Colorado Blues Dance
Colorado Blues Dance: Expertise Based on Experience
Colorado Blues Dance stands out as a result of its many years of experience with a wide array of instructors. The breadth of our knowledge and individual services are sure to impress you, come find out for yourself! Start dancing today.
Instructors are listed by City:
Denver
Noah NetheroNoah Nethero is the event coordinator for Tuesday Blues. Noah has been an avid social dancer now for many years. He has studied under many nationally recognized instructors including Joe Demers, Brenda Russel, Rachael Demers, Justin Riley, Shawn Hershey, Amanda Gruhl and many others. Noah has synthesized the teaching styles and tools of his mentors into his own system, combining their teachings into what he thinks is most important. As an instructor, Noah believes in teaching everyone the basics of how to communicate dance between partners. To him this is the core principle of social dancing. Dance should be made to feel natural and expressive of the individual but, also done clearly and safely. Noah's teaching style does not center on memorized routines, programmed steps and beat counting. It focuses on the basic principles of how movement works, and why other things do not. He wants to teach his students the principles that create those movements in the first place. This allows students to flow and create their dance intuitively by focusing on the fundamentals of connection and simple enjoyment of the dance.
Rachael DeMers
720-263-0185
Bio
Rachael is an accomplished blues dancer and instructor. She focuses on concepts such as simplicity, clarity, expression, and body awareness which are critical to advanced social dancing. She strongly believes in incorporating both creativity and technique into social dancing and teaches her students how to find a balance of the two within their own dancing. Being an avid listener and fan of the music she dances to, Rachael loves to emphasize the importance of musicality in social dancing including rhythms and layering to match the music. Overall, she has a genuine passion for teaching every level of social dancer and is excited to share her knowledge and love for dance with those who would like to learn.
Achievements
Blues Shout 2007
Jack and Jill – 3rd Place, Follow
Strictly Juke Joint – 1st Place, Follow
DHB/Blues Shout 2008
Champion’s Division – 2nd Place, Follow
Strictly Juke Joint – Finals, Lead
Emerald City Blues 2008
Champion’s Division – 2nd Place, Follow
Jack and Jill – Finals, Lead
Open Strictly – Finals, Follow
Blues Shout 2009
Strictly Ballroomin – 2nd Place, Follow
Strictly Juke Joint – 2nd Place, Follow
Emerald City Blues 2011
Jack and Jill Competition – Finals, Follow
Teaching Experience
Local Scene Building:
- Organizer/Instructor of Denver’s weekly blues dance venue Crossroads Blues House Monday Night Blues Dance including live music
- Organizer/Instructor of Denver’s second weekly blues spot on Wednesday Night’s at the D’Note with weekly live music
- Organizer/Choreographer/Instructor of Denver’s brand new Blues Dance Troupe
- Participated in the foundation of Denver’s newest teaching group – Black Diamond Blues, as well as helped with the first Denver Blues Summit committee
- Taught local classes and workshops in Denver
- Started, organized, promoted, and ran Arizona’s first blues dance venue “Desert Blues Dance” and ran local workshops
- Taught local workshops and classes in the Phoenix/Tempe area
- Teaching Friday Night Blues, Rent Party, and Shades of Blue as well as many workshops in San Francisco
Exchanges/Workshops/Out of Town Venues
- Frankie Manning Weekend, Phoenix, AZ
- Denver Blues Summit, Denver, CO
- Friday Night Blues, San Francisco, CA
- Tangoed Up in Blues, San Francisco, CA
- Built for Blues, Tulsa, OK
- Camp Blues, Sacramento, CA
- Shades of Blues, San Francisco
- Rent Party, San Francisco
- Mile High Blues Exchange, Denver, CO
Area(s) of specialty
Blues, Swing (EC, Lindy Hop), Ballroom, Wedding, Fitness, Event Group, Private Lessons
Kenny Nelson
swinginstyle@gmail.com
Bio
Kenny Nelson has been dancing Blues since 2002. He is known for
his creative mad scientist moves, passion and connection. As a
teacher, he aims to reach students through visual examples, detailed
communication and exercises. He has taught nationally and
internationally at the Berlin Blues Explosion, Church City Blues,
Heartland Swing Festival and others. Currently, he has been traveling
the world teaching and growing swing and blues scenes in Portugal and
Australia.
