read about your teachers

Todd Yannacone

Todd Yannacone is one of the most recognizable names on the swing dancing circuit today. He has won countless championship titles from the most prestigious competitions around including ALHC, ULHS, The U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships, and The National Jitterbug Championships to name just a few.

Todd teaches vernacular jazz, balboa, and lindy hop both locally and internationally, and loves spreading his passion for social dancing. He has worked with dance and music legends alike, and has been a featured instructor, performer, and judge at camps the world over including the legendary Herrang Dance Camp in Sweden. He specializes in connection and musicality, which is apparent every time he steps on the dance floor.

Ramona Staffeld

Ramona is known internationally for her wildly graceful style and spontaneity on the dance floor. She was only 14 when legendary Swing dancer Frankie Manning asked her to open with him at the Mid-Summer Night Swing series at Lincoln Center. Since then she has been teaching and performing all over the world, and has won a number of international competitions.

Ramona calls Melbourne Australia home, but is rarely there due to a busy teaching schedule that takes her to numerous Lindy Hop festivals around the globe. Ramona LOVES teaching! She believes in the purity of rhythm and partnering, and holds her students to a high standard. In class, Ramona values the lead and follow. Her goal is to help students find clarity in their movement, so that they may have more fun and expression on the dance floor. She is perpetually guided by the vision of her greatest teacher, the late Frankie Manning, thank you always.

Josh McKiterick

Fascinated by partner connection and movement, Josh offers a practical approach to leading and following. Since starting teaching in 2003, he is constantly seeking new concepts and ideas to inject into both his dancing and his teaching. Josh considers Blues techniques fundamental to all partner dancing and incorporates it into every swing rhythm, from Balboa to Lindy hop to Blues, super fast to super slow.

Josh has won numerous Australian competitions including the Melbourne Lindy Battle, Australian Jitterbug Championships, & Australian Balboa Championships. Josh is also one of the lynch pins of the Australian Blues Dancing scene, running the very popular Church City Blues exchange in Adelaide every year.

Cathie Gough

Cathie has been swing dancing since 2003 and has been solo dancing and grooving for as long as she can remember. Cathie has a passion for people and thrives on partner connection, and having FUN! Cathie's passion for blues developed from wanting to explore and embrace all types of swing and blues dancing after loving the adrenalin of fast lindy and aerials. Cathie is a regular in the swing and blues dancing scene, being a past member of both Brat and Scat Pack, and was an original member of the Melbourne troupe Echoes of Harlem before moving to Canberra for work in 2009. Cathie loves the connection and subtleties of blues and can't help but smile when she teaches and dances.