Natasha Martin uses dance to approach music as groove, rhythms and pulse. She performs and teaches body music and tap dance and has done many collaborations with groups of musicians, theater plays and many other forms of art performances.
Natasha Martin uses dance to approach music as groove, rhythms and pulse. She performs and teaches body music and tap dance and has done many collaborations with groups of musicians, theater plays and many other forms of art performances.
Sakarias “The Champ” Larsson was born and raised in Frufällan, on the west side of Sweden. He watched jitterbug contests as a kid and there were some things with the music and the aesthetics of the dance that spoke to him and he decided to learn. One thing led to another and already at sixteen he started practice with The Rhythm Hot Shots (now called The Hot Shots). That was 20 years ago and he’s been with the group ever since.
The amount of hours he’s spent in the rehearsal studio is probably beyond sane. The recent past years he’s focused on sharing what he knows with the younger generation of Hot Shots. He finds motivation from his friends in the group, they keep him young.
Sakarias is on a never ending world tour in the name of lindy hop with probably 1000s of shows, teaching gigs and competitions. Apollo Theatre, Frankie 95 and 100, Basie Centennial, Last Bounce, Jazz Jam, ULHC, several tours in USA, Asia, Australia and Europe (only to name a few). He made it to the finals in Sweden’s Got Talent and out of 100s of dancers he was casted among the top 20 to enter the reality tv dance show Floor Filler. He’s also one of the founders of Chicago swing dance studio, one of the more famous lindy hop and jazz venues in Stockholm today.
LaTasha “Tasha” Barnes is an internationally recognized and awarded dancer, educator, coach, Tradition-bearer and cultural ambassador. Based in New York, Barnes is globally celebrated for her musicality, athleticism, and joyful presence throughout the cultural traditions she bears: House, Hip-Hop, Waacking, Vernacular Jazz, and Lindy Hop.
Her expansive artistic, competitive and performative skills have made her a frequent collaborator to Dorrance Dance, Singapore based Timbre Arts Group, Ephrat Asherie Dance as well as many international Jazz/Lindy Hop and Urban Arts festivals like the International Lindy Hop Championships (ILHC), Summer Dance Forever, and Ladies of Hip-Hop Festival.
Expanding the scope of impact for her communities, Barnes recently earned her self-designed Master’s in Ethnochoreology, Black Studies and Performance Studies thru New York University Gallatin School (2019). Her thesis and continuing research are working to bridge the gap between communities of practice and academic cultural dance research, performance, preservation and pedagogy.
In concert with these efforts she is honored to be a part of the creative team developing the ground-breaking stage production Swing Out, bringing the passion and power of Lindy Hop and it’s community to the concert stage. Accolades and goals aside, Barnes’ forever purpose is to inspire fellow artists and arts enthusiasts to cultivate an authentic sense of self in their creative expressions and daily lives.
Bianca and Nils started dancing when they were kids. They have performed and competed with other partners in their home countries (Italy and Sweden) in different dances like ballet, lindy hop swing, latin dances, hip hop, ballroom and the Swedish bugg. Both Bianca and Nils got stuck in swing dancing and music, their biggest passion at a very young age. Their paths crossed when Bianca moved to Sweden at the age of sixteen and that’s when they started performing and competing together.
Their teaching career started short after that. Nowadays they travel globally for teaching workshops at festivals, performing and competing. They love to teach what they believe in all around the world. It gives them inspiration, happiness and satisfaction. Bianca and Nils like to bring their love for the dance through energy and enthusiasm on stage. Bianca and Nils are members of the Swedish national team in Boogie Woogie and Lindy Hop and together they won several Swedish competitions including the Swedish championships. Even abroad they hold titles at the International Lindy Hop Championship (ILHC), Camp Hollywood, European Swing Dance championship, several Boogie Woogie international competitions.
They love swing dancing because it brings people together and spreads joy between them, but also because it has a technical and “nerdy” side. The dance challenges them in keeping practicing, creating and expressing. Bianca and Nils’ goal is to help you become the best dancer you can be if you are a student and to be entertained if you are a spectator at one of their shows.
