Stacia Martin
Stacia loves dancing like she loves laughing so hard that she cries, like she loves the fresh smell of spring, and like she loves her nephews who are the smartest/best humans alive. Dancing is a true labor of love for her, so when she gets to share that with other folks in a classroom, it feels especially meaningful. She lives and teaches in Minneapolis most of the time, and has a passion for helping students discover their own path to self-expression through this awesome dance we do called the Lindy Hop.
Anthony Chen
Beginning in his traditional roots, Anthony started dancing at 8 when his parents convinced him to learn and perform Chinese lion dances. At 15 he was introduced to breakdancing at a speech and debate tournament. Shortly thereafter he found his home in the swing community in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he quickly fell in love with Lindy Hop. Throughout his dance career he has trained in several other styles from hip-hop to Argentine Tango to West Coast, but he mostly enjoys drawing on them to expand his technique and creativity in Lindy. On the social dance floor, he is known to be playful, musical, creative, and clear; sometimes people call him a "magical unicorn.” He holds first place titles from Lindyfest, Lone Star Championships, Montreal Swing Riot, Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown, and International Lindy Hop Championships. His teaching style focuses on energy, technique and connection. His love of both leading and following has been instrumental to making his classes both clear and intuitive.
Samantha and Alex Gaw
Samantha and Alex live in Austin and have been dancing since 2009. In their years teaching weekly classes and workshops across Texas, they’ve grown to value themes such as follower empowerment, how to interact on the dance floor, and how to engage your partner to build something as a team. Their goal in classes isn't only to teach their students how to dance better—it's to teach them how to dance better together. They believe class time is best spent on things that you can't learn from YouTube: how to share responsibility for the dance, how to speak if you're following and how to listen if you're leading, how to rely on yourself and your peers for improvement instead of teachers, how to get the most out of dancing to a live band, and the list goes on. They teach people how to teach themselves and their peers how to be good dancers.
Laurel Ryan
Laurel fell in love with swing music nearly three decades before she threw herself into the dance. Soon after her first lindy hop crash course Laurel was attending every event she could reach across the Midwest, jonesing for another dance to a live band.
Laurel’s background as a teacher and world traveler serves to fuel her passion for learning and teaching swing dance. She nerds out on putting educational theory into practice to better serve her dance students. Her passion for diversity on the social floor helps her encourage dancers to be themselves. Laurel’s goal is to help preserve lindy hop’s roots as a social street dance while re-translating partner roles for continued relevance in modern culture.
Kasey Davis
Hello! I’m Kasey Davis. I am a swing dance instructor in Tulsa, Oklahoma who focuses on Balboa, Charleston, Collegiate Shag, East Coast Swing, and Lindy Hop. Dancing is very important to me; it is a universal language where all people can be accepted and appreciated for the art they bring to the floor. I began my dance journey in St. Louis (2012) and have since paired it with my love of traveling to dance in 22 different states and 6 different countries. This has given me a wide perspective on ways to teach dance, as well as different styles of dancing that come from various regions. My main goal with instructing is to create a fun, loving environment for people to develop their social dancing techniques.
I have been teaching in Tulsa since 2015 and have been teaching in the Midwest since 2016. Outside of dance, I enjoy swimming, racquetball, peanut butter crackers, Super Smash Bros (N64 is the best!!!), and singing Disney songs with friends and strangers (soon to be friends) alike.
