instructors
Markus & Tren are one of the most dynamic, inspiring and fun loving couples that are hard to take your eyes off of, even on a crowded floor! They are both Swing Dance Champions under the dance company StuckOnSwing. You may have seen one of Tren’s Iconic dance videos go viral on Facebook Youtube or TikTok. You may have seen Markus on Bet, So You Think You Can Dance or the movie Love N’ Dancing. Together they travel across the United States and internationally teaching, competing, judging, and performing at National Swing Dance events. They routinely place amongst the top 5 in the world of Swing Dance competitions and have shared their signature DC Hand Dance style with communities across the US and abroad. They are most passionate about bringing people together and sharing the gift of dance and music with the next generation.
Tren Veal (she/her) & Markus Smith (he/him)
West Coast Swing
In 1996 Emily Webb began her love affair with partner dance. Through the years Emily has studied Tango, Swing, Salsa, Blues, and Fusion dance with some of the top instructors in the world. Today Tango and Fusion remain Emily's greatest dance loves.
Thousands of students across the US and Canada have benefited from Emily's dynamic and interactive teaching style. Emily's adaptability to student needs, knowledge of body mechanics, and specialized drills create high impact learning for students of all levels. Through her years of teaching experience Emily has learned to make even the most complex movements simple and build them from the ground up. This means you will not only look good while you dance, but feel great to your partners too!
Beyond dance Emily is a certified Holistic Health Coach, and certified instructor of Krav Maga (street fighting and self-defense), Yoga, Gravity Yoga and has a BS in Equine Science with a specialty in teaching. She has been seen teaching at nationally recognized events such as the Portland Alt Tango Festival, Denver Fusion Exchange , Las Vegas Fusion Exchange, Atomic Fusion Festival, Massive Blues Recess, Seattle Fusion Festival, Mission Fusion Extravaganza, DJX Fusion Weekend, The Fusion Project and more.
Jeannie Lin is a dancer who is able to effortlessly adapt, blend, articulate and draw from a myriad of different dance forms and experiences. Her early training included gymnastics, ballet, and modern dance, while her later years included formal study in over 30 styles of partner dance at the Ballroom Dance Teacher's Academy where she graduated with high honors. Now she happily resides in the worlds of fusion and argentine tango, where she weaves in her other dance styles together seamlessly, integrating concepts and creating hybrid movements with grace and fluidity. Recognized for her nuanced and effective teaching style, she's been invited to teach at fusion festivals and workshops across the US and internationally in Europe, Canada, and the UK. Now she lives in Los Angeles where she co-founded LA's first micro-fusion venue, Tiny Dancers, and is currently co-organizing for Angel City Fusion.
As an instructor, Jeannie places a strong emphasis on partner connection and a highly attuned body awareness. She breaks down fundamental techniques in a clear, precise manner and enjoys challenging students to take risks by finding innovative ways of co-creating together. Jeannie encourages her students to approach each dance with curiosity, deep listening, and a willingness to play.
Emily Webb (she/her) & Jeannie Lin (she/her)
Argentine Tango
Pomona, a product of the west coast of Canada, has been immersed in dance since her early days, sneaking out in high school for blues parties. A true jack-of-all-dances, she has won Lindy Hop, Blues, and Fusion competitions worldwide as a leader, follower, and soloist. She draws inspiration from unexpected sources such as contact improvisation, clowning, and her experience in the film industry to connect with her partner and the audience. Her dance style is characterized by its playful, rhythmic, and raw nature, with an emphasis on improvisation and an unwavering dedication to musicality and expression.
Kenya Soul, hailing from the Bay Area, draws inspiration from a rich tapestry of hip hop, Lindy Hop, blues, and occasionally anime. His teachings are rooted in improvisation, connection, and musicality, breathing life into stories through movement. He seeks to build bridges between divergent communities through shared artistic language, which is how he found his home in Fusion. His Black-experience-centered philosophy sits at the heart of all of his and Pomona's lessons. Together, they create a clear, play-focused, and light-hearted teaching environment where students are often surprised with their own creative prowess.
Kenya Soul (he/him) and special guest, Pomona Lake (she/her)
Fusion
Flouer is a Dance Instructor & Embodiment Coach from New York City, currently based in Turin, Italy. She has been teaching partner dance since 1999 and Fusion since 2011. She spends most of her time Blues Dancing, but has an MFA in dance and a background teaching and performing Contemporary, Latin Ballroom, ballet, and ice skating. She has won plenty of partner dance competitions in various styles, and has performed & taught all over the globe.
