Blues Muse (October 14-16, 2011)

Blues Muse (October 14-16, 2011, Philadelphia, PA)

Muses (and Dudes)

Julie Brown(Boston, MA)

Julie Brown has been teaching, DJing, and competing in blues since 2006. With a background in many forms of solo dance, she is known for her musicality, great body movement, and playful dancing style. In her classes, she emphasizes individual body movement, musicality, and open communication in connection. Julie choreographs, performs, DJs, and teaches locally, and has placed in many national competitions including 1st place in BluesSHOUT 2009 Juke Joint, 2nd place in Enter the Blues 2009 Solo and Jack'n'Jill, 2nd place in BluesSHOUT 2008 Open Jack'n'Jill, and finals at BluesSHOUT 2009, BluesSHOUT 2008, Emerald City Blues 2008, Denver Blues Summit 2007, and BluesRising 2007.

Shawn Hershey (Boston, MA)

Shawn Hershey came from an extensive music background, studying classical trumpet performance at the Eastman School of Music. With his partner Amanda Gruhl, Shawn has won or placed in half a dozen national blues competitions, and has taught and performed at workshops and events around North America, including Austin Blues Party, Down Home Blues, the Fusion Exchange, and BluesSHOUT! Currently, Shawn teaches with a collective of Boston dance instructors at New School Swing in Charlestown, MA and Blues Union in Somerville, MA, and runs two successful swing bands, The Fried Bananas and the Shawn Hershey Quartet.

Mike Legett (Cincinatti, OH)

Mike Legett combines an intuitive understanding of connection with an analytical speaking style to give her students technique, but also strives to challenge and inspire her students to push themselves further into the music. She aims to help leaders create artistic compositions that are clearly led; she wants follows to have the ability to be the completely literal follow, and the inspiration and freedom to be an imaginative and dynamic contributor. In the classroom or on the social floor, she seeks a connection that involves active communication from both partners, to make a dance together.

Reuel Reis (New Orleans, LA)

Reuel Reis’ unique style of dancing holds its roots in the dirty streets of the Big Easy, where he was born and raised. The immersion in his native New Orleans culture mixed with the opportunity to dance until dawn at the most wonderful venues in New Orleans such as "Donna’s", "Blues Club", and "DBA" merged Reuel’s life experience to the dance that he loves. He has also taught Blues Dancing from one end of the United States to another and is known for his performance, contrast, respect for others, visual aesthetics, and competitive yet playful spirit. His dancing has been showcased with victories in the "BluesSHOUT! 2009 Ballroom Blues Strictly (with Mike "the Girl" Legett)" and the "Champions' Jack and Jill" competitions, as well as a number of other competition wins. Students have enjoyed his classes at events such as Blues Muse, Dude Muse, Camp Blues, Enter the Blues, Denver Blues Summit, Down Home Blues just to list a few.

Campbell Miller (Austin, TX)

Campbell Miller is known for melting into her partner’s connection and making her partners more aware of their own movement by mirroring even the most subtle detail. Her fluid body movement, unparalleled balance, and playful creativity can be attributed to a diverse technical background in many styles of solo and partner dancing, but her dancing is unpretentious; she follows to make each dance the best it can be for her partner.

As an instructor, Campbell’s warmth and patience create an inviting atmosphere for all levels of students. Her classes are well-planned, efficient, and strike a healthy balance between fundamentals and technique with fun games. She gives a wealth of information to both leads and follows so each partnership can be conversational and dynamic. One warning: Campbell’s enthusiasm for dancing and teaching is said to be contagious!

Chris Mayer (Austin, TX)

Chris Mayer is known in the Blues dance community for his musicality, creativity, and fun-loving spirit. A self-proclaimed Lindy Hop addict until he found Blues, Chris has created his own style of dancing with influences from Tango, Ballroom, and everything in between. He is adored by students everywhere from Hawaii to Heidelberg, and his teaching and dancing can be summed up best by this quote: “Technique? Check. Fun moves? Check. Playful attitude? Check!”

Campbell and Chris have a seamlessly coordinated connection when dancing and teaching together. Their classes are straightforward, but thought-provoking �\ you will always walk away thinking about something new. They have a lively energy to their teaching, and encourage their students to feel curious to try new things, but all in a safe, non-judging environment. Since forming their partnership in the fall of 2008, they’ve blazed a trail through the Blues competition circuit, taught at many national and international events, and have impressed dancers across the world with their approachability and joy for dance!

Meghan Lisi (Memphis, TN)

Meghan Lisi has been a dancer her entire life. One fateful night after a Lindy Hop dance in New York, some wiley Philadelphians kidnapped her and took her to her very first Blues House Party. That night, she lost her heart to the Blues forever. Meghan’s background in theatre has bled in to her dancing where often times music will create a character, a story, or just an emotion or feel that will guide her expressiveness and creativity with that partner in that moment. Through strong dance technique and a solid and attentive connection to her partner, Meghan constantly seeks to find the balance between being a true follow and being an inspiring contributor to any dance.

After being a Dance Manger for a few years and teaching Lindy Hop, Blues and Fusion, she landed in Memphis - Soulsville USA - and can now be found teaching with Red Hot Lindy Hop and in other venues around town...that is, when she isn’t tearing up the floor at her favorite Juke Joint - Wild Bill's. Recently, she has placed in several competitions, including second place in Herrang Dance Camp's Social Dance Competition and first place in last year's BluesMuse Jack & Jill with the amazing Dan Repsch.

Ruth Hoffman (San Francisco, CA)

Ruth Hoffman skipped into her first dance class more than 25 years ago, and has since been dancing as many styles as she can get her feet on. After studying dance and music in college, Ruth relocated to NYC, where she continued her obsession, including performing in a black tutu off-off Broadway. After years of substituting dance for sleep, she gave up all pretenses of other jobs and pursued dance full-time -- teaching, performing, choreographing and organizing. Her dancing adventures over the past year have ranged from an Argentine Tango teaching residency in Indonesia, teaching Lyrical Dancing at Urban Blues Recess and judging blues competitions at North Star Blues. When at home in San Francisco, Ruth runs Shades of Blues, Bacon and Blues and teaches and DJs around the various blues and tango venues. Passionate about teaching, and with over 14 years of experience, she brings a balance of silly fun and precision. Ruth's intricate knowledge of body mechanics and posture allows her to help students find freedom in their dance. Her zombie and pirate references help her bring the fun. She values connection and musicality, and is always seeking new movement possibilities. Her identification as a lead, as a follow and, most of all as a dancer, help her bring balanced perspectives to classes. Ruth is known for her teaching adaptability in group classes and private lessons, crafting explanations to fit students' learning styles. She has a long-standing love affair with close-embrace connection, and is curating a fine collection of fishtail variations. You can find out more about her at danceruth.com.