Organizer Team
Stephen Yang
Co-Main Organizer, Venue Coordinator
Steve started lindy hop in 2003, and blues dancing in 2010. At that time, San Francisco was home to the blues dance weekend workshop, Down Home Blues. Down Home Blues was last held in 2011. The following year, was the first and last San Francisco Blues Exchange (a.k.a. “I’ve Got the Blues and then Some”). Seeing 2013 come and go with no blues event to represent this great blues dance scene, Steve decided to do something about it. How can the city that houses the nation’s longest-running blues dance venue (Friday Night Blues) not have its own blues event? He assembled an amazing team, which named itself “BluesCon,” and together we’ve organized this event, “BluesQuake.”
Victor Lane
Co-Main Organizer
Victor Lane was born of fire on a starless night. He learned to rock step before he could walk; he learned to keep time before he could count. Raised in the crucible of partnered dancing, Victor began organizing late night dances at his house in Sacramento. In August of 2012, Victor moved to San Francisco and a choir of angels sang in celebration. He can now be found practicing martial arts on the beach at sunset, catching flies with chopsticks, and hosting at blues and fusion venues around the bay and beyond. He also teaches, DJs, and saves the world from invading aliens.
Nina Grosser
Artistic Director, Vendor Coordinator
Nina Grosser has loved social dancing all her life. She got involved in lindy hop in 2004 in Northern Colorado followed by blues dancing in 2006. She was drawn by the energy, rhythm and enthusiasm of swing-era dances. Her movements typically emphasize connection and musicality. She has a long history of organizational involvement in the dance community with an emphasis on promotions, graphic design, and artistic direction.
Mari Hsu
Meeting Chair
Mari Hsu has been dancing in many ways since she was little, beginning with solo performance and community square dances. She found Lindy on Sproul in Berkeley in 2007 after years of admiring social dance, and then found blues, ballroom, Victorian dances, and contra. As the Cultural Ambassador at Shades of Blues in SF, she is available as a community resource for information about dance culture and opportunities in the Bay Area. Helping to organize BluesQuake has been yet another exciting adventure!
Alex Estrada
Volunteer / On-Site Staff Coordinator
Alex started social dancing 10 years ago when he fell in love with swing dance and has been blues dancing since 2008. A former volunteer organizer for the 9:20 Special, Alex has a long history of working behind the scenes in dance communities. His ultimate goal in life is to plan an attack on Earth with evil aliens from all quadrants of this galaxy and the space beyond, including the BluesQuake minions...I mean, volunteers...an attack so big that Victor Lane will have to surrender and it's forces will make Loki's army look like ants under a magnifying glass on a hot summer day.
Arsen Elkin
Code Monkey
Arsen Elkin was first introduced to blues dancing in Fort Collins, Colorado and has spent the past four years training at numerous international blues dancing events (such as San Diego Fusion Exchange 2010, Herräng 2011 and European Blues Invasion 2012). He has danced in blues scenes in Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Berlin, and Dublin and has further instruction in lindy hop, tango and salsa. In 2012, Arsen founded “Midland Blues”: a blues organization that sponsored bi-monthly lessons and parties in Coventry, England.
Brandon Istenes
Market Research, DJ Coordinator
Brandon Istenes woke three months ago on the cold sand of a beach on Jersey's north shore with no memory of who he was or how he had gotten there. The knapsack laying at his feet contained only a raincoat and a laptop that opened to a series of spreadsheets indicating that he had some nebulous responsibilities to a group of San Franciscans calling themselves BluesCon. The voices on the pay phones guided him onward, and whether out of gratefulness for a hand in the pitch darkness or Stockholm syndrome in its grip, he carried out their strange bidding..
Monk Funkster
Master of Sound
Raconteur extraordinaire. Electronics wizard. Libations expert. Adventurer. Recently traded to San Francisco from Portland for a Zamboni, a case of Napa cab and a first round draft pick.
Rose Maynes
Registration and Operations
Jeff Gin
Logo and Branding
Jeff started to learn dancing by watching music videos and continued on to club dancing to techno & house music. He started lindy hop back in 2002 with the encouragement of his father. In 2004 he was introduced into blues and from there on out, he became hooked. He enjoys dancing to slow blues songs and credits hula dancing for helping with micro blues.
Angie Huang
Marketing Strategist, Instructor Coordinator
Roy Rydbeck
Live Band Coordinator
Roy has been around the modern blues dance scene since its inception at house parties and side rooms at lindy hop exchanges in the early 2000’s. Roy was instrumental in getting the music played in the blues dancing scenes' early days changed from slow jazz to blues which became popular around 2005. Roy is a long time dancer and DJ, and has been in the DJ rotation at Friday Night Blues since 2005. Roy started his DJ career playing for lindy hoppers in Tampa, Florida in 1999. He has also travelled to dozens of blues and Lindy exchanges to DJ and dance going as far as Moscow and Beijing. He was also the head organizer of the 2012 San Francisco Blues Dancing Exchange and was on the organization committee of the 2004 Chicago Lindy Exchange.
Live Band Coordinator
Roy has been around the modern blues dance scene since its inception at house parties and side rooms at lindy hop exchanges in the early 2000’s. Roy was instrumental in getting the music played in the blues dancing scenes' early days changed from slow jazz to blues which became popular around 2005. Roy is a long time dancer and DJ, and has been in the DJ rotation at Friday Night Blues since 2005. Roy started his DJ career playing for lindy hoppers in Tampa, Florida in 1999. He has also travelled to dozens of blues and Lindy exchanges to DJ and dance going as far as Moscow and Beijing. He was also the head organizer of the 2012 San Francisco Blues Dancing Exchange and was on the organization committee of the 2004 Chicago Lindy Exchange.
Jennifer Vo
Scheduling and Logistics, Finances
Shannon Woods
Housing Coordinator
Housing Coordinator