Camp Blues Instructors

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.

Barry Douglas, Detroit

Barry Douglas is a renaissance man of dance with 41 years of training and over 30 years of teaching and performing to his credit. His experience spans the funk and rhythm of urban American streets to the finest ballrooms in the US and Europe – 17 countries!! His training background includes ballet, tap, and jazz, Swing, Hustle, adagio, ballroom and choreography, all from some of the best dancers and choreographers in the world. He is a master technician that challenges his students on all levels and transforms their inefficiencies into graceful motion. He lives in Detroit, Michigan, and travels extensively throughout the U.S. and internationally. Barry is certified by 6 different agencies to teach 18 different dance styles, received a Masters in Jazz Choreography from the National Jazz Dance Congress and he is also a certified dance judge. In 1995, Barry won the US Hustle Championship to add to his many state and regional championships. 26 titles in all!!!

Drew Robinson, Portland

Drew Robinson has been organizing blues and tango events in Portland, OR for also 3 years. She has run Tuesday Blues for that duration and is a founding member of the Oregon non-profit the Portland Blues and Jazz Dance Society.

She is known for her soulfulness and likes to challenge the floor to try new things. She has an affinity for alternative tango music, rock, and folk-blues. Drew Robinson is also a middle-school math teacher and has directed and stage managed countless theater productions throughout her years.

John Lozano, Seattle

John Lozano was first introduced to the Detroit dance scene in 1998, however his journey began much earlier than that. Some of his fondest memories are of he and his family singing along with Detroit's "oldies" radio station which included a special blend of Detroit's own blend of motown, soul and early rock and roll. Within his first year of dancing John was learning east coast swing and lindy hop (with a dash of latin and ballroom)and by 2000 was teaching classes and small workshops. Around 2001 he was exposed to blues dancing and has ever since be dancing, djing and teaching swing and blues side by side.

Over the years he has continued to grow in his dancing and musical knowledge, and taught workshops throughout the midwest, parts of Canada, and after a brief "pause for the cause" (a volunteering stint/spritual journey which may take a couple cups of tea to even begin to explain) has resurfaced on the west coast to spread joy and love through music and dance. John prides himself on his artistry on the dance floor, and in being able to reach out and share his embodied knowledge of the technical, expressive and creative sides of dance with his students. He is always on the lookout for live music to dance to, and loves to pay homage of those bands that have most moved him by djing their music with dancers who may have never otherwise heard them. Quite often you'll hear him refer back to his favorite former Detroit public radio dj Gene Elzy, saying that he too delivers "the bluesy side of jazz, and the jazzy side of blues."