

For over 20 years, Giselle has been an unmissable voice in the swing dance community as a: performer, instructor, competitor, event organizer, social dancer, judge, DJ, and singer/band leader. One of the top proponents of syncopated footwork, personal style, and improvisation - she will breathe rhythmic life into any dance, class, or stage appearance.

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.

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.

Josette Wiggan's career highlights include, touring in two original casts of Cirque du Soleil’s Banana Shpeel and Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour, creating Praise: The Inevitable Fruit of Gratitude, with Emmy nominated Jazz trumpeter extraordinaire, Keyon Harrold, as well as debuting her latest work On Solid Ground: A Celebration of Black Joy and Freedom In Our America, at the Nate Holden Theater in Los Angeles in Josette Wiggan Presents...Josette is currently a professor at USC’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, teaching Vernacular Jazz and Tap Dance. She is an internationally acclaimed educator, performer, choreographer and has dedicated her life to the perpetuation of African American Jazz Dance.

Julie Brown (any/all pronouns) is a Boston-based blues dance teacher, DJ, choreographer, competitor, organizer, and enthusiastic student. They have 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.

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.

Dr. Marie N'diaye (PhD) is a Jazz Dance choreographer, performer and educator as well as a dance researcher. She specializes in Jazz Dance (African American Vernacular Jazz), including the partnered form (Lindy Hop), focusing on the legacy of Harlem dancers from the Savoy Ballroom as well as the chorus line tradition from night clubs and theatres (such as the Apollo Theater, the Cotton Club, Connie's Inn...) and has applied her scientific method and dance education to conduct an embodied practice-based research of Jazz dance through the study of original video clips, and collaborations with elders and other established dancers.

Marie is the founder of the non-profit organisation "Collective Voices for Change" aiming to promote cultural appreciation and respect of African American Jazz Dances. She is also a board member of the "Black Lindy Hoppers Fund", whose mission is to support and promote Black artists in their practice, performance, and transmission of Jazz Dances especially Lindy Hop.

My name is Natalia (she/her) and I am a jazz dancer, teacher and performer 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. What I love most about this dance is Jazz Music and the freedom to improvise through movement, whether solo or with a partner. Being a guest in this space and creating together with others, whether in a class, social dance or jam setting is a beautiful and vulnerable experience that I feel privileged to be a part of.