Helena Kanini Kiiru is a young dancer and teacher based in Zagreb, Croatia. She started off as a hip hop dancer at the age of 10, and after 8 years of practicing various street styles, she fell in love with lindy hop.
Very quickly she found passion for solo jazz, especially the raw style of authentic jazz pioneers. Her talent was recognized at JazzRoots 2018 where she won both solo and showcase competitions. She stood out due to her unique style, charisma and authenticity. She was teaching at some of the biggest festivals such as Jazz Roots, The Snowball and Herrang dance camp. Now she continues to travel internationally and enjoys spreading her love for solo jazz with her students.
Sammy Gian is a Kenyan dance instructor and choreographer with a strong background and experience in teaching and in facilitating performances. His formal education started in one of the biggest institutes of performing arts training in South Africa the MID (Moving into Dance Mophatong), but his professional experience as an artistic director and choreographer, performer, and teacher runs over 10 years in various African and European countries. In 2012 he was one of the main choreographers and instructors in an academic program at the University of Maputo, in Mozambique. Since then, he has participated in various festivals around the world and he creates his own productions. His dance identity has different dynamics based on the contemporary dance techniques of Martha Graham and Lester Horton mixed with African and acrobatic elements. Nevertheless, his dance styles continue to a big variety of hip hop, house, modern, urban jazz, and afro-fusion. Since 2016, he has lived in Athens, Greece, where he teaches afro-fusion on a weekly basis at the Professional Dance School, Aktina, as well as in dance studios such as DANCCE and Dancevacuum. He also coordinates seminars with different themes in different dance schools. Since July 2017, he has formed the Twende Dance Project, a modern dance center and meeting point for professional and amateur dancers, and a roof for his dance company. in 2018 and 2019 participates in the Thessaloniki Swing Festival as an African Dance teacher and as a performer and co-organizes the African-American Jazz Dance Project, where he studies African roots in jazz dances. To this day he continues to teach children and adults.
Bantu Dancers is a dance group of young people born and raised in Greece but with origins from Africa. For over 6 years, in collaboration with the Anasa Cultural Center of African Art and Cultures, we have been researching on West African dances, learning about dance traditions from all over West Africa and incorporating all that with the everyday life and experiences we face living as part of the African community in Greece. The group combines modern African movements with traditional movements, dancing to contemporary but also traditional rhythms with live drumming. Bantu Dancers have participated in various festivals all over the world.
Calling himself a hepcat who admires the ‘bop style’ of music and dance. His understanding shifted over the years, towards trying and respecting the culture and history. Researching into bebop/bop dancing for the past times, in his community, he tries to re-shape the approach towards jazz dancing and he is also a member of the T-Bop team. He shares his free perspective about technique and style, focusing on one’s character and groove.
Alex and Ioanna are an enthusiastic blues dance couple! They love to share their personal style of Blues dancing through teaching, adore choreographing captivating performances and cherish loooong nights of social dancing!
They are both highly trained dancers; Ioanna has been dancing since she was a child and Alex has been doing Swing dances for more than 12 years!
Since 2017 they have been focusing mainly on Blues, traveling around Europe deepening their understanding of the Blues dance and its culture as well as continuously developing their dancing and teaching skills!
Thanos is a leading figure of tap dance and body music in Greece, while sharing and performing around the globe. Mentored by Heather Cornell and Max Pollak, his work focuses on the music delivered from the body sounds and percussive movement, fusing and expanding to various musical styles from jazz & funk, afro & latin, to his eastern and Balkan roots.
Today Thanos was until recently a cast member of the dance and music group Cambuyon from Spain, premiered with them this February 2015 at the New Victory Theater in New York (Broadway) and is part of the international show “Body Music: see music, hear dance” under the direction of Keith Terry and Jep Melendez.
