Instructors

Heather hails from the lovely, landlocked city of Denver where majestic mountains tower over the skyline, sunny days are plentiful, and the nickname -Mile High City- has multiple meanings. As a participant of the 1990’s swing renaissance, Heather Ballew swears she learned everything the wrong way first and has relearned and refined every bit of her dancing over the years. Because of this, Heather has a keen eye for what works and what doesn’t. She believes that swing dancing should look good and feel good but most of all it should be fun. She loves social dancing with people of all levels and she is known for her connection and rhythmic musicality. She can be found teaching around the United States and abroad, talking passionately about scene-building, and starting zany and sometimes thoughtful Facebook discussions.

Javier is a rocket scientist by trade, and he brings a powerful analytical sense which joins the mechanics of dance and the soul of expression. He is well versed in all the swing dances, but specializes in Balboa and soul. As an international swing dance instructor, he’s traveled around the world sharing his joy of teaching ans his passion for jazz dances.

Andreas lives in Stockholm, Sweden. He grew up on the wrestling mat, fighting other little boys in leotards. He won most of the time since he’s always given 100% in everything that he does. He also played the violin in an orchestra during his childhood. You might not think classical music and wrestling has much in common with Swing dancing, but it has definitely contributed to him becoming the unpredictable, creative, musical and interesting dancer he is today.

He was introduced to Lindy Hop in 2001 and a few years later to Balboa. Andreas teaches dance because he loves to see students learn and improve. As Andreas sees it, teaching is inspiring since it offers a possibility to contribute to the ever-changing dance style and scene. Andreas claims to be the unchallenged record holder (so far!) of most hours spent on social swing dance floors in Stockholm. He is an energizer bunny, and only takes a break to change into another colorful bow tie or t-shirt with a funny print!”

Olga was born into a family of teachers (language and music) and since early years has been an energetic live wire – studying music, doing athletics, martial arts and gymnastics. In 2007 she was introduced to Lindy Hop and this is where the real passion story begins. She got dance hooked and started to explore more of the dance world by getting into Blues and later Balboa. She has been actively travelling the globe in pursuit of more opportunities to dance, learn and compete. In 2013 she began to share her love for swing music and dance by teaching. At her classes Olga pays a lot of attention to getting the students interested and involved by giving challenging and fun tasks, working both on technique and musicality and infecting them even more with the passion for dancing.

Anne-Helene and Bernard Cavasa fell in love with Swing Dancing in 1997. Since then, they dance Lindy Hop, Balboa, Blues, Charleston & Jazz Roots almost every day. Because of their special background (Anne-Helene is a dancer since she was 7 years old in ballet, modern jazz & contemporary; Bernard started to be a musician and a sportsman) they have been asked to teach at international workshops all over the world since 2001 : Europe, America, Asia, Australia.

They sometimes participate in competitions and are still the only non-american couple that has won the American Balboa Championships. They run their own dance school in Toulouse (Studio Hop) since 2001, where they also choreograph for their show team (the Tagada Swing Swing) which has won several times the main European team competitions.

During classes exercises will be based on rhythm, power, relaxation and contrast, connection and natural body functioning in movement, in order to feel the move in solo or couple dancing, with a lot of practice. They can speak about musicality, explain musical phrases, what to really listen in the music, where to put the different kind of moves.