Austin Blues Fusion Academy

ABFA

	Laura Glaess (Austin, TX) Laura began dancing Blues and Lindy Hop in 2001. Since her discovery of these amazing dances, she has dedicated every free moment to improving her understanding of the movement, connection, and music. She has taught in San Antonio TX, Austin TX, Albany NY and Quebec City in Canada and is a featured instructor on iDance.com. Laura has won several Strictlys and J&Js nationwide. She has also recently made the discovery that, on the very, very high end, she likes cheese better than she likes chocolate. Gasp!
	Chris Ransdell (Tulsa, OK) Chris started swing dancing in 1998, and started teaching Lindy Hop and Blues in 2001; soon after had his national DJ debut at the first “Cheap Thrills” in St. Louis. Since then he has taught at over 30 local, 12 regional, and several national blues workshops including: Blues Rising (San Francisco), Enter the Blues (Atlanta), and Blues Summit (Denver). Chris truly adores teaching. His teaching style bends the rules and incorporates many genres of dance into his blues. His goal is to create a well rounded dancer out of each student. After establishing a solid foundation of connection, he teaches you how to be creative and expressive through musicality and motion. His classes include: Ballroom style blues, micro blues, traditional blues, tango blues, house blues and much more; pretty much “Blues Fusion”.
	Anna Whitmire (Houston, TX) Anna Whitmire started swing dancing in 2000 in her hometown of Houston, Texas. Since then, her dancing has taken her everywhere from Harlem to Hawai’i to Hobart, Tasmania and beyond. Having started as a fifteen-year-old, her style is etched with the playfulness and energy of youth. You will rarely find a dull moment in her presence. If you ask her what her dance background is, prepare for a good ten minute recitation. Ballet? Balboa? Blues? Argentine Tango? Salsa? Hip-Hop? She seeks out anything and everything that will make her a better dancer; her goal is to inspire people everywhere to the do the same.
	Mike Roberts (Austin, TX) Mike Roberts has been teaching since 2001 and has been dancing Blues, Lindy Hop and associated dances since 2000. He is engaging to students, dance partners, and anyone else he might meet. A great deal of Mike's success can be attributed to his vivid imagination. He admits to pretending he's a superhero like Colossus or Spiderman before he lifts weights (or his partner). It really helps your ability to Dance all night if you can leap tall buildings in a single bound. He believes that the most important things in dancing are listening to your partner and having fun. No matter how much technique you have, if you're not having fun with it, there's no point.

	Emiliano Estevez (Philidelphia, PA) Emiliano Estevez started to learn Lindy Hop with a groove style in 2001. Since then he has been on a West Coast swing team, gone partner dancing at raves, clubs, and anywhere else that has groove music. He has picked up moves from many different teachers with a concentration on the fusion of House/Hip-Hop and Blues/Lindy.
	Erin Kroll (Philidelphia, PA) Erin has been dancing Lindy Hop since 2004, but was shaking her thang in the club long before partner dancing was a gleam in her eye. She discovered Blues when she moved to Philly a year ago. Always looking for something different, Erin is willing to get up and dance anywhere to house, hip-hop, pop, country, electronica—you name it!