Our teachers

Introduce themselves

Annette Duivenvoorden and Arjan de Boer got to know the basics of lindyhop at the Amsterdam Lindy Hop Workshop in 1998 and were sold on it immediately. They took classes at Jive55, visited many international danceworkshops and they were members of showteam Jazz-It. In 2005 they taught the first course of lindyhop in Utrecht. Swing music – cheery, playful and full of variations – is in Annette’s heart. Her classes are a mix of dance techniques, music improvisation, jazz steps and fun.

Ilja

Before Ilja started dancing, he was crazy about theatre. In 2014 however, he saw a video about Lindy Hop, decided this would be his new passion and never looked back. The sheer joy Lindy Hop provided, together with being the happiest social dance he ever witnessed, made sure he was dancing every dance of the week. In 2016 he added Collegiate Shag to his repetoire. The speed combined with the craziness and high energy really matched what Ilja loves most about dancing. For him, dances are also theater plays in which he improvises with his partner, the music and even the surroundings. Dance with Ilja to learn to use the music, communicate with your partner, and most importantly, have a great time while doing it. He will always aim to work a crowd, to entertain and to surprise his partner and the audience. Or, as he puts it himself: ”If my partner has laughed and shouted out in surprise, it was a good dance”.

Kay

Originally starting to dance Lindy Hop in Bern, Switzerland, Kay soon moved to Stockholm, where he was basically dancing non-stop, trying to soak up as much of the super-energetic Swedish Lindy spirit as possible and finally ended up in Utrecht. His goal is to try to take the best out of these different dance worlds that he has been exposed to and passing it on to his students. In his dancing and teaching, he is constantly striving for that perfect balance between moving together with your partner and being your own dancer because there is nothing quite like when this happens and everything just clicks.

Alexis

Janna

Janna is an enthusiastic dancer and teacher since many years. She dances Lindyhop, Blues and Charleston and she was a member of the Cotton Club showgroup. She keeps training at international workshops and loves to compete. She is famous for her musicality and playful, elegant style. During class, she likes to keep the spirit high and focussed and she always aims for the right balance between technique and fun.

Laura

Laura’s love of dancing started all the way in Mexico. After that, zouk, Argentine tango, lindyhop and blues were added. In 2011 Laura took her first bluesclass and was hooked immediately! Since that first class she travels all over Europe to participate in workshops. A year later she started teaching Blues classes with Frank, and they have just one goal: getting people to be enthusiastic for this amazing and relaxed partnerdance! Laura always says that bluesdancing is the most ultimate relaxation within the transpiration. During her classes there is a lot of focus on subtlety, musicality and mostly a lot of fun.

Collin

Collin started dancing the Lindyhop at the start of 2015 and got hooked immediately (a.k.a. spending his savings and changing his social environment) and started taking classes and travelling to international Swingdance Festivals as soon as possible. Being a drummer (and tapdancer), playing with the music whilst using a solid technique is natural to him and will be an important part of his classes. Being an actor and director in theatre, he will give you a frame to be playful. Fun is obligated!

Joyce

Joyce always loved dancing. When she grew up she had the opportunity to taste from different styles of dancing. She remembers the night when she got introduced to lindyhop very clearly. A friend pursuaded her to go dancing on a Wednesday night and somehow they ended up in “De Winkel van Sinkel”. There she got overwhelmed by this amazing dance. It felt like they stepped into a movie and Joyce immediately wanted to be part of it. Not long after that night she started taking classes, went to festivals and took every opportunity to go dancing and to develop her skills. Over the past three years of dancing lindyhop she managed to develop her own style. She loves to play around with the dynamics of the music. To her the most important values of dancing are having fun with each other and feeling the music with your entire body instead of thinking about it. She hopes she can inspire you to express yourself in this dance and she hope she can support you in discovering your own movement and style.

Malou

‘Because when we are present in our bodies, we are present in the moment and we can start to connect with others.’
Peggy Hackney

Since Malou discovered swing dance in 2012 she has been an active dancer in the European Lindy Hop scene with a fluid and free style. Jazz lives under her skin and it is her mission to share her knowledge about connecting with our bodies finding each persons unique way of moving with the music and each other from the inside out.

