“I feel like I'm making up for lost time with dancing!”
As a kid, I used to watch Soul Train, American Bandstand, and ballroom competitions on Sundays, hoping one day I'd get a chance to do that. To my mom, dancing was the same as sex, drugs, and alcohol. But when I got to college and I finally got to go to a swing dance for the first time, I was in heaven! And after I saw a couple dance the Lindy Hop, dance history for me started.
I was lucky to ride the swing revival starting in the late '90s. I started taking Lindy Hop classes in '97 and shortly after started teaching in '98 — and haven't stopped. Along the way, I was fortunate enough to learn from some of the greats, like Frankie Manning, Norma Miller, Lennart Westerlund, and Chazz Young. There was never a shortage of classes and dance halls to go to; in fact, we used to joke about dancing eight nights a week!
Social dancing was tough for me. As a person whose main focus in life was academics, especially in math and the sciences, I didn't do much socializing nor dancing. But the passion, determination, and a willingness to not care about other people's judgement made me the dancer I am today.
My philosophy about dancing comes down to connections — connecting with the music and connecting with your partner.
This is what I emphasize in all my classes. I don't care much for competitions or performances. I want people to grab a partner and dance to any song, no matter the genre.
Along my dancing journey, I've experimented with other dances such as salsa, samba de gafieira, forró, tango, hip hop, west coast swing, and other swing dances. I keep coming back to Lindy Hop because… it's probably my first love!
