meet your teachers

Derek Carruthers

Growing up Derek has always loved the 30-40s style and after he was dragged along to his first dance lesson by a friend there was no looking back. riginally from Perth, Derek started swing dancing in Sydney in late 2001 with a strong interest in the history of the dance as well as an interest in preserving local history of Sydney Swing dancing done during and after the war years.

Together with his partner Trish, Derek has won or placed in far too many swing and balboa competitions over the last few years to mention here - but suffice to say these guys are top notch, and this year will be attending The Balboa Experiment with all the top Balboa teachers in the world!

"What I like most about swing dancing is the social aspect - you can walk into a room not knowing anyone and instantly you all have something in common."

"My most favourite swing memories to date have been meeting and learning from Frankie Manning and attending the Herrang Dance Camp."

Trish Carruthers

After a few dance lessons in another style, Trish went to see the 2001 Best of the Best Competition. The first two contestants to take the floor were a swing couple. "At the end of the song I remember turning to Derek with my eyes bugging out of my head and yelled at the top of my lungs 'I want to learn THAT!' "

Since then Trish has been cutting up any rug that has the sweet tune of the 40s playing in the background! Trish is highly respected as a person, a teacher and a swing dancer all over Australia and her passion for sharing the dance is unrivalled. As a key member of the Sydney Swing Patrol teaching team, Trish has played an important role in developing and growing the Sydney swing scene!

"Highlights for me include learning from Frankie Manning and the worlds other best swing dancers at Herrang, seeing The American Lindy Hop Competition Live in LA, teaching the finalists from Dancing With The Stars! in 2006, meeting so many wonderful people over the years through swing, and this year attending the Balboa Experiment! "

Jake (Spincat) Meadley

Following in the footsteps of many of the dancers from the early days of the Swing era, Jake has devoted most of his life to sharing his passion for dance.

It has been 21 years since Jake first stepped onto a dance floor, and 15 years since Jake first started teaching. Then in 2000 he discovered Swing, and the rest is history. By the middle of that year, he was teaching with Swing Patrol and since then has anchored regular venues in both Sydney and Melbourne.

Jake has learnt from many leading international Lindy Hop and Balboa teachers, and is continually altering, adapting and reshaping the way he teaches and dances so as to bring his students the cutting edge of partnership dancing. Jake's passion continues to be seeing the development of his students, watching them having fun and putting a smile on their faces.

"Two of my highlights are stepping onto the main stage at Hyde Park at the Opening Night for the 2008 Sydney Festival to teach swing to over 8000 people, and in 2010 teaching a lesson on a tower 7.5 metres above the crowd before a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy concert"