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Diadié is a master dancer, choreographer, and dance instructor from the Ivory Coast in West Africa. He specializes in West African dance styles that tie directly to American jazz and Blues dance forms. He has danced and taught around the world, winning many awards and honors, and is currently a member of the faculty of the Center of Creative Arts in St. Louis. Read more about Diadie and the exciting classes he'll be teaching this weekend.
Amanda Gruhl & Ogden Sawyer (Boston, MA)
Ogden and Amanda have been dancing, choreographing, and competing together in
Blues dance since 2000 and teaching Blues dance locally since 2002. Their
style of modern Blues combines historic Blues dance with modern concepts
of strong connection, partnered improvisation, and elements from many of
the different dance styles they have studied. This unique blend has given
them a national reputation for inspiring and emotional partnered Blues dancing.
Since 2003, they have been teaching at national events and workshops, encouraging
and supporting the recent growth and popularity of Blues dance. Their teaching
style communicates their passion for Blues dancing, and encourages dancers
of all levels to take chances and push their personal boundaries. Currently,
Ogden and Amanda teach with a collective of Boston dance instructors at
the It's All Swing! Dance Studio in Watertown, MA, and have recently founded
independently Blue Studios to focus on teaching and supporting Blues dance.
For more information about Ogden & Amanda, check out their website at
www.ibluestudios.org.
For private instruction rates and availability, please e-mail
Ogden
or Amanda.
Heidi Fite & Damon Stone (San Francisco, CA)
Although they have been dancing and teaching with other partners for years,
Damon Stone & Heidi Fite began dancing and teaching together in the San
Francisco Bay Area in 2005 when Heidi moved from St. Louis to San Francisco.
Together they run the venue Roots
in San Francisco, providing weekly Blues dance lessons for experienced, intermediate,
and advanced dancers, as well as a weekly dance party. In addition, they
are involved in the organization of national Blues events such as
Down Home Blues Dance Festival (San Francisco, CA), and
bluesSHOUT!
(St. Louis, MO). Damon & Heidi share a love for Blues dance and for promoting
the dance as a living tradition, with a rich history and an exciting future. Their
classes are inspiring and challenging, but their focus on the underlying
principles and a clear explanation of the fundamentals allows them to break
down the most difficult concepts and moves so they are easy to understand
and incorporate. More important, Damon & Heidi are able to communicate and
instill in their students a love of dance and a dedication to the learning
process. For more information about Damon & Heidi, check them out at
www.blues-dance.com.
For private instruction rates and availability, please e-mail
Damon
or Heidi.
JoJo Jackson (Ithaca, NY) & Chance Bushman (New Orleans, LA)
Jojo Jackson is a world-renowned Lindy Hop, Blues, and Charleston instructor.
Hailing from Ithaca, NY, she has taught, competed, judged, and performed
vintage jazz dances since 1998. She is an American Lindy Hop champion,
a four-time Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown champion, and has performed with
teams such as Minnie's Moochers and Mad Dog. Jojo's dancing is dynamic,
tends to defy gravity, and her mom thinks she's quite a catch. But all
that Lindy Hop stuff aside, have you seen this woman Blues dance? She
has the moves!
Chance Bushman teaches Lindy Hop, Charleston, and Blues----three of the social dances that make up today's international swing scene. His love of rhythm and improvisation are apparent in his teaching style. While Chance considers himself primarily a social dancer, he competes and teaches around the world and is founder and artistic director of the New Year's Eve Rhythmic Arts Festival, held annually in San Diego, CA.
If you'd like to arrange private lessons while they are in St. Louis, please contact JoJo or Chance directly.Kelly Porter & Adam Boehmer (Detroit, MI)
A review of Kelly’s last workshop from dtownstomp.com read: “Not only were my legs broken, but my world was rocked and my brain was 'sploded.” 97 pounds of caffeine-fueled attack-dance, Kelly is a fool for everything to do with the music and dances of the jazz era. She has been DJ’ing and dancing to jazz and blues for around 7 years, and has taught to acclaim both locally and nationally. She spends a lot of time geeking out over B&W dance clips, collecting lo-fi recordings and ruining her joints imitating ‘Snakehips’ Tucker. Her classes stress the joy of improvisation, dancing with guts, and the humanity of a long and soulful vernacular dance tradition. In Detroit with Adam she has also been a mover and shaker with their grassroots vintage jazz dance group Lindy Revolution, which sponsors trad jazz dance workshops, performances, dances and rent parties with live jazz and blues.