Esther

When Esther started dancing lindy hop a few years ago, she was immediately attracted by the happy music and energetic vibe. She became a true fanatic, travelling from one (international) workshop to another and dancing as much as possible. Esther generally loves dancing to energetic, more upbeat music. What she liked most about lindy hop from the beginning is the opportunity to be creative, how it’s impossible not to have fun and the amount of silliness allowed. Probably that’s why collegiate shag was an instant match! Esther wants to spread the love for shag and help swing dancers expand their repertoire.

Jojanneke

Jojanneke discovered lindyhop in 2002 during a workshop in Herräng, Sweden. Since that workshop she is in love with the dance and travels around the world, attending workshops with the international top as teachers. Together with Arjan and Annette, she founded Swing in Utrecht, with the goal of spreading the lindyvirus in Utrecht. She teaches the lindyhop with a lot of enthusiasm, and a focus on leading, following and musicality, so her students can start dancing at all the fun parties as quickly as possible.

Mateja

Mateja started swing dancing together with Roman Rybiczka in Vienna, Austria. In the beginning it was only Lindy Hop, but soon that was not enough and she enriched her repertoire with Balboa and fell in love with Collegiate Shag. Because of her broad interest and diverse background, she likes to mix up styles and incorporate other jazz rhythms in her movement and footwork. Even though being called a follower, she sees herself as an equal dancing partner and enjoys to break away, hijack or inspire the other half during a social dance. While traveling to Swing dance festivals, she appreciates new input and the exchange of style and creation of new moves with dancers from around the world but also gets a kick out of competing.

Frank

Frank has been one of the early lindy hoppers in this country, but was deep down always more a blues man, even back when there were just a handful of blues dancers in Europe. He's been teaching regularly in the Netherlands since 2008 and gave workshops in many countries across Europe. He tends to favour fun over technique, and connection and musicality over spectacle. Blues is something you release, not something you learn.

Katha

The queen of bounce. With her enthusiasm, you can't miss Katharina on the dance floor. Lindy, Balboa? No problem! She goes where you lead her, but definitely in her own way. Styling is something she knows inside out, and that all happens on, with and in the music. As a teacher, she focuses on the core, the fundamentals, the musicality. And the fun, because one dance with Katha, will make you smile!

Muriel

Muriel discovered the Lindy Hop in 2014 and immediately got hooked by the inspirational and creative partner dance. While moving around between different scenes, she extended her dance experience in several countries, like Germany, France, and Norway. Since coming to the Netherlands she combines the variety of styles and techniques that she learned over the past years and always strives to incorporate new fun ideas in her dancing. “My favourite aspect of lindy hop is the communication with my partner, where we share ideas and at the same time have the freedom to improvise.” This is also the basic approach of her classes, where she teaches how to establish a good connection to your partner, which is inevitably the basis for becoming an inspiring single dancer.

Natalia

Natalia began her career in the arts industry in Colombia, where she was born and raised. She holds 1st place titles in singing competitions, Cheerleading and Karate, a strong foundation on which she developed her athletic and vivacious dance and performance style.
After moving to Canada, she discovered Swing dancing in 2005 and co-founded Swing Dynamite, the city's first dedicated Swing school and performance troupe, in 2006. Natalia started dancing Lindy Hop at age 17 and at age 19, she had already led a Swing dance team to take a silver medal at the Canadian Swing Championships.
As a performer, she has danced on many stages across Canada and the US. Highlights include dancing with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, at the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls, on TV with Rogers, ATV, CTV and Canada TV. She has also danced and acted in TV commercials.
Natalia is an award-winning competitor in Lindy Hop, Jazz, Balboa, Blues and West Coast Swing. A Swing instructor of 14 years, she has taught throughout Canada, the USA, Mexico, and the Netherlands. She speaks English, Spanish, and French, and is currently learning Dutch.
With several teaching and working partners, Natalia taught most recently in Utrecht, Netherlands with Juan Villafañe (Buenos Aires, Argentina). She taught her previous dance residency in Utrecht with Mikey Pedroza (Orange County, USA).
Natalia has taught with Mickey Fortanasce (New York, USA) and collaborated for many years with Zack Richard (Montreal, Canada) and Daniel Newsome (Seattle, USA).
Natalia also teaches alone. Her latest residencies were in Phoenix, USA and in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Federico

Born in Italy but bred in Vienna as a dancer, I have been learning to stop worrying and love the dance since 2016. Jazz music is what got me into swing dancing but in turn dance has allowed me to deepen and broaden my understanding of music. During these years I have been exploring different styles: starting from lindy hop, then falling in love with shag and currently having to make more space in my heart to accomodate tap dancing (… a lot of additional space in an already crowded space). If I learned anything in the time I spent dancing (definitely not turning out well in photos) is that what makes it meaningful over and over to me is first of all the quality of rhythm one is able to produce and then the rewards that are coming from learning how to exert control on your own body. Oh, and that I like Leon James. Also I would like to make clear that if anyone will unwisely ask me to dance a blues (most probably in a busy passage while I am trying to run away), he/she should also be ready to bear the consequences of their actions.

