This year, the Christmas Swing Camp will be hosted by the Prometey
country resort house situating near Pronia river in the outskirts of
Ryazan. After only three-hour bus trip from Moscow, you find yourself
in the winter kingdom of niveous snow and sparky ice, far from the
highways.
We invite dear swing dancers to spend this year's Christmas holidays
in our traditional winter Swing Dance Camp. This year we have a sort
of anniversary holding the tenth Moscow Swing Dance Camp!
We hope this time the holidays will be memorable indeed! Are you up to
classes with world-known teachers? For hottest parties? For wonderful
shows? Here're the Cabare, the Jack-n-Jill, the dress party and the
blues night. Everything anew and everything in a new way! Please note
that now we have a separate track on BALBOA!
This year, our teachers are:
Ryan Francois & Jenny Thomas
Sylvia Sykes & Nick Williams
Melanie Stocker & Olivier Massart
Remy Kouakou & Sarah Montalban
Olivier & Natalia Harouard
Larissa Glikina & Taras Melnik
Fedor Nedotko
Ekaterina Avlasevich
Andrey Prokopenko
Ksenia Semenikhina
Olga Moiseeva
Alexandra Grubianova & Ivan Ivanin
and others. Looking forward for the camp!
Instructors
Sylvia Sykes & Nick Williams Lindy Hop, Balboa
Sylvia Sykes, an internationally recognized authority on most types of Swing Dance, has been teaching and judging for 20 years throughout the US,
Europe, and Australia.
Sylvia studied with the great dancer Dean Collins, and was a member of
his last dance troupe. She studied Balboa with Maxie Dorf and spent
years learning from the greatest Southern California Balboa dancers.
Sylvia is an inductee into the National Swing Dance Hall of Fame, as
well as the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame. She is a U S Open
champion, was the NASDE top point winner, two time California Balboa
Champion, took third place in the National Carolina Shag Dance
Championships, and has won many Strictly Swing and Jack & Jill dance
contests through the U.S. in Lindy, Balboa and West Coast Swing. She
was twice voted Swing Dance Teacher of the Year, and is a 4 time
Feather Award winner as Best Female Lindy Dancer in the U.S.
She has performed with Count Basie, Glenn Miller Orchestra, Artie
Shaw, and Les Brown, and appeared on many television shows such as
American Bandstand and Gotta Dance for the American Movie Channel.
She also represented the US in the World Boogie Woogie Championships
in Grenoble, France with her original partner Jonathan Bixby.
Nick Williams has embodied the passion and spirit of swing dancing ever since his first lesson in 1998. His in depth understanding of Lindy Hop, Balboa, and Collegiate Shag stem from studying with the original dancers. Nick's desire for authenticity, combined with his passion for dance evolution, leads to a style known for precision, lightness, and dynamic energy. Above all, he exhibits musicality, creativity, and continuity. His successes include World Lindy Hop Champion, U.S. Open Swing Dance Champion, American Lindy Hop Champion, and American Classic Balboa Champion.
He is also an accomplished choreographer and has been featured on the hit television show So You Think You Can Dance? As an instructor, he is known for his ability to break down movements and technique to create a fun and light-hearted learning environment. His true love for music and dancing will forever inspire him to learn, teach, and grow. In 2004, Nick was honored to be recognized by the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame.
Ryan Francois & Jenny Thomas have wowed audiences worldwide for more than a decade.They are former U.S. Open & American Swing Dance Champions, have starred on Broadway in the hit Musical “Swing”, are world renowned, world class Lindy instructors often described as the “teachers of the teachers” and are probably the most well-known and respected names in the Jazz and Swing dance community today. Ryan, one of the original pioneers of the Lindy hop revival, is the Director & Choreographer of the Dance Companies Zoots and Spangles & Swing Un-Ltd.
As a Choreographer his work includes: the 6 Tony Award Nominee Broadway Show “Swing”, The Motion Picture “Swing Kids”, “Dance” with Wayne Sleep and the Olivier Award winning comedy “Do You Come Here Often”
He appears – with Jenny - in Robert Zmeckis’s “The Polar Express”, the HBO Movies Lackawanna Blues and the soon to be released “My Life in Idlewild” starring Hip Hop music legends Outkast. Where he was one of the pioneers of a new dance style “SWOP” a mixture of Swing and Hip Hop.
Jenny, a dancing child prodigy since the age of 4, partnered Wayne Sleep for several years, touring many shows with him including Sleep With Friends, Hollywood & Broadway and Andrew Lloyd Webbers Song and Dance. A 3-time winner of the All England Tap Championships, Jenny is the consummate dancer who excels at any dance form she has an interest in. Her performances range from Broadways “Swing” to “The Duke Ellington Suite” at Carnegie Hall, The “Tony Awards” at Radio City Music Hall to “Jazz at the Lincoln Center” with the eminent Wynton Marsalis.
