BAL SPRING BREAK

Natalia Rueda began teaching Lindy Hop in 2005 at the Ottawa Swing Dance Society. Shortly after, she co-founded Ottawa's first dedicated Swing school, Swing Dynamite, where she taught and mentoredstudents and teachers for 8 years. A Swing instructor of 17 years, Natalia has taught throughout North America, Central America, and Eastern Europe. She speaks English, Spanish, and French, and is currently learning Dutch. Natalia specializes in teaching Lindy Hop, Balboa and solo Jazz. She also has expertise in a range of dance styles, including Blues, Collegiate Shagand West Coast Swing.

Sasha Azarov first discovered the dance in 2010, and ever since his enthusiasm for Balboa has been growing stronger. Before starting to teach, he focused on his own development as a dancer, training and competing, studying the history of the dance, and exploring partnership dynamics both in Pure Balboa and Balswing. Sasha is often spotted in international contest finals. Two times a California Balboa Classic winner with his partner Yulia together they also proudly hold the title of 6-time Pure Balboa Classic champions! Sasha and Yulia run Balboa courses and mini-workshops in London, as well as travel to teach at dance weekends across Europe. In class, he strives to share his knowledge gained throughout his dance journey and encourage his students to appreciate the joyful energy of Balboa, its subtle humour and the precious opportunity to be in the moment with the music. Lately, as Sasha has found a new obsession with tap dancing, percussion, and rhythm overall, he is becoming even more focused on different aspects of musicality, and aims to reflect that in his teaching.

Valerie Salstrom, creator of the All Balboa Weekend, the first dance event solely dedicated to Balboa, has been a lively, encouraging, and informative fixture in the swing dance scene for, … ahem, more than a few years. Although Valerie has won numerous Lindy and Balboa competitions with her talented dance partners, she most enjoys teaching and mentoring swing dance students all over the World. Valerie is honored and tickled to share her experience, skill, knowledge, and humor with dancers of all experience levels. Valerie is invested in helping you expand your creativity and explore what feels and looks good so that you may confidently claim your place on the dance floor while being an enjoyable and inspiring dancer.

Jacob Wigger started swing dancing in 2003 and has been hooked ever since. He discovered his love of Balboa in 2005 and began traveling to various events and competitions not much later. His first love is social dancing but he also enjoys competing as a way to set goals and push himself. As a teacher he enjoys using a mix of humorous analogies and serious instruction to create a fun and exciting learning environment. Jacob has been teaching at national and international events for the last 15 years. He has honed his ability to break down and analyze the dance to make complex and dynamic movement happen with ease and comfort. He is known for his intricate, yet traditionally based, Pure Bal, as well as his unique shapes and movement in Bal Swing. He is also known for his continuous flow and effortless way of floating across the dance floor, while maintaining a highly rhythmic feel. Jacob’s primary goal in all his partnerships has been to connect in a way that works for both him and his partner to find what they can create together. This has resulted in numerous placements and wins at all levels of competition, but more importantly, having ever-evolving social dances.