Peter

Peter got to know lindyhop in 1995 via de Flat Foot Floogees and he instantly became an enthusiast. Ever since then he has participated in countless international workshops and danced in the the Cotton Club dancegroup for years. What he likes most about lindyhop is the contagiousness and feel of the music, and the improvisations and interactions with his dancepartners. The more loose you dance and the more freedom you give your partner, the more fun it’s gonna got. He always aims to teach that feeling, together with the technique.

Roos

Way before Roos knew of the existence of Lindyhop, she practiced rhythmic gymnastics at the early age of 4. However, she was attracted more to the rhythmic part of it than to the gymnastics. Therefore she soon tried other dancing styles, and later on she experienced the joy of partnered dancing through ballroom dancing. After moving to Utrecht, she was introduced in 2016 to Lindyhop, the dance with many styles, possibilities, and the freedom to be yourself: a perfect match. In class, Roos likes to first give you the technical tools for dancing comfortably, and then expand this with creativity and musicality such that you can express your true self in the dance.

Rohan

Rohan came across lindyhop in 2011, and fell hopelessly in love with the dance and the spirit of swing music. After countless hours of learning, dancing and DJ'ing at local and international workshops, he has developed his own unique style and perspective on swing dancing. Borrowing elements from other dances, such as blues, charleston and latin, he loves to get creative while dancing. He focuses his lessons on developing a great connection with the partner and an individual style.

Stella

Stella is a familiar face in the (international) lindy hop scene since 2014. Besides her activities as a teacher, she is also head of the board of Swing in Utrecht. Thanks to her experience as a jazz vocalist and (jazz) ballet dancer her dancing style is characterised by gracefulness, high energy, challenging rhythm and improvisation. As a lindy hop teacher Stella encourages you to face up to the challenges you will find in lindy hop, to explore your own creativity and most of all to have a lot of fun during every dance.

Roberto

Roberto bumped into lindyhop in 2004, when he chose dancing as a nice hard challenge for a techie like him. He's since travelled, learnt, performed, taught, learnt... did he mention "learnt"? What can you expect from him? He's a nerd and dancing is no exception: endless discussions on the how/why/what/when of dance technique make him as happy as a child. Talking of which, the happy child that is (not too) deep inside is what you'll find when you dance with him!

Timo

Timo started dancing Lindyhop in 2015 after finally being convinced by friends to join a drop-in class. As a passionate rock climber he didn’t expect to like dancing, but he immediately fell in love with the fun and easygoing vibe of Lindyhop. He started going to as many social nights and events as possible and discovered the complex techniques behind the dance. Timo loves to talk all night about all the technical points of the dance, but then there would be no time left to dance and have fun, which is even more important!

Rohan

Roman started dancing Lindy Hop together with Mateja in Vienna. Although having difficulties in the beginning the mood and the music got him hooked. The complex movements with a lot of technique on one hand but the very open and spontaneous free style possibilities on the other hand really impressed him. Soon dancing occupied a big part of his free time and friends suddenly fell in two categories: those who dance and non-dancers. The curiosity grew with every lesson, social and workshop and eventually he couldn’t stay away from other swing dances like Balboa and a little bit of Collegiate Shag. The transition from one style to the other during a given song is something he enjoys. He is always looking to find new smooth ways to combine the different swing dances. The Lindy Hop dances in which the classical boundaries of leaders and followers are changed into two partners inspiring one another are his favourites.

Vicki

Dancing is part of her life since the age of 11. She started Jazz dance in Germany and moved on later to ballroom dance and Hip hop. She fell in love with Lindy hop in 2017 when a colleague took her to a drop-in class. Since then, she has been traveling to festivals around Europe in order to soak in different influences and find her own style. In her classes she emphasizes to express yourself as a dancer individually as well as in a couple.