He is actively involved in the Athens Jazz scene and his collaborations include top greek jazz artists, the Coolspiritrio and his own leading projects Tapmotif Sextet and Acoustic Movement. He teaches regularly in the artistic space “Playground for the arts”, which is a faculty member of the “Orff Institute in Athens”. He is also constantly teaching to communities abroad, sharing tradition, concepts and his approaches in countries like USA, Canada, Spain, France, Switzerland, UK, Finland and more.
Marie has been dancing almost as long as she has been walking, training mostly in modern Jazz. She fell in love with Lindy Hop and other African American Vernacular Jazz dances in 2006.
A true scientist (She obtained her PhD in Neuroimmunology from Karolinska Institute, Stockholm Sweden in 2018), Marie loves history and facts. She has been applying 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 many established dancers. She has also researched the cultural and social context of the Jazz dance era through literature study and interviews of artists. Her main focus is on the African American Jazz Women and Chorines (chorus girls) of the time.
Marie worked and danced with the fantastic teachers of the Cat’s Corner Studio in Montreal, Canada and Chicago Swing Dance Studio in Stockholm, Sweden. She also teaches internationally, in France, Spain, England, Australia, Russia, USA, China… as well as at the world famous Herräng Dance Camp
Currently, Marie is a board member of the newly founded Black Lindy Hoppers Fund (an organization dedicated to support African and African diasporic dancers and artists in Lindy Hop and Jazz). She is also leading a new non-profit organization, Collective Voices for Change.
Felix Berghäll is a choreographer, performer and educator as well as a music researcher and DJ in Lindy Hop and African American Vernacular Jazz. He has studied Sport Coaching and Sport Science at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Science in Stockholm. He has been part of the national team as an athlete in Boogie Woogie and Lindy Hop and is now Co-Head Coach with his partner Mikaela Hellsten for the national team of Lindy Hop in Sweden.
He has also been working the last 5 years co-organising one of the biggest events in the world with focus on Lindy Hop and African American Vernacular Jazz, Herräng Dance Camp. He just resigned from his position at Herräng Dance Camp in November 2021.
Felix has been dancing since he was 8 years old, starting with training and competing in the Swedish dance style Bugg as well as Lindy Hop, Boogie Woogie and Double Bugg. All dances derived from Lindy Hop and African American Vernacular Jazz. He was in love from the beginning and was really, and still is taken by the music.
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.
Frida has been dancing since her early childhood. Her very first dance interest was Swedish folk dances and Swedish Bugg and later moved on to Boogie Woogie. She also attended a three year dance dance high school focusing on modern and contemporary jazz dance and ballet. Training and competing brought her to Herräng Dance Camp where she was exposed to Lindy hop on the social dance floor for the first time and she fell head over heels in love with the music and the dance, finding a freedom of expression she had never felt before. From that point she was hooked and has never looked back. She joined the performance group The Rhythm Hot Shots, now known as The Hot Shots, a celebration of Harlem rhythms, for 15 years.
There she got the possibility to work hard, learning and performing a broad spectrum of the African American dances she loves such as Lindy Hop, solo jazz, charleston and tap. She feels incredibly happy and humble that she has had the opportunity to travel the world performing, teaching, competing and sharing her passion for this artform for the last 20 years.
Skye Humphries was first persuaded to dance Lindy Hop by his mother in 1996, but quickly discovered his own love of social dancing, swing music and the Lindy Hop community. This led him to a wider interest in dance and he took classes in ballet, modern, and Jazz. Since 1999 he has taught wherever Lindy Hop is done – from national weekends to international dance camps. He is a founding member of some the most influential modern Lindy Hop troupes- including Minnie’s Moochers, Mad Dog, and the Silver Shadows.
Skye has also won titles at all of the major Lindy Hop competitions – including ULHS, ILHC, ALHC and the World Lindy Hop Championships. This involvement with Lindy Hop sparked his wider interest in America’s history and cultural heritage- leading him to pursue American Studies at The George Washington University where he received his master’s degree in 2007. He currently resides in New York City.