Instructors

Joe DeMers Joe DeMers is a champion Blues and Lindy Hop instructor based in Denver, CO. He and his partner, Nelle Hatley, have toured the world from South Korea to France, Canada and all over the US. His other dance partner is Mike Legett. He loves to dance and is proud to be a dancer, performer, competitor, and instructor. He is the excited owner of Overstreet Dance Gallery in Littleton, CO; a club for the arts, music and dance. He is also a proponent of Frame Matching and the creator of ∆PTED, a codified theory of connection in which the follows match the changes in posture, tone, and tension established by the leader, in order to follow energy and direction. For more information, check out his website at www.joeandnelle.com and www.overstreetdancegallery.com.m.

Mike Legett Mike (the Girl) Legett began dancing in 2001, and has since become one of the most respected dancers and instructors in the blues world. She teaches and performs from coast to coast, and is fortunate to be able to devote her full-time career to dancing. Her classes bring bring the history of the dance together with innovative creativity, and focus on solid technique and aesthetic- as well as having a good time. She aims to help leaders create artistic compositions that are clearly led; she wants follows to have the ability to be the completely literal follow, and the inspiration and freedom to be an imaginative and dynamic contributor.  Find out more at www.mikethegirl.com, or www.livinghistorydance.com.

Heidi Fite Heidi began dancing and teaching the Blues in St. Louis in 1999 and has been dancing, teaching and performing ever since. An early promoter of Blues dancing, she began the first national Blues dance workshop (Cheap Thrills), which has since transformed into the nation’s largest Blues dance workshop and competition weekend (bluesSHOUT!). She now lives in San Francisco and travels the world teaching Blues dancing. From private lessons and local classes to international workshops and historical research and documentation of the dance, she is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Blues dancing. Heidi is able to communicate and instill in her students a love of dance and a dedication to the learning process. More important, her classes will put some serious "boom boom boom" and "aw haw haw haw" in your dancing.

Damon Stone Damon has been dancing his entire life, starting with vernacular Jazz/Blues first taught to him by his gradmother. After nearly a decade of learning at the heels of his elders, went on to study well over a dozen different dance forms until coming full circle in 1995 to focus primarily on the historical and contemporary styles of Swing and Blues as his family danced them, with a special focus on the Southtern styles from the Mississippi Delta region. He has taught dance extensively around the world, and studied the development of vernacular Jazz/Blues dance, learning from a number of the original dancers. Largely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on Blues dance, Damon has been interviewed as a Black dance historian in documentary and for radio as well as performed on stage with the Lincoln Center, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie Orchestras.

Carsie Blanton and Jon Darvill

Jon and Carsie are both musicians, and approach every dance with a desire to listen and contribute to each song like a member of the band. They both started out as Lindy Hoppers, and soon came to love the connectedness, precision, and improvisational nature of blues. They met at a blues dance in 2006, danced all night, and fell in love. In 2007, Jon and Carsie became founding members of LaB (www.lindyandblues.com), Philadelphia’s Lindy Hop and blues headquarters. In addition to four weekly dances, they help run annual LaB events including Blues Muse, Hot Mess, and LaBLove. They teach blues weekly in Philadelphia, as well as at workshops in San Francisco, Austin and Chicago, and at national events like Enter the Blues (Atlanta, GA) and Lindy Focus (Asheville, NC). They live together in Philadelphia with their two dogs, Domino and LMNOP.