YOUR 2025 TEACHING TEAM
In 2025, we decided to make it impossible to ever top the line-up of teachers, but you know, when you care about your dane community, you do what you can to make sure they will be having the bestest of times.
A few days after Jurassic Bal 2024, we got in touch with those very special people, and they all agreed to come for a visit next year and teach us their best kept Balboa secrets (and share some excellent anecdotes in the process).
Without further ado, let us introduce your teaching team for 2025:
Jennifer Lee (USA) & Andreas Olsson (SWE)
Jenn Lee (She/Her) is a renowned swing dance instructor with a passion for fostering an inclusive and collaborative learning environment. She emphasizes the importance of follow voice, ensuring equal attention to both leads and follows. Jenn acknowledges the Black cultural roots of swing dancing and encourages dancers to appreciate its rich history. As a professional follow without a dedicated partner, Jenn's versatile dance style adapts to various partners and teaching collaborations, enhancing her abilities as an instructor. Her strong music background allows her to seamlessly integrate rhythmic concepts and musicality into her classes, helping students express themselves on the dance floor. Jenn's love for social dancing and the swing community is evident in her warm approach and adaptable style, making her a valuable addition to any dance event she participates in.
In Jenn's own words, Andreas Olsson (He/Him) "is consistently one of the hardest working dancers I know. He has been consistent in his drive to practice and improve his dancing. He is creative with his ideas and movement. He is also extremely detail oriented and precise in his technique and class planning. I have been routinely impressed with dedication to improving his own teaching of dance. He also happens to be one of the most fun and at times ridiculous partners to dance with and watch, and I know that many other dancers agree with me.". Andreas is endlessly encouraging, positive and has an increadibly upbeat attitude. There is never a dull moment with him around!
Photo credit: Thomas Wirke
Sylvia Sykes (USA) & Bobby White (USA)
Sylvia (She/Her) is one of the most renowned, loved and respected dancers, instructors and judges in the world today. An internationally recognized authority on most types of Swing dance, she has been teaching and judging for over 30 years throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia.
Sylvia studied with the greats, including the legend of Balboa, Maxie Dorf, and spent years learning from the Balboa old timers in Southern California. Sylvia is an inductee into the National Swing Dance Hall of Fame and the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame. She is a U.S. Open champion, was the NASDE top point winner, two time California Balboa Champion, took third place in the National Carolina Shag Dance Championships, and has won many Strictly Swing and Mix'n'Match dance contests throughout the U.S. in Lindy, Balboa and West Coast Swing. She was twice voted Swing Dance Teacher of the Year, and is a 4 time Feather Award winner as Best Female Lindy Dancer in the U.S.
She is also hilariously witty and her classes always bring us an incredible amount of joy!
Bobby (He/Him) teaches traditional swing dances around the world, and holds championship titles and placements in Balboa, Lindy Hop, and Solo Jazz. With each, Bobby strives to innovate and create a new voice, while still capturing the spirit of the original dancers. He has won almost every major title in the modern Balboa scene, including most recently two back-to-back All Balboa Weekend ACBC Championship titles (2015 & 2016, and 2018), The International Lindy Hop Championships Balboa division (2015), the California Balboa Classic (2016 & 2017), and the National Jitterbug Championships Balboa division (2016) with Annabel Quisao. He is the author of the popular swing dance blog Swungover*, and the book "Practice Swing." As a dancer, he is widely recognized for his floppy hair, and as a teacher, by his sound effects.