Workshops

Instructors

Nina Gilkenson

Nina hails from Washington D.C. She is a competitor, performer, and teacher of Lindy Hop and is a founding member of Silver Shadows. As a competitor she can lay claim to many national Lindy Hop titles from some of the most prestigious swing dancing competitions in the world including the North Atlantic Dance Championships, the American Lindy Hop Championships, Hellzapoppin', and the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown. Performance credits include television appearances on PBS; Apollo Theatre; Lincoln Center and concert performances with the Brian Setzer Orchestra and Aretha Franklin.

Carla Heiney

Carla currently teaches, choreographs, judges, competes, & social dances all over the world & feels very fortunate to be able to do what she loves most. Competing is fun for Carla and a great way to push her limits, but her real passion is teaching dance and social dancing. As a teacher, she has a down to earth approach, but still takes learning seriously and focuses heavily on quality of movement, partner connection, musicality, and most importantly, enjoying the dance!

Among many of her titles, Carla is a 2006 US Open Showcase Champion, 2007 National Jitterbug Champion, & 2007 American Lindy Hop Champion. She has also won the Lindy Showcase division in 2001, 2002, 2004 and the US Open Strictly Lindy division in 2003. She is a 4 time American Lindy Hop Champion and the 2005 World Lindy Hop Champion in the Improvisational division. She has worked with great artists such as Aretha Franklin, Jeff Tyzik, B.B. King, Erich Kunzel, Nell Carter, and Rita Moreno. She has had the wonderful opportunity to dance at prestigious places such Carnegie Hall & the Kennedy Center as well. She has appeared on ABC's revival of the TV show "Dance Fever" in 2003 and was a featured dancer using Motion Capture technology in the 2004 Feature Film "The Polar Express" in 2004. Carla will also be featured in the upcoming 2008 movie "Love and Dancing."

Mike Faltesek

Mike Faltesek brings to the dance floor an incredibly diverse social and performance dance talent that includes not only Lindy Hop but also Cakewalk, Black Bottom, Traditional Jazz, Tap, Charleston, Breakaway, Balboa, Big Apple, Blues and many other Authentic Jazz dances.

Mike has been dancing for almost a decade, in that time he has traveled to instruct, compete, and perform internationally. From Harlem to Los Angeles and all throughout Europe, Mike is well known for his charismatic personality, approachability, and passion for the essence of Authentic Jazz dance and music. He possesses an enthusiastic ability to convey ideas and movements explicitly, making him a popular instructor wherever he goes. He teaches workshops internationally, each time leaving a lasting impression on his students.

Mikey Pedroza

Mikey Pedroza has been dancing and performing for the past 10 years. The majority of those years have been dedicated to the understanding and preservation of classic American dances known to the masses as Swing Dancing. These Swing Dances include: Charleston, Lindy Hop, Balboa, Shag, and Traditional Blues. Along with the classic solo jazz dance and shake blues dances. His love of the dance comes from every part of it: the music, the style, the movement, the people, the history, and the way they all come together in the dance.

He has competed in and won many national level competitions in such places as: Los Angeles, Cleveland, Nashville, Seattle, Denver, Hawaii, Minneapolis, New York, Stamford, Phoenix, and Washington DC.

Laura Glaess and Mike Roberts

Laura and Mike feel incredible joy while they are dancing, and it infects everyone around them. Like some kind of crazy joy-plague. That is why they dance as often as humanly possible and travel all around the globe competing, teaching and just plain social dancing for the fun of it: because they want to bring about world peace through the power of dance. They have a healthy dose of competitive titles, but, more than that, their inspiring, enthusiastic approach to Lindy Hop and Blues invigorates their students and the dance floor. Plus, they’re totally married. How cute is that?

Tina Davis and Don West

Tina Davis has been dancing Swing, Lindy Hop and Blues since 1999, first in Florida and now in her current home of Dallas, Texas. In addition to becoming a sought after DJ, Tina has also organized several Lindy and Blues events in Florida and Texas. She has also competed in various Jack n’ Jill competitions, most notably winning the Jack n’ Jill competition at Blues Shout in 2007. Tina currently teaches and dances in Dallas as an active member of the ACME Swing Company.

Don West has been dancing since 1997 and teaching since 2000 in Dallas. He’s been in a number of dance troupes including Smiley’s Lindy Hoppers, Uptown Swing, founder of the Madcap Maniacs, and is now the creative director for the ACME Swing Company. He was also the 2000 American Lindy Hop Championships Jack and Jill Champion as well as first place winner in several competitions in Austin and Houston.

Since joining up in July 2007, Tina and Don have spread their love of dance throughout the U.S. (and Canada!) teaching at events like Austin Blues Party, Blues Boot Camp (Dallas), Down Home Blues Shout (San Francisco), MezzJelly Blues Weekend (Waterloo, Canada) and at a week-long stint in Minneapolis in October 2008. In their classes, Tina and Don like to emphasize sound fundamentals, the basics of rhythm, partnership in social dancing and love of the music. But most of all, dancing has just got to be fun.