Teachers

Benjamin & Michaela

Why do we keep inviting them back? Their warmth and their dedication to giving a whole lot extra in our intensive track makes it hugely popular. Oh, and yes they know what they’re doing on a dance floor…

Benjamin originally hails from Melbourne, Australia, where he found swing dancing in 2006. He now lives in London; teaching, performing and traveling the world chasing Lindy Hop. Benjamin is a full time Lindy Hopper and currently runs two weekly swing venues in London, two performance troupes, and has taught all around Europe for the last 8 years. Proud to have come from a background without professional dance training, he has placed in over 30 different competitions around the world, is a 2-time UK Lindy Hop Champion and also won the Advanced Strictly Lindy at ILHC in 2013. Benjamin’s ability to break down moves and ideas into surprisingly manageable pieces, and attention to personal detail of his students has earned him a reputation as one of the UK’s most prominent instructors. Ben loves to teach people all the things that he loves about swing, and his number one goal is always to show dancers the ways to exceed their own expectations without straying from having fun!

When he’s not on the dance floor he is a hi-fi geek from way back, a fan of all things unicorn related, and has an unhealthy obsession with hot cross buns.

Michaela is loved and admired throughout the London swing dance scene for her great teaching, brilliant dancing and calm and nurturing spirit. You will often see her flying through the air as one of London’s strongest aerialists or teaching the skill to others at an aerials workshop. She coaches the Skyliners alongside Ben Cook and is a member of the all-girls performance troupe the Dixie Dinahs. Michaela teaches for Swing Patrol at Brixton Hill and at Brixton Bounce and proudly says she has “the best students in the world”

Cat & Cam

Cat and Cam are a team who love sharing the history, creativity and fun of lindy hop with students all over the world.

Get ready to laugh your pants off whilst swingin’ the frig out! With 25 years combined teaching experience between them and a similarly ridiculous sense of humour, Cat and Cam are dedicated to helping their students improve and to working to a high standard, whilst not taking themselves too seriously. After teaching for the first time together in 2014, they have not looked back!

They love social dancing. They love throwing the hell down Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers style at 300bpm. They love teaching, helping people discover new talents and achieve their perceived impossibles. Most of all, they love making bad jokes. Also Jungle Speed (the greatest game ever). They love that too.

Cat and Cam recently won the Fast and Furious division at London Swing Festival, took first place in the Strictly Lindy at Chase Festival in Heidelberg, Germany, and made the finals in the Classic Showcase at the International Lindy Hop Championships in Washington, DC.

As a child, Elle was already dancing to anything she could get her hands on from Modern Jazz to Ukrainian Folk Dance. ​When she discovered Lindy Hop and swing music in her hometown of Adelaide, Australia, there was no turning back and ​her ​classes truly display her passion and joy for the dance. With her own particular style and energy, she is always looking for new shapes and rhythms to inspire and communicate with her partner. Elle encourages creativity and the freedom of expression within the dance and believes that Lindy Hop is a conversation between two people and the music.

Marti started dancing and teaching in his home city of Barcelona where he discovered the fantastic world of swing dance and jazz music. Having studied a range of different styles of dance, he loves to mix it up often within one song, letting the music drive his dynamic movement. He has competed in both Collegiate Shag and Lindy Hop and recently has placed in various competitions around Europe. In class he has a strong focus on technique and giving the right tools to his students in order to improve the best that they can. On the social dance floor he uses these tools to interact with his partners, become another instrument in the song and, of course, have a lot of fun.

Robyn started dancing at the young age of four and since that time has enjoyed all manner of styles of dance including Ballet, Ballroom, Physical Theatre, Jazz, Musical Theatre performance and Tap.  Indeed, Tap dance has been a constant in Robyn’s life and it was a helping hand in discovering Swing.

Robyn has been part of some exciting projects including dancing for Marvel’s ‘Avengers, Age of Ultron’, BBC’s ‘Call the Midwife’, Swing dance documentary ‘East London: Uncovered’, was selected as a dancer for Hermes at the ‘Vogue Night Out’, and danced on the BBC with Eastenders for Children In Need. Robyn was also involved in teaching two presenters to dance on ‘Blue Peter’.

Robyn teaches regularly around London and is also co-leader of the all-girls performance troupe ‘The Dinahs’, who most recently placed with one 1st place, and two 2nd places, at Savoy Cup 2018, and two 1st places at the Balkan Lindy Hop Championships 2018.
Robyn is also part of the Performance Troupe The Hotfoot Strutters, who most recently performed their own theatre show in London, in 2018

Robyn has taught at camps throughout the UK as well as the Czech Republic and Ireland, with many more on the way in 2019, and her infectious warmth and love of teaching make her a popular teacher. Robyn brings energy, enthusiasm and her love of Swing Dance into her classes and performances and can’t wait to see what comes next!

Originally from Germany, Moritz grew up all over the world having lived in the Caribbean, the German Alps and Africa. He often came across dancing at the Trinidadian Carnival or at Bavarian beer festivals (if that counts as dancing), but was always more into playing sports and reading books about maths. That all changed on an Autumn day in 2012, when he walked into his first swing class in London. From then on he has been travelling all across Europe to follow his passion for swing and blues dancing.

Having recently moved back to London, he has now started teaching swing and blues dancing and also joined some of London’s top swing and blues performance troupes, the Hotfoot Strutters and the Down & Out’s.

What Moritz enjoys most about swing dancing is the joy of social dancing (often for many hours non-stop), especially to live music. He is always in search for that perfect moment, where you, your partner and the music(ians) align and create something special together. Also, laughing is very important too…