Achievements
2010 CSSC Pro Strictly 2nd place with Patti Thompson
2009 Underground Jitterbug Champion with Tiffiny Wine
2009 Balboa Strictly at TC Balboa 2nd place with Tiffiny Wine
2008 ECBF Blues Strictly Finals with Joy Arico
2008 ULHS Freedom Finals with Tiffiny Wine
2008 Lindy on the Rocks Fast Finals Champion with Tiffiny Wine
2008 Swingtime in the Rockies Adv/All-Star Strictly 2nd place with
Courtney Adair
Teaching Experience
2011:
Tiki Blues- weekly blues classes in Melbourne teaching with Lexi Keaton
Church City Blues - Adelaide blues event teaching with Lexi Keaton
Berlin Blues Explosion - international blues event teaching with
Louise Tangermann
Madrid workshop - lindy hop and blues workshop taught with Melissa Cayron
Monday Night Blues - weekly blues taught at the Crossroads House with
Heather Ballew
Vail Jazz Festival - taught with Heather Ballew
Colorado Springs Workshops - lindy hop workshop with Heather Ballew
Atlantic Swing Festival - taught and performed with Abeth Farag in
Porto, Portugal
Lindy Hop Portugal - head male instructor in Porto and Lisbon,
Portugal (March-June)
Heartland Swing Festival - blues and lindy hop workshops teaching with
Tiffiny Wine
Ballyhoo - choreographed and taught a balboa routine with Heather Ballew
2010:
Southern Fried Swing - lindy hop workshops taught with Tiffiny Wine
Swing Sesh Workshops - Adelaide lindy hop workshop taught with Lexi Keaton
Tasmania Workshops - Hobart lindy hop workshop taught with Kara Martin
2009:
Porto Workshop - taught lindy hop workshop in Porto, Portugal with Abeth Farag
Galway Workshops - taught lindy hop and blues in Galway, Ireland with
Tiffiny Wine
2007-2009:
Taught regularly with Tiffiny Wine at the Mercury Cafe. Teaching
subjects including Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Blues, Balboa, Collegiate
Shag, Aerials, West Coast Swing
2008:
Swingtime in the Rockies - taught with Patti Thompson
Colorado Country Classic - taught with Patti Thompson
Areas of Specialty
Jookin', Ballroomin', Slow Drag, Connection, Creativity, Musicality, Having Fun
Brian Abe
Bio
Brian started swing dancing in 1998 in Los Angeles. A few months after discovering the swing scene he moved to San Diego for college. By 2002 he was a regular DJ at San Diego venues and competed on the hip-hop Lindy fusion team “Lindy San Diego” at Monsters of Swing in Ventura, CA in 2001 and 2002. Since that time he has attended many Lindy events in the US and Europe dancing in Sweden, Finland, Russia, Germany, Switzerland and France. Brian began teaching Lindy Hop in 2003 with Evita Arce (featured on “So You Think You Can Dance) at The Dance Doctor in Santa Monica, CA, and taught Lindy Hop and ballroom classes full time at Arthur Murray for the two years following that. Brian, was a member of the team “One2Swing Jump” from Los Angeles. Since moving to Denver in 2009 Brian has been a regular in the Denver Lindy Hop and Blues scenes, DJ’n and teaching with local partners part time.
Nick Buchanan
Bio
Nick Buchanan has been studying Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Solo Charlestion, 20’s partner Charleston and Collegiate Shag, Blues, and Balboa for 5 years. He is a sincere and dedicated teacher. His enthusiasm for the music and dancing of the Swing era is highly contagious to anyone who has the privilege of taking a class from him.
Heather Ballew
Heather Ballew has always been drawn to music and movement. For two years she taught ballroom, latin, and swing dancing at World of Dance in Denver. A regular competitor at events around the country, Heather has performed and competed with Denver’s champion swing dance troupe, 23 Skidoo, and has been an instructor at Beantown Summer Camp, Balboa Rendezvous, Rock That Swing, and Provence Swing Festival. She holds titles from Camp Jitterbug, International Lindy Hop Championships, Camp Hollywood, All Balboa Weekend, and Canadian Swing Championships. She is known for her personal investment in her students’ success and is a popular instructor in greater Denver for Lindy Hop, Blues, and Balboa.
Joe and Nelle DeMers
Website: www.joeandnelle.com
Email: daniellehatley@gmail.com
Phone: 720-937-9149
Two of Denver's best dance instructors, Joe and Nelle DeMers are known for their performance Swing, Lindy Hop, and Blues. They are continually ranked the best instructors at workshop and competition
weekends in which they teach. They are the owners of Overstreet Dance Gallery in Littleton, CO; a ballroom venue for music, dance, and art.
Joe and Nelle are part organizers of and teachers at Mile High Blues and have toured the world teaching and performing Blues and Lindy Hop in countries such as South Korea, Japan, Canada, France, Hungary, England, and all over the United States. They are proponents of Frame Matching and the creators of ΔPTED, a framework for teaching partner dance connection. Their level of instruction is exceptional and they always innovate creative moves and movements while adhering to the aesthetics of the dances they teach.
They have been competing since 2003, and have taken home several National Championship titles at events such as Blues Shout, International Lindy Hop Championships, Swingtime on the Rockies, Camp Hollywood, and Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown. Their performance troupe, the Woodside Jumpers, have placed at events such as International Lindy Hop Championships and Camp Hollywood. In 2008, they were awarded the Spirit of Lindy Hop award at Camp Jitterbug.
Fort Collins
Mama & Papa Jivecat
(Sandy & Doug Newlin)
Fort Collins, CO
sandynewlin@gmail.com
Bio
We have been teaching lindy since since 1996, and added blues to our curriculum in 2006. We have recently taught blues at the United States Air Force Academy and Colorado State University, and teach the first Friday of every month at Indigo Blues in Fort Collins.
We do not teach a dance, we teach dancing. We do not teach moves, we teach how to move. We emphasize musicality, finding the patterns in 8- & 12-bar blues, posture, connection, leading & following with the core, and using your vocabulary of moves to better interpret the music. One very popular class is a one-hour “Mama’s Booty Camp”, a guide to using knees, ankles, core to improve body movement.
Our classes are aimed at improving social dancing, not performance or competition.
Adin Van Duyne
bluesandswing@gmail.com
Adin has been teaching dance since 2003. He strives to break down
concepts into easy to understand movements. He knows that everyone
has their own style of learning and he does his best to teach to all
learning styles. He emphasizes flowing and efficient movement through
proper posture and solid connection. Adin has had the privilege to
teach in local scenes in Kansas, Tennessee, Colorado, and Washington.
He specializes in all types of swing and blues.
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