Earlier this year Ryan & Jenny were guest performers on the US version of “Strictly Come Dancing” called “Dancing with the Stars” the number 1 programme in the USA. Ryan and Jenny are currently working for the 2nd year as choreographers and dance experts for the BBC’s Dance Competition programme “Strictly Dance Fever” Hosted By Graham Norton.
Remy Kouakou & Sarah Montalban Boogie Woogie
Boogie Woogie World Champions 2006, Sarrah and Remy can look back on a successful career as Boogie Woogie competition couple. Both have started dancing as little kids and came across the Boogie Woogie through several versions of the Rock'n'Roll. Since 4 years they have been dancing as a couple and share an extraordinary feeling with each other - Remy, as a passionate dancer by heart with an instinct for the swing and Sarrah, who can dance with glamour whatever she is lead.
Their dance style is characterised by a lot of energy, a mixture of several dance styles as well as a "certain piece of spice" given by their personality. They have opened their Boogie for the West Coast Swing, the Lindy Hop, the Charleston and of course also the HipHop which allows them to perform to a mix of modern music well combined with the good old rockin’ beat.
We are pleased and excited to welcome Sarrah and Remy to our camp for the first time. Keep curious to get an insight into their secret to their very individual style which they will be pleased to open up for you. Explore the Bermuda-Triangle of the dance: Leader – follower and the music!
Melanie Stocker & Olivier Massart Boogie Woogie, West Coast Swing
Melanie Stocker-Bucher has a great number of awards in boogie-woogie: five times she won Championship of Switzerland, four times - European Championship and three times - World Championship (both main class and formation). She is one of the most famous European boogie teachers. She has taught in many dance camps through out the world including Herrang Dance Camp.
Among Melanie's students there are such famous dancers as Aina Nygaard and Jörgen B. Sandnes (World Champions 2004), Deborah Varisco and Vincenzo Fesi and many others. You can find Melanie's biography in "Publications" section at our site.
Olivier Massart started dancing boogie-woogie when he was 9 (!!) years old at Melanie and Reto’s workshops. He has won several national Championships of Belgium, and won the world championship among junior boogie-woogie dancers. In 2006 he started dancing lindy hop and west-coast swing, and won awards in US competitions.
Olivier & Natalia Harouard boogie-woogie, lindy hop, west coast swing
Natasha and Olivier met in Herrang in 2001, started teaching together from 2003. Natasha dances since she was 7, balroom dancing, contests, teaching...in 2001 she discovered swing dance, and simply fell in love with it. Later, she took part in all workshops on swing in Russia and other countries, and soon became one of the best Russian dancers and teachers.
Olivier discovered dancing when he was 20, and it became his big passion. He started taking part in contests, and was one of the 8 best dancers in France, and one of the 40 best world dancers. In 2003 he began dancing lindy hop and balboa.
After getting married, they start teaching in Toulouse in 2004, and then, in 2005 they move to Cote d'Azur and continued to develop swing culture.
They teach practically all kinds of swing dance: lindy hop, boogie-woogie, balboa and west coast swing.
The dancers in Russia, France and other countries appreciate the blend of 2 cultures, original style of dancing and teaching. They are often invited to give workshops in Finland, Spain, Russia, Italy and France.
Taras Melnik & Larissa Glikina Lindy Hop
Here’s what Taras told about himself: “People say - God moves in a mysterious way! If somebody would tell me, when I was a student, that I will dance, take part in contests and teach – I would laugh in their face. But nevertheless… In my last university year, in 1993, friends brought me to dancing classes, they stopped coming in a month, and I stayed :-)
And it went on... I danced tap (6 years) under the guidance of a famous Ukrainian teacher Vladimir Shpudeiko, at the same time started dancing and later teaching rock’n’roll. In 1995 Dmitry Tarasov came to Ukraine with a seminar on boogie-woogie, a dance, which was not known in Ukraine. My partner Larisa Glikina and I attended the seminar. Since then we started dancing a lot and taking part in contests. We won prizes of Ukrainian Cups and Championships, won silver medal in the Championship of Russia, presented Ukraine at the international competitions. In our desire to improve dancing, we attended dance seminars in Finland, Sweden, France, Germany. At the same time I received second higher education – in choreography.
We started teaching boogie-woogie on request of our friends in 1999, and in 2002 we started teaching lindy hop. Now we develop social dance in Kiev – many of our students become swing dance fans and bring the light “the joy dance” to people, involving them in the wonderful world of dance.”
