James Romero (He/Him) is a queer dancer of 10+ years in Lindy Hop, WCS, and other styles as a lead and follow. He brings a focus on collaborative dance and expression with an emphasis on grooving to your favorite tunes regardless of who is driving.

Caroline (she/her) loves to dance, in any shape, role, or form! Her primary focuses are lindy hop, balboa, and tap. She loves the connection between dancers and the music and the joy found in between.

Bandi and Silke both started swing dancing in Santa Fe in the late nineties, which is how and when they met. They have been teaching locally for around 15 years and have been running Monday Night Swing at Oddfellows Hall for most of that time. Over the past twenty-five years, they have danced all over the US and in Europe and have experienced how the dance has evolved over time. They really enjoy teaching and are dedicated to keeping the dance scene healthy, friendly, and thriving in Santa Fe. While they have competed here and there, they are primarily social dancers, who value fun, playfulness, and musicality. And spinning. They really like spinning…

These last years have highlighted the need for connection, art, and recognizing each other’s struggles. Social dance and the swing community have provided Michelle with a reminder of the joy that can still be experienced in life. As it becomes safer to gather and social dance again, Michelle has focused her teaching on exploring the power behind solo movement in vernacular jazz and bringing the Afro swing rhythms of Lindy Hop and Balboa to new and seasoned dancers. In addition to swing dance, Michelle is an avid student of Pachanga and Boogaloo, dance styles in the Afro-Cuban tradition, which reached their height of popularity in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Icarus Newton has been tap dancing for the last 16 years. They started learning tap dance on the east coast before moving to Arizona 7 years ago where they began to tap dance competitively. In just the past 7 years they have learned and competed choreography from Megan Maltos, Chrissy Jones, and Brendan Kellam, as well as taken master classes from Sarah Reich, Max Pollock, Anthony Morgerato, Sam Webber, Dianne “Lady Di” Walker, and many more. In addition to taking classes, they also choreograph and teach dances. At the University of Arizona, Icarus teaches a small beginner tap class and is working with some friends to turn it into a fully recognized club by the university. Before coming to the UofA, Icarus was a teacher's assistant for Megan Maltos, helping out in two beginner level tap classes. They also choreographed four dances for their high school’s dance program, including two tap numbers and two jazz/freestyle dances. Tap dance is one of Icarus’s biggest passions, and they want to spread the joys of tap to as many people as they can, starting in their local community. 

Ryn has been dancing switch since they started Lindy Hop in 2019.  Their unfortunate timing led them to spend a whole pandemic learning and playing with switch dancing.  Since being able to dance with others, Ryn has continued to grow in dancing all roles and encouraging others to do the same.  Their passion for building welcoming communities led them to create the Switch-A-Room at Camp Hollywood and the Tucson Swing Festival.  They can be found teaching weekly lessons with the Arizona Swing Cats, a student-led non-profit at the University of Arizona.  They always have an opinion and a new idea for dancing and you cannot stop them from sharing. We recommend avoiding them if you don't want to be involved in thoughts about dance roles, dance weekends, or building dance communities.  Although, if you do talk to them, you might get a snazzy pin.