In the fall of 2002, I was stuck at the crossroads of adolescence and adulthood. I was an anxious college freshman, borderline obese, and frankly, I had terrible hair. I longed to escape the awkward cocoon of my youth and explore the big, bad world known as Northfield, Minnesota as a beautiful yet thoroughly-masculine butterfly. In the misguided pursuit of this goal, I was taking ballroom dance classes to meet my gym requirement when a friend suggested I try the Lindy Hop, as taught by one Peter Strom.

I should lie and say that I was hooked in a flash, and that I never turned back. That would make a nice story, but it’s not quite true. I skipped my second dance lesson so that I could go play in the pep band (what can I say, I needed a lot of work). Luckily, I soon came to my senses and realized that this swing dancing thing was a lot more to my liking than playing I’m a Little Teapot for a losing football team. Before long, I had become more confident, gotten 50 pounds lighter, and escaped the perilous clutches of the mullet danger zone.

Coincidence? Well, partially, but let’s just say no for the sake of good storytelling.

I’m not going to claim that the Lindy Hop will solve all of the above problems (and more!) for you. I’m not going to claim that paying me money to teach you to dance or to DJ your dance event will make you a better person—even if it will.  All I know is that I’m a huge dweeb and I get a huge kick out of doing dances so old that even my grandma doesn’t remember them.

I enjoy competing, teaching, and DJing, but more than anything I’m an avid social dancer.  If you’re interested in talking to me about one of the former things, please contact me.  Otherwise, please come to dance events, find me, and ask me to dance.

Dance Pics

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If you want to find out what I’m up to as far as swing dancing goes, check out posts tagged with Dance.

Where You’ll Find Me

Contact Me

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