Alex & Sammy

Alex & Sammy are professional Lindy Hop Swing instructors in Hong Kong.  If you’re looking to learn the dance for the first time or honing your skills to become an excellent dancer, Alex & Sammy are there to help you.  Not only experts in Lindy Hop Swing, Alex & Sammy are also experts of Balboa, Charleston, and Aerials.  They teach fun and exciting classes that will help you get out on the dance floor or even out on the competition floor.

Alex

Alex is the quintessential entrepreneur and Lindy Hop Swing Dancer.  Both obsessions are avenues for his boundless energy.  As a dancer, he is technical, emotional, fluid, melded, and fleet footed.  As an instructor, he is exacting, fundamentally focused, connection oriented, communicative, and fun.  Alex teaches both lead and follow in visual and physical dance.  It’s a strange and powerful alchemy of science and swing dancing.

For over 12 years, Alex has been involved in swing dancing.  Since the rebirth of swing dancing in the 1990’s, he has danced in multiple scenes and has organized multiple events.  He has learned from the greats such as Frankie Manning, Yuval Hod, Nathalie Gomes, Naomi Uyama, Nina Gilkenson, and Peter Strom.  He is heavily influenced by the dancing of Max Pitruzella, Kevin St Laurent, Skye Humphries, and Dax Hock.  In the end, he has created his own style and presence.  Alex has taught dancing at Columbia University, George Washington University, NYU, during multiple events, and  had taught workshops in Hong Kong.  His experience and his demeanor are trained on producing great dancers as well as casual social dancers.  In his mind, the most important aspect of dancing is connecting with people.

Sammy

Sammy has had an active background in visual arts and musical performance since childhood. She has always had exposure to jazz music, an influence from her New Orleans family roots, but didn’t truly gain appreciation for the music until she was much older. Sammy moved to NYC at the end of 2003 on a whim and found the city both amazing but also quite isolating.  It wasn’t until 2004 that she attended a Swing dancing crash course.  A friend suggested it was a great way to make friends, work out her shyness, and take a step towards being less hesitant towards dancing in general. Since that very first taste, Sammy has truly immersed herself in both the dance and the interpretation of the music she grew up with. She has tried to expose herself to the training of great instructors like that of Frankie Manning, Yuval Hod and Nathalie Gomez, Steven and Virginie, as well as many others.  In doing so, it has allowed Samantha to expand her dancing vocabulary extensively, and she is always striving to incorporate what she has learned in the dance.  Her primary concern has always been focusing on great partner connection, musicality, and technique while maintaining a fun and upbeat mood.  To date, Sammy maintains her skills by dancing regularly, and attending national exchanges/competitions and workshop weekends when her time allows.

On the flip side Sammy has also played an active part in her swing dancing community by volunteering her time and energy to several non-profit groups. She is recognized as an active organizer for two major non-profit Swing dancing organizations, Yehoodi.com and Jelly Roll Productions. Sammy brings her expertise in organization, event production, class structuring, and extensive networking to any community that needs her help.  Overall, Sammy is an accomplished swing dancer and event organizer for the swing dancing community.  Sammy believes that music and people drives the soul of swing dancing.