Drew Robinson (Portland, OR)

Drew Robinson has been organizing blues and tango events in Portland, OR for also 3 years. She has run Tuesday Blues for that duration and is a founding member of the Oregon non-profit the Portland Blues and Jazz Dance Society.

She is known for her soulfulness and likes to challenge the floor to try new things. She has an affinity for alternative tango music, rock, and folk-blues. Drew Robinson is also a middle-school math teacher and has directed and stage managed countless theater productions throughout her years.

Tango/Fusion with Lorenzo- HFX

Emerald City Blues w/Bryson

www.pdxblues.com

Emiliano Estevez (Philadelphia, PA)

Emiliano figured out quickly that he is driven by music with heart and soul and it must have groove. Music has to have a certain groove or feeling to feel good to play. Musical tastes include vintage to pop and everything in between. With the discovery of House music and all of the flavors contained in House music it quickly led to the love of fusion.

Groups that have influenced my music are: (House) Daft Punk, St. Germain, Gotan Project, Quantic, (Jazz) Nina Simone, Ray Charles, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Gene Harris, Junior Mance, (Blues) B.B. King, Big Joe Turner, Etta James, Frank Frost, Gordon Webster, Jimmy Whitherspoon, Keb' Mo', Robert Nighthawk, and Tiny Grimes.

Parisa Z. (Portland, OR or New York, NY)

Parisa started dancing hip hop and salsa in 2000. But she couldn�t stop there. She had to learn any and every dance available to her. In 2002, her quest for the dance of her soul ended--and her affair with tango began. Several dance forms, as well as tai chi and aerials, have inspired the way she moves and grooves on the floor. She believes that tango is a conversation and loves adding her own (slightly feisty, slightly sassy) voice to the mix.

Parisa and Ted perform Tango at The University Club

Brick Robbins (San Diego, CA)

An avid West Coast Swing and Tango addict, Brick DJ's, teaches and hosts dances and milongas in San Diego, and is a guest DJ San Diego's Blue Bella. He also DJs at WCS conventions.

www.wcssandiego.com

Jae Wilson (Portland, OR)

I started as a Westie in D.C. in 2006 around the same time I started Lindy in college in Rochester, N.Y. When I wasn't in the mood for Benny Goodman or Count Basie, I would hit the clubs for some Missy E, or Ying-Yang Twins. In short, I was a fusion dancer before I even knew what it was, mixing charleston steps in with my WCS triples and trying (read: failing) to pop and lock to Sean Paul and Busta Rhymes. After college I moved to Germany, the land of boogie, jive and slow Lindy. I was desperate for something new, and a trip to Portland changed everything. When I heard the mix of authentic delta blues followed by the likes of Ratatat and then John Mayer, I knew I was at home.

I have been told I am a playful dancer, and I definitely let that come through in the music I play. Whether it's a tango-able mash-up of Nine Inch Nails and 50-Cent, Heartless mixed in with The Fray and the Black Eyed Peas, followed by "I've Got Rhythm" meshed with some sick trip hop beats, I promise to keep you on your toes (or your feet at the very least) as we test just how solid your fusion is ;)

Ivy Grey (Portland, OR)

Ivy considers herself "just a girl with a lot of good music". Both a dance addict and a music buff -- it's no surprise that Ivy is always seeking out new music to share with blues, lindy, fusion, and west coast swing communities. She loves Texas Blues, contemporary blues, fusion, cheesy pop, and soul. Ivy helps to run Tuesday Blues and Thursday Night Swing in Portland, OR. Ivy first gained DJ experience as a goth, punk and industrial DJ from 1993 - 1997 for KSJS 90.7FM in California. When she's not DJing or dancing, Ivy is a bankruptcy attorney.

Emily "Mama" Smith (Seattle, WA)

From fast harmonica to sexy soul, Emily tries to play new tunes each time she spins a set. She loves to feel the energy of the room and keep the dance floor moving, and to experiment with a new feel, while keeping the old favorites in the mix as well. She started to DJ blues after moving to Seattle 4 years ago, and was one of the initial DJs to start Burn Blue.

Lessa Jay Lamb (Seattle, WA)

Lessa started D.J.-ing at house parties way back when, and then was groomed as a "real D.J." at events across the country. She is most at home in the down-tempo and more contemporary music styles, but tries to express her idea of balance between old and new, fast and slow, groovy and just downright kick-your-ass. Her one true goal in D.J.-life is to make it categorically impossible for you to sit still while she is on the boards.

PFX 2009 - Lucky Skillen and Lessa Thieme Demo

PFX 2009 - Ben Long and Lessa Thieme

Ben Long (Portland, OR)

Ben Long has been dancing Lindy Hop since 1999 (he is in disbelief that it really has been ten years). His first two years of dancing were with the Swingin' Hep Cats, a dance troupe from Bainbridge Island, Washington. In 2005 he was persuaded to try Blues and Tango. Since then he has been working to reconcile the three dance forces that are within him. Accordingly, he is known for his eccentric dance style, musical tastes, and socks. Among the many awards he has won, he is most proud of winning "Best Hell Costume" at Portland's Tuesday Blues Halloween contest in 2006. His other qualifications include a public speaking course and a degree in marketing. He emphasizes improvisation, musicality, and "..." in his dancing and teaching.

