Grace Babbes
Having grown up in a family of actors and musicians, Grace has been performing since she was 4. With her lifelong love of jazz music and vintage fashion, when she discovered her first lindy hop class in 2012, she was hooked. She became obsessed with dancing Lindy Hop, Balboa, Collegiate Shag, and Solo Jazz on social dance floors across SoCal up to five nights a week. She now teaches full time all around the world from the US to Europe to Asia. In addition, Grace is a seasoned competitor, winning titles at such competitions as Camp Hollywood, Hot Rhythm Holiday, and ILHC. She is also a sought after DJ, playing classic songs that inspire dancers of all levels to have fun connecting to the music, its history, and each other. Grace brings her love of the dance to her teaching style, fostering joy, a striving for excellence, and fun in her students. She is greatly inspired by original swing dancers, especially those from Southern California, and loves to dive into old clips for new ideas. For her, swing dance is a conversation between two people, and she brings her love of that conversation to every lesson, reinforcing strong connection technique and beautiful basics.
Zach Lockett-Streiff
Sporting a bit of a rebellious streak, Zach likes to question convention through a respectful but pragmatic lens. The historical record is deeply important to swing dancing, but equally important is not forgetting the foundational African-American dance values in the process. In this spirit, Zach values authenticity and actively-engaged partnership. And puns. He’s a bit of a smart-aleck. Locally, Zach is one of the leaders of the Texas Shag scene (which is very near and dear to him). He is especially invested in helping the Austin Shag community grow, and refining his skills and self to meet the challenge. Teaching and social dancing are his passions, and he can’t wait to share both of them with you! ahem with y’all. (He also does Lindy and Balboa.)
Ryan Martin
Ryan Martin’s love of jazz music initially inspired him to start swing dancing in 1996. Since that time, the music and dance of the swing era have become the primary preoccupations in his life. He has been dancing and teaching various swing dances off-and-on for twenty-five plus years. And in the last fifteen years he has expanded his involvement by studying the history of these dances. Ryan has travelled around the country collecting interviews with dancers from the original swing era, and he completed a feature-length documentary called “The Rebirth of Shag”, which focuses on Collegiate Shag. He was also one of the original co-founders of the Hot Rhythm Foundation, a non-profit organization that seeks to promote and sustain the jazz music and dance forms that originated in the early part of the twentieth century. Today Ryan travels to teach and compete in Collegiate Shag, both domestically and abroad.
Jeremy Otth
Jeremy Otth amassed a great amount of knowledge on the historic essence of vintage swing dances from many of the original jitterbugs and swing dancers. Along with his seemingly inexhaustible amount of energy, Jeremy’s natural talent and dedication led him to accumulate championship titles at many acclaimed dance competitions such as the International Lindy Hop Championships, National Jitterbug Championships, American Classic Balboa Championships and the US Open Swing Dance Championships. Jeremy is now honored to share that breadth of knowledge and passion for these classic partner dances by entertaining and educating feet around the world from Southern California to Asia and Europe.
Amanda Pincock
Amanda is passionate about sharing her love of Shag and other swing dances with dancers of all levels. With years of teaching experience both inside and outside the classroom, she brings a thoughtful, insightful approach to instruction–balancing solid technique with playful self-expression and a deep love for the dance. Amanda regularly travels to teach and currently leads weekly Collegiate Shag classes at The Swing Syndicate in her home scene of Austin, Texas. She also heads up The Shag Hags, an all-women Collegiate Shag team known for their energy and style.
Julie Roman
Julie Roman is a Phoenix-based artist. As a classically trained concert pianist/vocalist (with a past career as a certified music educator and private vocal coach), she is passionate about pursuing excellence and spreading a love for the arts. She enjoys working with people to find the aspects of dance that inspire them most so they can identify and pursue the spaces and skills that bring them joy. Julie also loves exploring the technical skills that give people mastery over their movement so they can embody the music in whatever ways they choose. You can find Julie collaborating with vintage swing dancers from around the world to compete, teach, choreograph, and perform. While she studies and competes in as many Jazz dances as she can, she is especially in love with Collegiate Shag, Balboa, and air steps.
Stephen Sayer
Originally from Dayton, Ohio Steve began dancing in 1998. In 2010 he entered and won his first shag competition at Camp Hollywood with partner Fancy Dougherty. Together they would win the shag division 3 more times. In 2013 Steve choreographed and performed his first shag routine “Dark Eyes” with partner Chanzie Roettig Gomez, who he aslo won the Camp Hollywood shag division with 2 times. It soon became an iconic video of Collegiate Shag that sparked a huge wave of shag throughout Europe and the world. Steve has choreographed too many shag routines to count and has taught shag at festivals and workshops all over the world. He is based out of North Hollywood, California where he teaches weekly classes, teams and hosts dances.
Sarah Stembridge
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Sarah developed a love for the music and films of the 1930s and 40s at a very young age. Growing up watching films like A Day at the Races and Disney’s “All the Cats Join In” cartoon, she always dreamed of learning how to dance like the people she saw on the screen. In the early 2000s, she decided to make that dream a reality and quickly found herself madly in love with all things swing. As a dancer, Sarah values the playful collaborations and creative possibilities that emerge in a social dance, and loves to explore the ways in which developing one’s technique, connection, and body awareness can bolster confidence and individual expression. As an instructor, she hopes to help other dancers develop their sense of self-efficacy, confidence, and curiosity in the classroom and beyond.
Blake Thiessen
As an unsuspecting Southern California college student, Blake started swing dancing with a new year’s resolution in 2014. Little did he know, SoCal was one of the world’s largest scenes, with a rich history and dozens of the world’s best dancers and instructors. Immediately hooked, he developed a relentless obsession for Lindy, Balboa, and Collegiate Shag. He’s since gone on to win in a variety of international competitions and has taught around the world in places like Europe, Korea, Japan, Australia, and the US.
In his free time, Blake loves to study vintage dance clips. He has a deep reverence for the original dancers and loves to teach classes that focus on particular styles and techniques they used. As an instructor he also focuses on imparting his values of partner connection, tasteful musicality, and developing beautiful basics. While he loves practice, competition, and performance, his favorite thing about dancing is just having a simple, deeply-connected social dance with a like-minded partner.
Taster Class & Community Practice Instructors
Theresa Manney
A Balboa powerhouse!! Theresa will be teaching the Saturday evening Balboa taster class with Jeremy Otth. Don’t miss out!!
Chester Whitmore
The man who needs no introduction! We’re excited to have Chester teaching the Friday evening taster class again this year! Be there or be square!
Shag Summer Camp 