Beyond Blues Instructors

Ariel Bowlby, San Francisco

Ariel has been teaching blues dance, private lessons, and slow dance classes since 2007. She began her dancing career in Seattle, and has has spent time working in New York City. Most recently, she's moved to San Jose, where she continues her practice. In addition to blues dancing, Ariel regularly dances Argentine tango and lindy hop.

Brenda Russell, Portland - brendadances.com

Brenda is fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a professional dancer and instructor. She travels around the world teaching and training with a variety of coaches and historians. Her primary strength is breaking down dances in a way that makes them accessible to anyone, even those without a background in dance. She strives to help each of her students find the "dancer within," gaining inspiration from dancers of the past.

Brenda's primary area of study is African-American street dance from the turn of the century to the present. With such an incisive focus, she has become a major resource within the developing Blues dance community in the Bay area. Currently she is assisting with curricula and event development designed to raise the awareness in the community about blues music and dancing. Her hope is to provide structure for duplicable material, while maintaining the inherent character of the dance.

Dexter Santos, San Francisco

Dexter Santos discovered Blues dancing in 2005 and has since been inspired by the soulful and expressive quality of blues music. Whether he is teaching, performing, or social dancing, Dexter is very passionate in his interpretation of the Blues. One of the things that makes his dancing stand out is his musicality and the way he translates it on the dance floor.

As a teacher, Dexter's passion comes from his desire to teach Blues dancing with respect to its roots, identity, to celebrate its art form, and more importantly, to inspire dancers of all levels with the possibilities that blues dancing has to offer. Together with Michelle, Dexter teaches classes locally in San Francisco and has taught at national exchanges and workshops such as bluesSHOUT (Chicago, IL), Austin Blues Party (Austin, TX), Down Home Blues Festival (San Francisco, CA), and BamBLOOZled (Washington DC).

When not teaching, Dexter further refines his skills on the dance floor as a frequent competitor. At the recent bluesSHOUT 2010 in Austin, Dexter won all four partnered competitions: Open Jack & Jill, Strictly Jook Joint, Strictly Ballroomin' (with Michelle Richter), and Champions Division. His other accomplishments include: 1st place at the 2007 & 2008 bluesSHOUT Strictly Ballroomin' (with Michelle Richter), 1st place at the Emerald City Blues Festival 2008 Invitational Jack & Jill, 1st place at the Enter the Blues 2008 Jack & Jill, 1st place in the Down Home bluesSHOUT 2008 Invitational Jack & Jill Champions Division (with Michelle Richter).

Heidi Fite, San Francisco

Heidi loves to teach Blues dance as a living tradition, with a rich history and an exciting future. From private lessons and local classes to international workshops and historical research and documentation of the dance, she is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Blues dance.

Her classes are inspiring and challenging, but her focus on the underlying principles and a clear explanation of the fundamentals allows her to break down the most difficult concepts and moves so they are easy to understand and incorporate. Heidi is able to communicate and instill in her students a love of dance and a dedication to the learning process. More important, her classes will put some serious "boom boom boom" and "aw haw haw haw" in your dancing.

Michelle Richter, San Francisco

Michelle Richter has been dancing for over 20 years and involved in serious dance study for about 17 years. Her background in ballet and modern dance has allowed her to focus on technique combined with creative movement in her teaching style. Her studies of human movement have given her a wide background in many types of dance, including African-Caribbean, Jazz, Contact Improvisation, Belly Dance, Hip Hop and various Ballroom styles. In addition to dancing, Michelle also enjoys creating and performing choreography. For the last 10 years, her main focus has been with Lindy-Hop and Blues dancing. Her teaching style places focus on connection, attitude and self-expression, as well as proper body mechanics and one-on-one attention. Her dance instruction is uniquely supplemented by an extensive knowledge of anatomy & physiology, as a part of her work as a Nationally Certified Massage Therapist

With her teaching partner, Dexter Santos, Michelle teaches locally in San Francisco and at various national events. Together, they have both taught at Blues Rising (San Francisco), California Invasion (Seattle), Blues Shout (Chicago), Austin Blues Party (Austin), Down Home Blues (San Francisco), and Bambloozled (Washington D.C.).

Mihai Banulescu, San Francisco - beyondblues.com/mihai

Mihai's teaching is defined by curiosity, creativity and compassion. He constantly expands and cultivates his pedagogical style and curricula, coming up with thoughtful exercises for students. Students value Mihai for the useful individual feedback he provides is a gentle, helpful way. Mihai began dancing in 1997 and has been teaching blues full-time since 2005. He has taught workshops and festivals in more than 20 states and has been invited back in almost every town. He has also been a regular DJ of blues, swing and tango music since 2003, and founded San Francisco's Friday Night Blues - the world's first and largest blues-only weekly dance.

Rachael DeMers, Denver

Rachael is an accomplished blues dancer and instructor. In her teaching she focuses on such concepts as simplicity, clarity, expression, and body awareness - all of which are critical to advanced social dancing. She strongly believes in incorporating both individual creativity and technique into social dancing and teaches her students how to find a balance of the two within their own dancing. Being an avid listener and fan of the music she dances to, Rachael loves to emphasize the importance of musicality in social dancing, including rhythms and layering. Above all, Rachael has a genuine passion for teaching social dancers of every level and is excited to share her knowledge and love for dance with those who want to learn.

An active member of the dance community, Rachael helped to found one of Denver's newest teaching group, Black Diamond Blues, as well as the first Denver Blues Summit committee. In addition to teaching local classes in Denver, she started and organized workshops for Arizona's first blues dance venue: Desert Blues Dance. In Arizona, she also taught local workshops and classes in the Phoenix/Tempe, coordinating exchanges, workshops, and out of Town Venues.

Some of her personal dance achievements include the following: Blues Shout 2007: Jack and Jill: 3rd Place, Follow; Strictly Juke Joint: 1st Place, Follow; DHB/Blues Shout 2008. Champion's Division: 2nd Place, Follow; Strictly Juke Joint: Finals, Lead. Emerald City Blues 2008: Champion's Division: 2nd Place, Follow; Jack and Jill: Finals, Lead; Open Strictly: Finals, Follow.

Ruth Hoffman, San Francisco

Ruth Hoffman has been skipping and twirling through life since she began studying ballet at the age of three. In 1997 she discovered ballroom dancing. It wasn't long before she discovered Lindy Hop through a visiting teacher named Frankie. While at the University of Oregon, she continued her passion for dance studying modern, contact improv, ballroom, Argentine tango, dance history, swing, belly dance, choreography, kinesiology, jazz dance -- anything else she could get her feet on. Ruth currently runs Shades of Blues (www.sfshadesofblues.com) and teaches blues dance, Argentine Tango and dance fusion in the Bay area and beyond.

Ted Maddry, Seattle

As a teacher, Ted Maddry has helped thousands of students change their dancing and sometimes even their lives. In his classes, he will challenge you to develop dance technique, experiment & take risks in your dancing all the while maintaining a comfortable & entertaining classroom environment. You will get new perspectives, unique material, & 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. Book Ted for a dance workshop or teacher training today by emailing ted@beyondblues.com.