MEET
YOUR INSTRUCTORS

​JAMICA ZION
Jamica Zion, based in Atlanta, is an instructor, choreographer, and performer in Black vernacular dances who specialises in solo and partnered jazz and blues. With over ten years of experience she has come to realise her true happy place is on the social dance floor and collaborating on dance troupes to perform! Her approach towards sharing dance with others includes a critical understanding and appreciation of its history and culture, while simultaneously ushering students to build their own styles and meaningful relationships to it.

MIKE SONDER
As an instructor, Mike strives to create a learning environment that is fun, challenging, and inclusive. The goal is for each individual student to find their next step forward and enjoy that process of growth. Mike loves seeing students’ eyes light up when they understand a concept or feel a movement work naturally in their body for the first time.  

Mike has taught dance in 21 countries and counting. He currently teaches Lindy Hop, Air Steps, Solo Jazz, and many different Blues styles. Mike has not only placed in and won respected competitions across multiple genres but also thrown down hard in unofficial late night dance-offs. 

​Mike lives and breathes dance. He is constantly honing his skills and developing new ideas. If you run into him at a grocery store, an airport, a museum, or a mountain top, you’ll probably catch him dancing. Find out more about Mike by visiting his website

VICCI MOORE
There is nothing Vicci loves more in the world than dancing!  She has a broad knowledge of dance and the body, training initially as a solo dancer and gaining a degree in Contemporary Dance and Choreography, and a diploma in Anatomy and Physiology. Her background in a variety of solo dances proved invaluable when she discovered Lindy Hop, Balboa and Blues dance and she is known for approaching her partner dancing with grace, fluidity and intense body awareness. 

Vicci is committed to studying the history of blues dance and music and, through her teaching, hopes to honour and celebrate the dance and the people who created it.  She is fascinated by the wider context of dance and its influences from and on society; when she's not dancing you can find her writing her blog about a variety of blues-related topics or studying for her Masters degree in Education. 

​As a trained teacher Vicci is passionate about providing high level pedagogy in her classes. In addition to organising ESBF she also organises Bluesology, a week long teacher training camp, and offers teacher training workshops all around the globe.

Find out more about Vicci on her website www.adamoandvicci.com and check out her online dance school at thebluesroom.com

​ADAMO CIARALLO

​Adamo is dedicated to nurturing, developing, and promoting the blues scene in Europe and beyond. He is the co-founder and organizer of Espanish Blues Festival, Spain’s first ever blues dance festival.  

Adamo has a professional qualification in teaching adults and he sees his role as teacher to facilitate the classroom in response to learner’s needs, enabling all students to achieve to their potential. His classes focus on highlighting the relationship between the dancers and the music and the importance of personal expression and creativity.

​He loves social dancing, teaching, competing, and listening to music, and spends his ‘spare’ time reading and learning about the history of the dance forms he loves so much.  But what makes Adamo’s dancing life worthwhile is the commitment, enthusiasm, and energy of his students and everybody else around in what he describes as “this beautiful community of dancers”.

Find out more about Adamo on his website www.adamoandvicci.com and check out his online dance school thebluesroom.com

ALBA MENGUAL
Alba met these dances in 2007. She started to teach them 'for fun' and  became a full time professional in 2013. She brought her analytic foundation from her old career (pharmacy, medical information) and found in teaching a new way to apply her love for communication. Seven years ago she opened a school alongside Gastón Fernández, in her hometown, Madrid. Her passion made her want to cover everything: from the local organisation to organising international workshops, local and international teaching (teaching all over Europe, with some incursions into China, Australia and the USA, having the pleasure to teach at iconic festivals such as Lindy Shock or Snowball), and little by little developing experience in choreographing and shows. Her true passion is teaching and social dance, letting go and allowing the communication magic to spark, being in the present moment and in her body. If she can teach both things, connecting the student with their self expression and how to express it through the jazz/blues language, she knows she has succeeded. 
Alba also understands the responsibility of being a cultural surrogate of this culture, and is very aware that she has to keep learning herself and conveying in classes the love for the culture, so people don't isolate the dance from its roots and people. Everything framed by jazz culture, she has learned to love and study with devotion. One day they were walking through Harlem and Gas said to her “after this walk, your dance will never be the same”. Indeed, it was true.  

Find out more at www.gasandalba.com

GAS FERNANDEZ
Gas is a professional dancer and dance instructor, based in Madrid, Spain. He specialises in vintage dance styles including Lindy Hop, Charleston, 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 Blues has taken him around the world, and he has taught and performed in Argentina, Brazil, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany, England, Portugal, Australia, EEUUU, among others.

Gastón is devoted to promoting and fostering swing and blues dance and culture in Argentina and Latin America. He has directed two stage productions featuring live jazz and vintage dance in Buenos Aires and ran 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 Careless Weekend.

He has also been a major proponent of Blues dance in Buenos Aires and is now increasingly in demand to teach Blues internationally. With intense partner connection, Gas fuses Blues with Tango technique, though always striving to stay grounded in the essence of the Blues. His mission in life is to pass on his passion for Lindy hop and Blues to others. ​

TETIS BARCENAS
A strong woman, direct from Guinea Ecuatorial. She is loving and fierce at the same time. She learned dance in a family / community setting and has been teaching it in Madrid since she arrived more than 10 years ago. In her classes she not only teaches you the moves, but the culture and attitude behind them. Don't expect just a dance class... because that is not what you will get!

TETIS WILL BE TEACHING THE AFROBEATS ELECTIVE CLASS
Afrobeat is a combination of yoruba, jazz, highlife and funk, popularized in Africa in the 1970s. It is an energetic rhythm, with polyrhythmic percussion, of different dance influences, danced to big bands a lot of the time. Improvisation is a fundamental aspect of it. It has a lot of overlap and common points with other dances... come along to the speciality class on Saturday and find out for yourself! ​

YANULKA OFARRILL HERNÁNDEZ
YANULKA WILL BE TEACHING THE AFRO CUBAN DANCE ELECTIVE CLASS

​Yanulka is a cuban dancer, based in Madrid. At the age of 11 she started in  Escuela Vocacional de Arte de la Habana, and  later got accepted at Escuela  Nacional de Arte en la Habana, ENA, where she graduated as a modern and folkloric dancer and teacher and participated in numerous festivals and events.

She thereafter got accepted into both schools as a professional but decided to work with  Danza Nacional de Cuba y  Folklórico Nacional, where she worked during 8 years travelling all over the world including Mexico, Haiti, U.S.A., London, and France whilst working in parallell with  FOLKUBA, where she participated in many national and international events. Since 1999 she lives in Madrid where she spreads the love for the cuban dances that she learned and trained since she was a kid: afrocuban, Cuban rumba, regueatón, salsatón, timba, female salsa style (specialized in “Tropicana” style, the famous cuban cabaret 20s venue). She has taught numerous Masterclasses in different European cities since 1999.​