Big City Blues

Have a look at who will share their blues spirit with you during the Big City Blues classes. A nice mix of local and international blues talents!

Ioanna Panagopoulou (GR) & Alex Palamidis (GR)

Ioanna and Alex are an enthusiastic blues dance couple. They love to share their personal style of Blues dancing through teaching, adore choreographing captivating performances and cherish loooong nights of social dancing! They are both highly trained dancers; Ioanna has been dancing since she was a child and Alex has been doing Swing dances for more than 10 years! Since 2017 they have been focusing mainly on Blues, travelling around Europe deepening their understanding of Blues dancing and its culture as well as continuously developing their dance and teaching skills.

Genia Tsvietkova (UA) & Arnas Jasiunas (LT)

Genia’s dancing story begun when she was 6 years old. In 2006 she met Lindy Hop and she’s a big fan of blues.
Genia was teaching abroad and won many competitions. Dancing is an important part of her life. Her attitude to dance makes her not only a good dancer, but also a responsible and attentive teacher. Her classes are mostly concentrated in how to connect dance more with music and enjoy your dancing.

Arnas Jasiūnas is one of the top dancers of the thriving Lithuanian swing scene. His original approach to dance will add to the knowledge of a dancer of any level. Arnas ideas are based on concepts of body movement, rhythms and authenticity of both the dance and the dancer. With his dance technique and teaching methods in the background Arnas turns the classroom into an effective workshop and gives students ideas for future training. His long training in music makes his dancing a creative musical experience. And his playful personality will surprise and cheer you on the social dance floor.

Natalia Rueda (CO) & Kenneth Shipp (USA)

Natalia began teaching Lindy Hop in 2005 at the Ottawa Swing Dance Society. She travels a lot and is now based in The Netherlands. Natalia specializes in teaching Lindy Hop, Balboa and solo Jazz and has also expertise in Blues. Natalia has a depth of teaching experience that only comes with years of nurturing dancers daily from their first steps, to first place in international competitions. She’s amazing at coaching leaders to connect clearly and master their movement, teaching followers to react instinctively and find their voice, and everyone to find the joy of dance.

Kenneth hails from St. Louis, MO as an instructor who grew up dancing hip hop and breakdancing before jumping into blues. He has spent the past few years passionately studying the family of blues idioms, incorporating his nerdy personality along the way. Kenneth’s life experiences inform his dancing and wants his students to walk away with a better historical and contextual understanding to exhibit it in their dances. With every class and practice, he’ll encourage you to approach social dancing with coolness, relaxation, or in other words “Chill The F$%& Out.” When he’s not dancing, you can likely find him ranting about the latest blockbuster movie, game, or nerd convention.”

Els Houttequiet (BE)

Els was first influenced by modern dance and since then has been focusing on authentic jazz and blues dance, gaining profound knowledge and abilities in those styles. Inspired by oldies like Sandra Gibson and Mabel Lee, she loves a type of blues dancing that’s both raw and sensual. She is actively teaching for Crazy Legs Dance School in Ghent and is member of the “Steam Heat Cats”.

Sep Vermeersch (BE)

As solo dancer, Sep has a very unique style. He won several competitions in the solo blues and charleston. He’s teaching abroad at several international swing and blues dance festivals and at the local Crazy Legs Dance School in Ghent.