Instructors

We are so excited to bring you a stellar lineup of amazing instructors in 2023!  They can't wait to help bring your dancing to the next level.

Dee Daniels Locke

Dee Daniels-Locke

Dee started Swing Dancing at the age of four with her Dad in the basement, wearing her Mom’s heels and her favorite plaid skirt. With a hiatus into hip-hop during her school years, she was called back to Lindy Hop, becoming an influential member of the Minneapolis scene, where you can find her teaching at Uptown Swing. Dee loves feeling free on the dance floor. She advocates for self-expression and individual creativity as the spirit of solo jazz and Lindy Hop. She loves Lindy Hop's particular way of encouraging collaboration between music and partner, priding herself on making each dance unique to the musical experience and partner. Dee has taught, performed, and choreographed nationally and internationally. She specializes in vintage jazz, Charleston, and Lindy Hop.

Laura Glaess

Laura Glaess

Laura started dancing in 2001 in San Antonio. It wasn’t a very large scene, and the people teaching her hadn’t been dancing very long, but she quickly came to love lindy hop, the music, the history and everything involved. Now Laura travels the world teaching, competing, performing and learning. She is a passionate believer in dancing with swing, with rhythm, and with presence. She constantly strives to find something genuine and fun, instead of finding the next cool move, and passionately believes that follows and leads are two vitally important sides of the same coin. She is also an active participant in her home community, Austin, TX; co owning a teaching company, The Lindy Project, with Scott Angelius & Mike Roberts, participating in the Austin Swing Syndicate board, the Austin Lindy Exchange board, organizing community events, and any number of things to keep Austin one of the best scenes around.

Irina Amzashvili

Irina Amzashvili 2

Dancing in all forms has been a lifelong passion for Irina. 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 owes her rapid progression in part to spending 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.

Anthony Chen

Anthony Chen

Beginning with his more traditional roots, Anthony started dancing at age 8 when his parents convinced him to learn and perform Chinese lion dances. At age 15 he was introduced to breakdancing at a speech and debate tournament, and shortly thereafter he found his home in the local swing community in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he quickly fell in love with Lindy Hop. Throughout his dancing career he has trained in several other styles from hip-hop to Argentine Tango to West Coast, but most of all he enjoys using this background to expand upon his technique and creativity in Lindy Hop. On the social dance floor, he is known to be playful, musical, and clear. He holds first place titles from events such as Lindyfest and Lone Star Championships, Montreal Swing Riot, Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown, Lindy Focus, and International Lindy Hop Championships. His teaching style focuses on energy, technique and connection theory, and his love of both leading and following has been instrumental to making the classes that he teaches both clear and intuitive. He is an active scene builder in his community and founded Salt Lake Swing, where he also teaches locally.

Felix Berghall

Felix 2

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. Felix is part of both the Swedish National team in both Boogie Woogie and Lindy Hop and made some fine results in the last 3 years. He sees swing dancing as a way to bring people together and bring happiness into their life. Because when he dances that is all he can think about and express. Pure happiness.

Alain Fragman

Alain Fragman

Alain Fragman hails from Montreal and is one of the top Lindy Hop dancers and instructors in Canada. He has taught in countries as far away as Australia and can be seen regularly teaching workshops and competing in North America. In 2013, he won the coveted ULHS Showdown battle and placed 2nd in the ILHC Showcase division. Alain is a founding member of the Northern Lights Team and had the privilege of performing with them at Frankie95 and the Jump Session show. A talented and musical dancer, Alain teaches dancers to connect to the music and to their partner through active listening and response. When he dances, teaches, performs, or competes, Alain’s purpose is to spread the joy of dance and inspire others.

Sylwia Bielec

Sylwia Bielec

Sylwia Bielec is from Montréal, and has been a fixture on the local teaching and social circuit for many years. She began dancing at age ten, and fell in love with Lindy Hop in 2000. Sylwia's teaching combines her love of partner dancing and her belief that each of us embodies primal internal rhythms and a biological impetus to move. She is a charismatic, sensitive and versatile follow, and an articulate and skilled teacher who understands and works with individual learning styles. Her dance motto is "This little light of mine, I'm gonna' let it shine!", and she delights in igniting the light in others. Sylwia and Alain Fragman count several 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishes at national competitions in couple and team divisions. They are members of the Northern Lights and teach at Cat's Corner in Montreal.