Workshop Teachers
Alice Mei
Alice started dancing at 4 years old. From 4-14 years old she had the honor of interpreting almost every single Disney Character from “Dopey” to “Tinker-Bell”.
She eventually joined a national dance school for another 4 years where she practiced Ballet, Contemporary and Jazz dance daily. Slowly burning out with these dance styles, she began to look for something new. After a few unsuccessful attempts at african dancing, flamenco, and kick boxing she eventually met her true love, Lindy Hop!
Meanwhile Alice was studying to become an architect and working in the beautiful south of france. She was sharing her time between dance and architecture when the opportunity arose for her to dance full time. With some slight fear and hesitation, she took the leap, and pursued what she loved the most. She has since been touring and teaching full time, living the adventurous Lindy-Lifestyle.
Alice is definitely at her happiest when she is swingin’ it on the dance-floor. You will most likely hear her giggling from the other side of the room when she is social dancing. Alice enjoys keeping her dancing simple and natural. It seems like her silliness has reached enough people since she won the “dancers choice award” at ULHS in 2006. In class, she teaches the same principals that she cherishes as a dancer and she mainly focuses on keeping things simple and in rhythm.
Peter Kertz
Peter Kertz began dancing the Lindy Hop in Los Angeles, where he was born and raised. The scene, filled with inspiring dancers and a rich history of swing dancing dating back to the 1930s, was enough for him to fall head over heels with Lindy Hop. Following his love for the dance and the music, he began traveling the world, discovering the vibrant international swing dance scene.
In 2012, Peter moved to France and began teaching around Europe. Although he currently lives in Montpellier, France, he travels to teach and perform Lindy Hop around the world. To him, the dance is a language without words, bringing people together and connecting them both literally and figuratively across all walks of life.
As a dance with its roots in the African American community of Harlem, NY, developed in the early part of the 20th century, Peter aims to share Lindy Hop and Solo Jazz as an embodiment of a musical form centered around freedom and expression. His teaching draws from the history and the culture to better connect dancers to the music, as well as with one another.
This will be Peter’s first time ever to Canberra, so make sure you jump at the chance to meet and dance with Peter and take advantage of his gorgeous style of teaching!
Noni Clarke
Noni grew up in a musical household surrounded by opera, show tunes, hymns and jazz. As a kids she loved tap dancing and performing in shows. In high school Noni she studied jazz double bass and that lead her to finding swing dancing with her brother in 2000.
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Noni started teaching at 18 with Swing Patrol and found a real passion for it (unsurprisingly with parents who are teachers). Noni travelled extensively to teach Lindy Hop and Blues dance through out America, South Korea, Sweden, UK and NZ. You can expect her teaching to break down the subtleties of technique while maintaining a fun and vibrant attitude!
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Noni has won the esteemed Hellzapoppin’ Prize four times, placed in ILHC, the European Swing Dance Championships and other competitions.
Noni currently performs with the Rhythm Revellers and Empress Stilt Dance company. You can also check out her tattoo career at lady.may.tattoo on instagram.
Evan Hughes
After a lifetime of being a dedicated non-dancer, Evan started swing dancing in 2004 and is now ingrained in all things swing, jazz, blues and more. Evan, alongside Noni Healy, has anchored some of Melbourne's most successful venues over the years, and teaches workshops across Australia, New Zealand and beyond.
Evan has been a dedicated troupe member for too many years to count, including being one of the original team to found Echoes of Harlem, now known as the Rhythm Revellers. He has been a highly successful competitor; in his four attempts at the Australian Hellzapoppin' Prize he was runner up, followed by a hat-trick of wins. He has also been fortunate enough to win all Lindy Hop, blues, teams and even balboa divisions in both the Australian Jitterbug Championships and the Melbourne Lindy Battle.
His own greatest critic, Evan is always eager to be better and relishes all opportunities for improvement. Teaching, performing, and competing are essential parts of Evan's dancing, as is anything that further develops his dancing skills for the social floor.
These two Australian superstar dancers are unmatched in their versatility and strength across all styles of swing and blues dancing. Noni and Evan specialise in dancing fast, slow, every tempo in between, throwing aerials, and winning competitions!