An avid jazz & blues dancer for almost a decade, Adam invokes the spirit within. He is often sought after as an entertaining instructor and performer, or sometimes just to show up… his positive energy is relentless. As a teacher, he boils down advanced concepts into graspable concrete information, and believes that a good instructor is one-part dancer, one-part comedian and one-part poet. (This might explain his constant pirate-ship metaphors and really tight jeans...) Adam is "super jazzed" to be teaching with Miss Kelly Po-Po at this year's Blues Shout. If you'd like to arrange for privates with Kelly or Adam, please e-mail them directly for times and availability.
Charlie Fuller (Cincinnati, OH, formerly St. Louis, MO)
Charlie began dancing and teaching in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1999. After being cajoled into teaching a weekend workshop at Truman State University in the summer of 2001, he has been teaching weekend workshops both regionally and nationally ever since. Often cited for his quick wit and humorous examples in classes, Charlie presents fundamental concepts in a practical and knowledgeable way, and he brings to his classes and workshops a focus on solid techniques and a dedication to the learning process. He has played a leading role in the organization of Cheap Thrills, bluesSHOUT!, and The Blues Dance Project. Charlie now lives in Cincinnati and teaches Blues dance both locally and nationally, continuing to develop his unique style of Blues dance by incorporating ideas from the original forms of the dance, while giving special attention to modern methods of partner connection and musical interpretation. For private instruction rates and availability, please e-mail Charlie.
Kathy Warwick & Jerry Warwick (Dallas, TX)
Jerry and Kathy Warwick have been dancing for decades and started swing dancing over 5 years ago. Swing and Lindy Hop are a natural part of their Blues Dancing style. They were contributing members of the development of Swing Rueda. They have been active in teaching swing, Lindy Hop and Blues in the Dallas area as well as across the country. Kathy and Jerry are the driving force in the development of Blues dancing in the Dallas Area and the organizers of the annual Red, White and Blues weekend Blues workshop. For private instruction rates and availability, please e-mail Jerry or Kathy.
Kristen O'Neill & Jeff Benoit (Waterloo, Ontario; Canada)
Jeff and Kristen have been dancing and teaching since the late 1990s. They currently own and operate the dance company Addicted to Dancing in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The name is self-explanatory for what dancing is to them and to many of their students. Jeff and Kristen both have an incredible passion, enthusiasm and love for dancing and instructing. They pride themselves in being down-to-earth, laid-back, approachable, and involved in their students' learning with the right amount of fun, humour and entertainment value. Jeff and Kristen both possess university degrees in Kinesiology (the study of human movement). Their knowledge of biomechanics, anatomy, and motor learning are applied throughout their classes and help build solid dance technique for their students. Their instruction is based on key principles that can be applied to all forms, figures and styles of dancing so students can put their own individuality into their dancing. Even the most complicated figures, concepts and techniques are presented in an easy to understand manner that develop into exciting and impressive dance skills. For private instruction rates and availability, please e-mail Jeff or Kristen.
This year at bluesSHOUT! we're proud to showcase some up-and-coming talent and offer our students some
new inspiration with classes on Friday afternoon from our Guest Instructors, Topher Howard and Andrew Slac.
These guys are inspiring dancers and promising new teachers, and we think you should get in town early enough
to see their classes on Friday.
Topher began dancing with his grandmother in her kitchen and has been studying and teaching Blues
dancing since 2000. His passion for moving with spirit has inspired him to study a variety of dances
which he incorporates into his personal Blues. Every dance is a conversation and in every conversation
he hopes to dance to the edge of the possible. He seeks to inspire his partners and his classes to expand
boundaries and breathe themeselves into the movment and the dance. He brings clear comunication of his
movement material and unrivaled enthusiasm to his classes.
He lives in Seattle where he makes his living teaching and writing poetry.Andrew Slac (Portland, OR)
There are those who are lucky enough to grow up with the music, and Andrew Slac is one of those. Having two uncles who found their careers as Blues musicians, Andrew found his family functions constantly in jazz clubs, juke joints and Blues bars during most of his life. He would constantly watch the people on the dance floor and mimic the exciting dances he would see (as well as throw in a few ideas of his own). It wasn't until much later in his life he would finally realise that these exciting dances were, in fact: Lindy Hop and Blues. Andrew is a natural performer, always finding ways to bring out the true emotion and story in the music he dances to. "I've competed in a few things, won a few things, but there's nothing quite like seeing that smile on the face of the person you're dancing with...Or the crowd, for that matter." Andrew constantly seeks training in any dance form he can, finding his heroes in that of Steven Mitchell and Virginie Jensen, and never stops thinking of how to better his ability and his partner's experience. He currently teaches Lindy Hop and Blues dance professionally, strongly focusing on bringing out each and every persons strengths; as well as his own philosophy: "Dance is a Conversation, an exchage of ideas and an insight into ourselves."