Sure, yeah, blah blah! But what’s actually important is that Flouer has a warm, encouraging way of challenging you to grow in your dancing, and if you want, helping you link this growth to the rest of your life. She is known for her values of artistry and emphasis on dance history, complimented by her ability to break down any movement into incredibly specific detail. Coming from an academic background, Flouer loves offering simple yet profound ways to give structure to your Fusion dance. https://flouerdances.com
“The reason to master technique is so the body does not prevent the soul from expressing itself” – la Meri
Flouer Evelyn (she/her)
Blues, Fusion
Mark is an international Fusion instructor, dj, and organizer hailing from California. When he is not traveling he is based out of the SF Bay Area, where he runs the Fusion Dance Academy.
His social dancing career started with Lindy & Blues in 2005, and he has since studied Tango, WCS, and a dozen other dances. He has been teaching since 2006, much of that focused on the Fusion scene with its emerging forms and conventions, teaching workshops all over the world (and in two languages).
He is at the forefront of shaping what Fusion is and what it can become, He has organized multiple events in the United States, most notably & All That Jazz, the SLO Exchange, and Fireside Fusion. Mark is dedicated to sharing his knowledge and exploration of Fusion and continually strives to make the impossible look easy, and the easy look impossible.
Mark Carpenter (he/him)
Fusion
Ally is a body geek and a movement addict. They’ve been dancing since they could walk, but discovered the world of partner dancing first in 2004 (and essentially never stopped). Blues, Lindy Hop, Tango, Fusion, West Coast Swing, contemporary, hip hop, house, aerial silks, pole dance, and a dabbling of many more modalities are all in their wheelhouse. They have taught Blues and Fusion internationally for 15 years, and graduated as a Contemporary Alexander Technique teacher this year.
Over the years of dance exploration, Ally has developed a keen fascination with the design and mechanics of the human body, and now enjoys teaching all of their classes through the lens of body discovery. Their classes are full of geekery—to them, curiosity, fascination, and play are the bedrock of an effective (and enjoyable) learning environment. Their goal is to not just teach people how to dance, but to engage with their bodies playfully, creatively, and with deeper understanding.
Ally Yancey (they/she)
Fusion, Meta
Charles is a danceprenuer (instructor, event organizer, DJ, mentor, & podcaster) that primarily works in the kizomba scene. Charles Ogar is well known, throughout the US and internationally, for his detailed, yet fun and quirky instruction and his super smooth, creative, and musical style on the dance floor.
He is the most influential pioneer of urban kiz in North America. He loves nerding out on musicality, self-awareness, creativity, fundamentals, history, and more!
He also runs an online membership site for kiz tutorials dedicated to helping kiz dancers around the world level up their kiz skills at Learntokiz.com, create cool digital products for dancers, and it building at global directory of dance events at WhereCanWeDance.com.
Charles Ogar (he/him)
Urban Kiz, Meta
Dance has been a part of my life since I was 11, taking kids hiphop classes in Toronto until I graduated highschool. My dance journey continued at university in Kelowna, where I joined the Latin Dance Club and got my first taste of salsa, bachata, and rueda de casino. I loved it so much that I joined the student board of directors in 2012, and began teaching both as a lead and a follow in 2013 when I was elected president. While my passion has shifted now to kizomba and urbankiz, I still teach Latin dance classes and joyfully partake in Latin dance socials.
Kizomba came into my life when salsa+bachata festivals in western Canada began having small kizomba floors and bringing in a few instructors in the early 2010's. I dabbled, but it wasn't really until the late 2010's that I really started connecting fully with the dance and the music. I feel that these dances are incredible and magical in that they can join two people in the most intimate way, yet the moments (although not the memories) are ephemeral and can simply just be a dance.
I had been accustomed to leading Latin dances, so it was only natural I began leading kizomba and urbankiz. Having the opportunity to be creative with interpreting the music and guiding the conversation of these dances with my partners is super fun. And I believe wholeheartedly that dance should be fun no matter what! I have been a taxi dancer for the Victoria International Kizomba Festival, attended festivals across Canada, and some in the United States. It's a great way to meet people from all over the world!
