Andreas Olsson & Olga Marina
Andreas Olsson lives in Stockholm, Sweden. He grew up on the wrestling mat, fighting other little boys in leotards. He won most of the time since he’s always given 100% in everything that he does. He also played the violin in his childhood. You might not think classical music and wrestling has much in common with Swing dancing, but it has definitely contributed to him becoming the unpredictable, creative, musical and interesting dancer he is today.
Andreas was introduced to Lindy Hop in 2001 and a few years later to Balboa and other dances. In his early career, Andreas focused on performance and competition. He was part of the Swedish National Lindy Hop team and the Stockholm based performance troop Shout n Feel it. His international teaching career started in the mid 2000´s. Since then, Andreas teaches Lindy Hop, Solo Jazz, Balboa, Saint Louis Shag, Collegiate Shag and other swing dances all around the world. He often competes and was awarded first place at events as Balboa division at National Jitterbug Championships (Camp Hollywood), Lindy and Balboa division at International Lindy Hop Championships, American Classic Balboa Championships (All Balboa Weekend), Rendezvous Championships (New York Balweek) and Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout. Andreas is also the reigning champion of the American Classic Balboa Championships at All Balboa Weekend together with Olga Marina.
Olga was born into a family of teachers and since early years has been an energetic live wire – studying music, doing athletics, martial arts and gymnastics. In 2007 she was introduced to Lindy Hop and this is where the real passion story begins. She got dance hooked and started to explore more of the dance world by getting into Blues and later Balboa. She has been actively travelling the globe in pursuit of more opportunities to dance, learn and compete. Later she began to share her love for swing music and dance by teaching. Now Olga is the international balboa instructor, teaching solo and couple Balboa all over the world.
At her classes she pays a lot of attention to getting the students interested and involved by giving challenging and fun tasks, working both on technique and musicality and infecting them even more with the love of dancing. For the time being she is passionately developing a new direction of swing dance practices – iSoloBalboa – offline and online solo classes for balboa leaders and followers which aim at polishing up technique and developing creativity and musicality.
Alba Mengual & Gas Fernandez
Alba started swing dancing because the swing people were exactly the crowd she was looking for in a new city, with the time the dancing on the dance floor led her to ecstasy, and she was really hooked when the jazz music found a big space in her heart. There was no way back then!. She loves all the different dance styles of the swing era: Lindy Hop, Blues, Balboa and Authentic Jazz, all of which she trains in and teaches regularly.
She started teaching locally in leeds since 2008 and in London for swing patrol in 2010. The dancing grew on her and she held the dream to have enough time to train and develop her dancing at the level she wished, to become a full time teacher and an organizer in her hometown Madrid. In November 2012 she decided to have the guts to fulfill her dream, quitted her job and moved back to Madrid, where she opened a swing school (Big Mama Swing), alongside with an international top lead, Gastón Fernández.. This step in her life is lead her to being asked to teach internationally with increasing frequency at different international events: Uppsala (Sweden), Stockholm, Barcelona, Paris, Toulouse, La Guiole, Valencia, Lisbon, Porto, New York (USA, Nocturne Blues), Melbourne and perth (Australia) and she had the pleasure to teach at Herrang Dance Camp (2014, 2015 for lindy hop, 2016 slow dance). She is eager to share with everybody her passion for dance that has taken over her life.
Gastón “Gas” Fernández is a professional dancer and dance instructor, based in Madird, Spain. He specializes in vintage dance styles including Lindy Hop, Charleston, authentic jazz, Balboa, Blues and Tango. As a former gymnast he is known in the swing dance community for his powerful acrobatics and aerials, while his background in Tango gives his blues style drama and strength, grounded in a sensitive connection with his partner. Gastón’s passion for swing has taken him around the world, teaching from New york to Melbourne, he has taught in some of the best swing and blues camps in the world, like Herran, Snowball, MSF, Lindy shock, Smokey feet, Berlin Blues Explotion, Noctourne Blues, and many more
Gastón is devoted to promoting and fostering swing dance and culture in Argentina, Latin America and Spain. He has directed two stage productions featuring live jazz and vintage dance in Buenos Aires: Swing Argentino with the Cuerdas del Sur band, and La Batalla: Swing en el Konex with the Antigua Jazz Band. He also runs South America’s first and largest annual swing dance festival, LHAIF (Lindy Hop Argentina International Festival) each year in Buenos Aires and the first Blues event in South America, “Careless weekend”
He has also been a major proponent of Blues dance in Buenos Aires and is now is teaching Blues internationally. With intense partner connection, Gas fuses Blues with Tango technique, though always striving to stay grounded in the essence of the Blues.
Gastón is also an avid jazz music collector and a popular DJ. He has DJ’d for swing and blues dancers around the world
Shieva Norusian & Giovanni Ligorio
Originally from New Zealand, Shieva started swing dancing in 2010 after a burgeoning love affair with swing era jazz and blues music. Starting with Lindy Hop and Solo Jazz, she later came to focus on Blues, earning recognition by placing in several international solo and partnered blues competitions. In around 2016 Shieva turned her attention to Balboa and hasn’t looked back. She teaches regularly in her local scene in Berlin, as well as at workshops around Europe and competes and places regularly at events throughout Europe and the US.
She’s known for her smooth quality of movement, her chill “in the pocket” rhythm, creativity and her cozy connection. Her focus as a dancer is first and foremost social dancing and connection, which she therefore also prioritises as an instructor. Her focus in classes is often on connection, quality of movement, subtle musicality and follower voice.
Dance has been Giovanni's passion since childhood. From a young age, he was drawn to the joy of movement, spending hours mimicking choreography from MTV videos. He used to play jazz guitar, and jazz music became the soundtrack to his days, its rhythm and melody perfectly aligning with his mood. It wasn't until he arrived in Berlin that he finally had the opportunity to dance to this music. In 2018, he embarked on his Balboa swing journey, and since then, it has become an integral part of his daily, or rather nightly, life.
Immersing himself in the Balboa community, Giovanni eagerly attended as many festivals as possible, and over the past few years, he has even started competing, reaching the finals in some of Europe's major events. Now, he is also dedicated to sharing the joy of dance with others. He teaches regular weekly classes in Berlin and leads workshops on weekends. Additionally, Giovanni is passionate about giving back to the community and is actively involved in organizing events to further enrich the dance scene.