Our top-level blues dance instructors are also available for private lessons.
Dexter Santos
When Dexter Santos discovered blues dancing in 2005, he found himself immediately drawn to the rhythms and sounds of the Blues. Something about the music - its emotional depth and range, the varied subjects and stories, the gut-wrenching and the hip-shaking, the gritty and the smooth - gave Dexter's dancing new inspiration and direction. With a background in ballroom dancing and lindy hop, Dexter has studied and collaborated with the best blues dance teachers and dancers, making him one of the most sought-after and admired teachers and dancers in the national and international scenes.
As a teacher, Dexter aims to inspire dancers of all levels with the possibilities that blues dancing has to offer while preserving its roots, identity, and art form. Dexter teaches classes locally in the San Francisco Bay Area and also travels the world, having taught in four continents, spreading his passion and joy for blues dancing. Dexter's classes are known to be inspiring and fun and are favorites at nationally and internationally renowned exchanges and workshops such as bluesSHOUT, Austin Blues Party (Austin, TX), Down Home Blues Festival (San Francisco, CA), BamBLOOZled (Washington, D.C.), Emerald City Blues Festival (Seattle, WA), Steel City Blues Festival (Pittsburgh, PA), Mile High Blues Festival (Denver, CO), Fallin' In Blues (Grenoble, France), and Bluesweet (Seoul, Korea).
When he's not teaching or performing, you'll find Dexter "cutting his teeth" and refining his skills on the competition floor. Since the very first bluesSHOUT in St. Louis in 2007, Dexter has won first place in numerous blues dancing competitions around the country and has won the title of Ballroomin' Blues Champion at bluesSHOUT three times (in 2007, 2008, and 2010). At bluesSHOUT 2010 in Austin, Dexter won all four partnered competitions: the Open Jack & Jill, Strictly Jook Joint, Strictly Ballroomin', and Champions Division. For more information about Dexter, visit his website at dextersantos.com.
Heidi Fite
Heidi began dancing and teaching lindy hop and blues with Charlie Fuller in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1999 and has been dancing, teaching, and performing ever since. She now lives in San Francisco, California, where she teaches weekly lindy hop classes with Manu Smith at the 9:20 Special and weekly blues classes with Damon Stone at Roots. On weekends, she travels to various cities to teach workshops and organize events such, as Cheap Thrills and BluesSHOUT!
Heidi's expertise includes lindy hop, blues dance, and many other American vernacular jazz dances. Admired for her clear explanation of fundamentals, Heidi brings to all her classes and workshops not only a focus on solid techniques, but more important, a love of dance and a dedication to the learning process.
Lessa Lamb
Lessa has been studying and performing various forms of dance for most of her life. She learned lindy through a happy accident of fate, when at the '98/'99 New Years Eve dance in Tacoma, WA, she was petitioned by a then-acquaintance to become his teaching partner. Eventually she discovered blues in a dark back-room at a lindy exchange in Vancouver, and she's never been the same.
The unavoidable pull of blues' sultry rhythms has captivated her, drawing her in and willing her to discover ever more dizzying heights of elation through movement.
In her continuous discovery of blues, she has found that her best, most creative, and most satisfying series of movements come when she stops thinking about what she's doing, and just allows the dance, the music, the connection to flow through her. In this conduit-like state, she finds serenity. It is this experience of transcendent, divine dance that she strives to impart to as many people as she possibly can.
Ted Maddry
Ted Maddry started teaching dance in 2007, but he’s a born teacher. Ted runs a fun, lighthearted classroom and delights in working with first-time dancers, international instructors, and the range in between.
As a teacher, Ted has helped thousands of students change their dancing in places like Norway, Boston, D.C., Raleigh, Las Vegas, London, Columbia, Austin, Holland, Denver, Vancouver, Portland, St. Louis, Chicago, Seattle, Scotland, and San Francisco.
In his classes, he will challenge you to develop dance technique, experiment, and take risks in your dancing, while he maintains a comfortable and entertaining classroom environment. You will gain new perspectives, unique material, and sometimes you will even learn how the same methods you use to improve your dancing can also be used to improve your non-dance life.
Ted is also the ringleader of Beyond Blues, offering weekly blues dance venues in Berkeley and San Francisco, workshops, and dance camps. Ted is working with a great team to spread the joy of blues dance around the San Francisco Bay Area.
Nicole Trissell
Nicole has been a dancer her whole life. Ballet, west coast swing, lindy hop, and tango are all dances that have driven her need for expression through movement, but when she discovered blues four years ago, it was love at first dance. This unique dance style that combined creativity, freedom of movement, and a strong dance connection with her partner inspired her in a way no other dance had before. After a few years, she couldn’t withstand the draw of the dance any longer and started her life as a vagabonding dance instructor.
Since then, Nicole has become a prominent dancer, DJ, instructor, and organizer in the national blues and fusion scenes.
Nicole’s love and passion for expression through dance propel her through life. She brings that same zeal to her students through challenging but inspiring classes that encourage them to learn, play and grow as dancers and as people.
Paul Mandel
Paul Mandel first started swing dancing in Santa Cruz, CA in 2005. After learning lindy hop in college from Sarah Spence Adams, he was dragged to a blues house party in 2006 and has been hooked ever since. More than anything, he loves establishing a crystal-clear connection with his partner and discovering their unique blend of musicality together.
He has won several competitions including first place with Kelly Pavao at Blues Blaze 2010, first place with Joy Arico at Mile High Blues 2011, and first place with Kara Fabina at Bambloozled 2011. Amanda Gruhl and Paul Mandel also placed first in the choreography competition at Enter the Blues with their choreography to "I Put a Spell on You" by Nina Simone and went on to perform it and teach an excerpt at Down Home Blues 2010.
Rachel Stirling
It was Pittsburgh, 2003, when Rachel got her first taste of blues dancing, shortly after getting hooked on lindy hop. She fell in love with the intimate connection between your partner and the music and all that hip movement. As her blues dancing has grown, she continues to marvel at the unlimited possibilities of self-expression and movement.
When teaching dance, Rachel loves putting her Penn State degree in education to good use. Known for her incredible patience and ability to explain and demonstrate concepts in a variety of ways, she strives to get those "Aha!" moments. Rooted in strong fundamentals and clean technique, her lessons enjoy finding fun ways to sneak that focus into peoples' dancing.