What's also important is for community leaders and instructors to provide safe spaces for dancers, whether that's on a dance floor, in a community group chat, or in a conversation. My leadership role with the university club lead to my desire to get involved with the SBK non-profit organization in Kelowna. I was on the board for 6 years, sitting as president for two of them. While I have now passed on the organizing torch to others, I continue to teach, volunteer, and actively participate in nurturing the community that turned me into the dancer that I am today.
Alicia Tymstra (she/her)
Urban Kiz
Originally by way of New York, Malik Delgado draws his inspiration from his Afro American and Afro Caribbean origins. Malik's journey has led him to immerse himself in many cultures from B-Boying to Popping/ Boogaloo to Krump, and his love of movement and artistic expression eventually led him to embrace Salsa, American Style Ballroom, and Afro-Latin Fusion.
He has helped to form local street dance crews like Portland City Rockers and Soul Trigger PDX and has shared his street dance education with many local schools and programs.
Malik teaches Bachata, Salsa, Afro Latin Funk, and Cha Cha Cha at Vitalidad Movement Studio in Portland and is inspired by how effective dance has been in inspiring his community and continues to perform, teach, and educate in hopes to continue the traditions that have given so much to his life and the lives around him.
Malik Delgado (he/him)
Afro-Latin Fusion
Fen Kennedy is a full-time dance geek, with a PhD in dance from the Ohio State University and a day job as a dance professor. They discovered fusion in 2010, and found it the perfect place to combine their concert training, their love of partner dance, their playful nature, and their deeply nerdy brain. In the last year Fen has taught fusion workshops up and down the East and West Coasts, with a few stops in the middle for good measure. Their highlights include the inaugural QT Fusion festival in DC, a fusion teacher’s retreat in Seattle, and setting up their own scene for the Magic City LGBTQIA+ Acceptance Centre in Alabama. They are looking forward to teaching at Fae Fusion and HiFi! In their classes you’ll find new ways to think, tools to teach yourself, connection, consent, and fun. Fen is also known as one half of Changeling Spaces, a partnership for accessible dance events that they run in collaboration with Jaesic Wade.
Fen Lastra (they/them)
Fusion, Meta
From regular panic attacks after classes to an international dance instructor, Grey’s dance journey has been intense and yet he never forgets those early days. Bringing opportunities for growth and confidence building, Grey loves to help dancers find their style within the foundations set by the Black culture. Although he loves the speed of Lindy hop, Grey enjoys highlighting other and lesser explored aspects of Lindy hop, like rhythmic variation, the pocket/lag, groove, and challenging well worn beliefs.
Join him for fun classes where we find your artistry and voice in dance and daily life.
Grey Armstrong (he/him)
Lindy Hop, Meta
Gracie is flying in from Greenville, SC where she is a founding member of Greenville Fusion Dance. She believes that forethought, delegation, and leveraging of your team’s strengths is necessary to plan an event in a way that will allow for the team to not only run the event, but to enjoy it as well. Along with her rock star team, she coordinates a monthly social dance as well as three regional / annual events. These events often have 100 - 150+ attendees, and bring together staff and dancers from a variety of different backgrounds and home scenes. With experience in teaching non-traditional learners, she brings patience, creativity, and compassion to her work in the dance community.
Gracie Johnson (she/her)
Meta
Lillian Frances is a music producer and educator from Sacramento, CA. She has been crafting and performing music with Ableton Live for the last 9 years, and delights in showing other people how fun and easy music production can be.
Lillian Frances (she/her)
Meta
Eleanor grew up in the ballet studio and first learned to social dance outdoors in the Appalachian mountains. She fell in love with blues and fusion in 2016, but the more she danced, the more she noticed interconnected scene-wide challenges in culture, structural power, and belonging. To address these challenges she started facilitating group workshops on social justice, anti-racism, and community in 2018, and has since privately consulted various fusion organizations on their policies and team design. In Fall 2023 she completed her master's degree in Transformative Social Change, a multidisciplinary program designed to support liberation-oriented practitioners. Eleanor brings insight and presence to all her roles – dancer, teacher, DJ, facilitator – and is excited to work her magic at Hi-Fi.
Eleanor Chen (she/her)
Meta
Please reach out to instructors directly to arrange private lessons- slots are available on Saturday & Sunday!