Teachers
Adamo Ciarallo
Adamo is dedicated to nurturing, developing, and promoting the blues scene in Europe. Thanks to his impressive linguistic abilities he can offer classes in English, Spanish, Italian and (passable) French!
Adamo has a professional qualification in teaching adults and he sees his role as a teacher to facilitate the classroom in response to learner’s needs, enabling all students to achieve their potential. His classes focus on highlighting the relationship between the dancers and the music and the importance of personal expression and creativity.
He loves social dancing, teaching, competing, and listening to music, and spends his ‘spare’ time reading and learning about the history of the dance forms he loves so much. What makes Adamo’s dancing life worthwhile is the commitment, enthusiasm, and energy of his students and everybody else in what he describes as “this beautiful community of dancers”.
Alex & Ioanna
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 it since 2008!
Since 2017 they have been focusing mainly on Blues, traveling around Europe to deepen their understanding of Blues dancing and its culture as well as continuously developing their dance and teaching skills!
Thanks to their love & dedication and building on the excitement of the local dancers they have built an explosive Blues dance community in Athens! In just a few years (even though the covid years) it has steadily grown to become an energetic, loving, and high-level community. You might have danced with some of our members around European Blues festivals lately!
Beatrice Bibi
Bibi has been dancing for 27 years (and teaching for 20!), but it is only when she discovered the blues that she found her true "perfect match".
The overwhelming passion for blues music and dance quickly became a one-way ticket to the world. In fact, she is a well-known face on the international scene, she travels all around Europe, USA and Asia to deepen her knowledge, teach, share and spread all of her love and appreciation for the blues. She has given birth also to several communities of blues dancers in Italy, teaching weekly courses and workshops.
Bibi holds a strong sense of respect for the values of African American culture, and for the importance of researching and respecting the cultural roots and history of blues. What she loves about blues are the breadth of blues music as well as the creativity, the freedom of expression and the deep connection and communication with the music and the partner in the dance.
Bibi is also a known Dj, and for her, music is a great, continuous source of emotions, the true engine of everything she does! She has been spinning the decks since 2014, inspiring tons of dancers all around the globe and keeping the party jumping everywhere she went! She DJs with different supports, including Vinyls!
Catherine Palmier
Catherine Palmier assists individuals in unleashing one's authentic movement,
offering guided explorations to refine their dance using grounded organic
movement, effortless power, and fluid grace.
With over 22 years of professional dance experience, academic training, and
knowledge of multiple dance styles, Catherine's skills and keen movement
sensibility help dancers discover the origin and understanding of their movement.
She draws from performance concepts, emotions, visualizations, memories, body
mechanics, sensations, and alignment to support her students' constantly
flourishing understanding of dance.
Catherine hopes that her work will provide her students with insight, playfulness,
and enthusiasm, enabling them to develop their signature style in dance.
Catherine's ability to interpret various dance styles and proficiency in revealing the
limitless nature of African dance make her an excellent asset to dancers of any
genre or experience.
Dexter Santos
When DEXTER SANTOS discovered Blues dancing in 2005, he found himself immediately drawn to the rhythms and sounds of the Blues. Something about the music - it's emotional depth and range, the varied subjects and stories, the gut-wrenching and the hip-shaking, the gritty and the smooth - gave Dexter's dancing new inspiration and direction. With a background in Ballroom dancing and Lindy Hop, Dexter has studied and collaborated with the best Blues dance teachers and dancers making him one of the most sought-after and admired teachers in the national and international scene.
As a teacher, Dexter aims to inspire dancers of all levels with the possibilities that Blues dancing has to offer while preserving its roots, identity, and art form. Dexter travels across the US and around the world spreading his passion and joy for Blues dancing through his fun, inspiring, and challenging classes. A particular class favorite often referred to as the "Shim Sham of Blues," the Hound Dog routine (a solo Blues choreography danced to Big Mama Thornton's song of the same title) has been taught to and performed with dancers in four continents.
Dan Repsch
Dan is immersed in the music and the movement. As a teacher, his enthusiastic approach brings a focus on innovation, connection, and attention to your partner. As a veteran DJ, he's played for events across 4 continents, DJing everything from international events to local dances. He’s also organized both locally and for international events, including a Head DJ role in BluesSHOUT! and The Balboa/Blues Experiment.
In the end, Dan is most excited to work hard at improving the dance and to see his students break through their boundaries.
Dara Anderbard
Julie Brown
Jamica Zion
Currently living the nomadic life, Jamica Zion takes pride in being a groovy solo dancer, a dynamic follow, and growing lead. Jamica aims for range, not just in connection and style, but across genres too! Since starting Jazz and Blues dances 15 years ago, she’s collected multiple titles from contests across top US events including Lindy Focus, Camp Jitterbug, Beantown, and Camp Hollywood.
As a solo artist, Jamica has prioritized performance over contests so instead of a collection of solo wins, she has a diverse and abundant performance portfolio (check some out on YouTube(link is external))! When Jamica is not social dancing, teaching, or working on choreography, she is likely spending time with her dog, reading, playing games, napping, or relaxing with loved ones.
Kenneth Shipp
Kenneth Shipp hails from St. Louis, MO as an instructor who grew up dancing hip hop and breakdancing 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 wants his students to walk away with a better historical and contextual understanding to exhibit it in their dances.
With every class and practice, he’ll encourage you to approach social dancing with coolness, relaxation, or in other words “Chill The F$%& Out.”
Mike Sonder
Mike strives to create a learning environment that is fun, challenging, and inclusive. The goal is for each individual student to find their next step forward and enjoy that process of growth. Mike loves seeing students’ eyes light up when they understand a concept or feel a movement work naturally in their body for the first time.
Mike has taught dance in 21 countries and counting. He currently teaches Lindy Hop, Air Steps, Solo Jazz, and many different Blues styles.
Mike loves teaching private lessons and wants to teach YOU. Private lessons are great for individually tailored learning and physically feeling movements. If you don’t know what to work on, no problem.
Vicci Moore
Vicci is a professional dancer, specializing in blues dance.
There is nothing Vicci loves more in the world than dancing! She trained in a number of solo dances before discovering partner dancing in her twenties, has a diploma in Anatomy and Physiology, a first-class honors degree in Dance and Choreography, and has accredited training in teaching adults.
A trained teacher, Vicci places a great deal of importance in high-quality pedagogy and is currently studying for a Masters's degree in Education. Her studies are focused primarily on the impact of cultural appropriation in dance teaching and the importance of the inclusion of dance in the national curriculum for young peoples’ development and self-esteem.
She puts music at the core of her teaching and dancing and tries to honor the cultural roots of dance in all her classes. She believes in giving people the tools to become their own dancers and encourages all her students to find their own voice.
