Instructors
Topher Howard (Seattle, WA)
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. Topher seeks to inspire his partners and his classes to expand boundaries and breathe themselves into the movement and the dance. He brings clear communication of his movement material and unrivaled enthusiasm to his classes. He lives in Seattle where he makes his living teaching and writing poetry.
Michael Gamble & Jaya Dorf (Asheville NC)
Michael and Jaya love every kind of swing music from early medicine show and washboard jug band jazz through blasting big bands to modern groovy standards, which means they also love every form of swing dance from Peabody to Charleston to Lindy Hop and Blues. They believe in having fun. Blues and dancing is pretty much the most unabashedly joyous combination possible,
so they believe that anyone with a desire for happiness in their being deserves to dance.
Their classes will raise your awareness of such mind-bending philosophical concepts as relaxing
and enjoying yourself while you dance, even while maintaining good technique and a constant
freedom to improvise. 
Mike Legett (Atlanta GA)
Mike the Girl is known for both her love of connection and for her strange name. Her dancing was born and raised in Knoxville, but in 2006 she moved to Atlanta to pursue a dual career as mad scientist and dance junkie; she delights in exploring Lindy, Charleston, Bal, Blues, Molecular Bio, and Tango. She has performed Charleston and Blues from one coast to the other, and she enjoys Jack-and-Jill comps as an excuse to social dance when everyone else decides to sit down.
For Mike, perhaps the only thing more rewarding than dancing is teaching; she combines an intuitive understanding of connection with an analytical speaking style to give her students technique, but also strives to challenge and inspire her students to push themselves further into the music.
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Stryder Crown (Tuscon AZ / everywhere)
Stryder has been dancing for more than ten years, with proficiency in Lindy Hop, Blues, Ballroom, Latin, Balboa, other Swing era dances. In his first year of competition he has made the finals in San Francisco's Blues Rising competition, second at Denver Blues Summit, First in Portlandís Come Rain Come Shine event, and is a contender in the Champions Jack in Jill competition at the upcoming Blues Shout dance event.
Having taught for over seven years, Stryderís goal in his classes is always the same: to inspire and to educate using a variety of techniques and experiences from his eclectic background. He focuses on giving his students the tools needed to improvise in their dancing as well as stressing the importance of the strong connection needed for partner dancing.
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Lessa Jay Thieme (Seattle, WA)
Lessa has been studying and performing various forms of dance for most of her life. She learned lindy through a happy accident of fate, when at the '98/'99 New Years Eve dance in Tacoma, WA, she was petitioned by a then-acquaintance to become his teaching partner.
The unavoidable pull of Blues sultry rhythms has captivated her, drawing her in, willing her to discover ever more dizzying heights of elation through movement. In her continuous discovery of blues, she has found that her best, most creative, and most satisfying series of movements come when she stops thinking about what she's doing, and just allows the dance, the music, the connection, to flow through her. In this conduit-like state, she finds serenity. It is the experience of these feelings that she strives to impart to as many people as she possibly can. And wherever life takes her, she knows her passion for dance will always keep her on her toes.
Julie Brown (Pittsburgh, PA)
Julie learned to dance the Blues in a bar in Pittsburgh. She loves the sensuality and emotional dichotomy of blues music, and the creativity and connection of the dance. She's been teaching in Pittsburgh since 2006, and stresses playfulness and a dedication to improving. She is a senior at Carnegie Mellon University and loves vegetables. Julie is a valued member of Burgh Blues, which is producing this weekend.
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Jeff Johnston (Pittsburgh, PA)
Jeff started dancing in Cleveland where the music was fast and Balboa was king. But, when he moved to Pittsburgh to pursue the life of a perpetual student at Carnegie Mellon, he slowed down to appreciate some of the finer things in life...all-nighters in the Computer Engineering lab, and Blues. He started teaching lessons in 2004 for the Case Swing Club and now teaches blues in Pittsburgh. Jeff is a valued member of Burgh Blues, which is producing this weekend.