Reuel Reis
Reuel's unique style of dancing holds its roots in the dirty streets of the Big Easy, where he was born and raised. Growing up, Reuel's mother was a late-night DJ of avant-garde jazz for the local New Orleans radio station WWOZ and raised him listening to artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, the Rebirth Brass Band, and the Dirty Rascals. He also played in school bands under jazz greats like Walter Payton and Edward "Kidd" Jordan. Despite their excellent instruction, he soon learned that his talents were not in playing the jazz that he loved, but in dancing to its rhythms. Since then, Reuel attempts to imbue the spirit, culture, rawness, and tradition of his hometown (where you can still hear some of the greatest live music in the world on any given night) into every dance. Reuel has been teaching almost 10 years and has been sharing his art in Nashville for the last 3 years. Reuel has won more competitions than almost anyone else in the Southeast region and also loves to work with beginners.
Find out more about Reuel at his website, www.dirtystreetsproductions.com
If you would like to book a private lesson with this instructor, please email Reuel
Breanna Perry
Breanna loves pretty much everything about pretty much every vintage jazz/vernacular folk/really old/swing-era dance there is, ever. Goofy animal dances? She loves 'em. Swingin' out hard and fast? Just try and stop her. Messing around with chuggy charleston patterns? She can't get enough. Melty and stretchy blues dances, long-legged peabody, fancy-footed balboa, she enjoys all of it. And one of her favorite things is when she gets the chance to share all of those favorite things with other people and watch those things become their favorite things! In classes, she's known to focus on technique in a nerdy way, such as comparing dancers' arms to triangles' hypotenuses or trying to air-graph movement intensities. Breanna's absolute favorite, though, is when everyone just gets together to thrown down and have fun! (Especially if it involves things like rolling across the floor or accidentally tripping over your own feet and turning it into "styling", things she is known for.) Breanna continually works on her dancing by learning from dance instructors all across the United States and by competing whenever she has a chance, doing well in her fair share of those competitions. She has been teaching for almost 2 years, and is a go-to instructor for follows to learn how to express themselves without disrupting a dance partnership.
Find out more about Breanna at her website, www.breannaperry.com
If you would like to book a private lesson with this instructor, please email Breanna
Yossef Mendelssohn
Yossef moved to Nashville for work in August of '06 and was lucky enough to be right by the premier swing dance studio of the day, Vintage Rhythm. He finally got around to starting lessons in January, and since he knew hardly anyone and had nearly nothing to do, he kept on taking all the lessons he could for several months. At some point, Aba and Reuel got sick of seeing Yossef all the time and closed the studio down.
After about half a year of taking constant lessons and not doing much outside of class, Yossef realized he should start dancing socially. Then came travel to other dance scenes, workshop weekends, exchanges, and camps. After a stressful first stab at competition as part of the short-lived Whitey's Cindy Loppers, he started entering competitions regularly, winning his first-ever Jack and Jill and placing in some other beginners' competitions before being shoved into the cruel world of intermediate and advanced.
Since his humble beginnings, Yossef has aspired to add more titles to his name than just "dancer". "Competitor" came fairly quickly, then "DJ", and in October of '08, "teacher". "Organizer" came in early '09, and he's searching for a place to go from there
Yossef not only enjoys the usual suspects of swing dancing (Lindy Hop, Charleston, and Balboa), but also the precursors, the pre-swing (or "silly") dances like Peabody and Collegiate Shag. He's also generally excited about most non–Jitterbug-Stroll choreographed routines and line dances.
And talking about himself in the third person.
Find out more about Yossef at his website, www.yobeth.com
If you would like to book a private lesson with this instructor, please email Yossef
Beth Hartzel
Beth generally has no qualifications at all. She excels at being a spaz and doing the Carlton, which is to be expected of a dinosaur of her stature.
Yes, dinosaur. The Bethesaurus Rex is an endangered species that has somehow managed to defy extinction, likely because of its biteyness. Watch out!
We let this dinosaur teach anyway because we don't want to be eaten, and also because we enjoy her spazzing.
Find out more about Beth at her website, www.yobeth.com
If you would like to book a private lesson with this instructor, please email Beth
Tim and Sarah Munsell
Tim Munsell introduced lindy hop to modern Nashville in 2002, when he moved here from Chicago after extensively studying the dance. Tim with his partner and now wife, Sarah Kennedy, opened the Music City Motion studio in the Bellevue Center Mall to teach swing dancing to the community and hold dances. They ran the studio from 2002-2006, when they sold it to Reuel and Aba who ran it under the name of Vintage Rhythm Dance Studio. During those years, Tim and Sarah organized and hosted the Music City Mini Camp national workshop, which brought in swing dancers from around the country to Nashville. They have taught at many workshops around the region and have competed in the American Lindy Hop Championships.
Corey and Susan Manke
Corey & Susan have been dancing Lindy Hop for over 9 years and Balboa for over 6 years. During this time, they have studied with many national & international instructors but have been most inspired by: David Rehm, Nick Williams, Bobby White, Kate Hedin, Laura Keat, Jeremy Ott, Marty & Jen Lau, Marty Kempner & Valerie Salstrom. Corey & Susan are one of the few balboa instructors in the southeast and have been teaching workshops & private lessons for 6 years. Their focus is to demystify the dance of balboa and make dancers comfortable enough to mix into their regular social dancing. Although they rarely compete, their most recent national placements include 3rd place at ABW 2009, 7th place at ABW & EBC 2008 in the Amateur Strictly Balboa. Corey has also placed in the national Jack & Jill competition at ABW (5th place in 2009, 3rd place in 2008) and has been a finalist in several other competitions. Most recently, Corey & Susan have been accepted into "The Experiment 2010", a highly intensive Balboa workshop built around the model of small, select groups of students (24 candidates from around the world) spending a week together with top Balboa dancers of our generation in an extraordinary live/work/play environment. Dances they teach are East Coast Swing, Triple Step, Lindy Hop & Balboa as well as general dance movement for social functions such as weddings. Available for privates, group lessons or workshops. No partner necessary.
If you would like to book a private lesson with these instructors, please email Corey or email Susan.
Kat Sewell
Like many, Kat Sewell began taking lindy hop lessons after she saw the Gap ad that would change her life. 12 years later, she's still dancing (although never in Khaki's). She has previously danced and competed in the San Francisco Bay area, earning several 1st and 2nd place Jack and Jill and Strictly Lindy awards there. In 2005, under the direction of Carla Heiney, she placed 2nd with the '3 Minute Maniacs' in the team division at Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown. In 2007 she relocated to Nashville and looks forward to teaching and competing here.