PFX 2009 - Ben Long and Lessa Thieme

www.lostmouse.com

Kristin Buxton (Pasadena, CA)

Kristin started DJing lindy in Portland in 2001. Since then she's DJed regularly for lindy and blues events in Portland, Seattle and LA and has traveled to DJ at lindy exchanges in San Francisco, Denver, and Chicago. She's been described as playing "non-scratchy music that doesn't suck" and definitely leans toward the groovy in her lindy sets.

Will Shaver (Eugene, OR)

My first introduction to partner dancing was a high school chemistry class. The teacher used the box waltz to illustrate atoms binding and separating as we traded partners and clumsiled around the room. I've been hooked ever since, dancing Ballroom, Latin, West Coast Swing, and most recently Blues. I've been an active DJ for years in Eugene and Portland, and have worked several West Coast Swing conventions
including Reno Dance Sensation and Bridgetown Swing. I look forward to spinning a mix of the fresh and the favorites during SDFX.

www.willshaver.com

Megan Repar (Houston, TX)

When Megan began blues dancing in early 2008, she was already a big fan of the music. It therefore wasn't altogether surprising when, a short while later, she started paying more attention to the music in her collection and rating songs on danceability. A year after she started dancing, she was DJing house parties, and loving it!

Megan is incredibly excited at the prospect of DJing in sunny San Diego!

Chris Ransdell (Tulsa, OK)

Chris Ransdell began playing music for Blues Dances almost 10 years ago. Whether it was a late night house dance party at the Austin or Chicago Lindy Exchange, or at one of the local Blues Dances in Tulsa, he always knew what the people wanted to dance to. His national-event DJ debut was the first “Cheap Thrills” (the first dance workshop weekend focused completely on Blues dance) in St. Louis.

Many people confuse a Blues DJ with a Blues Dance DJ; Chris is the latter. Since he is not limited to the confines of blues music exclusively, he is free to explore all genres of music to find the perfect selection for Blues Dancers. Each week he spends hours, sorting through artist after artist, to discover exactly what will bring the dancers to life on the floor.

Since his early DJ career, he has been honored to DJ at national events such as Blues Rising, Enter the Blues, and Denver Blues Summit; also including local venues such as Burn Blue (Seattle), Burn Blues (Portland), and Monday Night Blues (LA). Even though his greatest passion in life is teaching Blues Dance; DJing is a close second.

Justin Riley (Lawrence, KS)

Justin has been dancing, deejaying, and instructing for over seven years and continually strives to find new music that stretches the musical styles and aesthetics of both his fellow dancers and himself. For nearly half of the past six years Justin has traveled, lived, and danced abroad, including such places as Buenos Aires, Cuba, Morocco, and Italy, bringing international influences to both his dancing and djing styles. Most recently his musical tastes have moved to down-tempo trip-hop, international, and deejay remixes of old blues and jazz classics.

rileyjus.smugmug.com

David Keogh (Santa Fe, NM)

I started lindy hopping and blues dancing in 2005, and as with most guys who start dancing, it was because of a girl. I've DJ'ed a number of exchanges and workshops in the US and Canada over the past few years, but will be doing something very different for SDFX -- I'll be DJ'ing an hour of original music that I have composed specifically for fusion dancers. Back in the day, swing orchestras used to compose music for their dancers, focusing on tempo, rhythm, and musicality for dancing. My goal for SDFX is to apply this focus to contemporary music, combining elements of trip-hop, blues, soul, pop, and other musical styles while focusing on what works for social dancing.

Gretchen Metzenberg (Portland, OR)

Gretchen does not like M&Ms: she wants everything to be melty. She likes her blues to have compelling beats, powerful voices, building tension and making you want to sink in. Her favorite alternative music is usually the remixed bastard child of blues and electronica, gritty blues/rock, or the obscure genre of IDM. If it creates emotional intensity and sustains it with a solid and dynamic baseline beat, she's all over it. A recent chef's school grad, she is taking the next
logical step to medical school. She also really likes sharks.

Jackie O'Eldridge (San Diego, CA)

Jackie is fairly new to San Diego and swing dancing but her love of swing music and standards has spanned almost her entire life. Listening to Frank Sinatra as a young child led her to appreciate the amazing music of the swing era. Jackie loves all genres of music so you won't hear only swing music played in one of her sets...she'll go from Benny and Basie to Ella and Frank to Etta and Ray to Beyonce and Duffy...I guess her DJ-ing is kinda like a box of chocolates...ya never know whatcha gonna get.

www.lindybythebay.com

Patrick "DJ St. Patrick" Warren (Austin, TX)

Patrick began dancing in 2002 after being dragged kicking and screaming to a Swing class. He was instantly hooked. Introduced to Blues dancing in 2004, Patrick began attending several Blues weekends. After taking Blues musicality through a Jerry & Kathy class at Cheap Thrills, he became hooked on music. He began collecting a wide variety of music that he felt was ideal for Swing and Blues dancing. The next logical step was for Patrick to begin sharing his music with others.

When not traveling, he is a house DJ for Kick Butt Blues and a board member of the Blues Association of Austin. Patrick has DJed at several national events including Blues Rising, Enter the Blues, Austin Blues Party, Austin Lindy Exchange, San Francisco Lindy Exchange, CBUS, Do Something Blue, From Montreal with Love, Portland Fusion Exchange, and Bluesaliscious among others.

www.dj-stpatrick.com

Mihai (San Francisco, CA)

Mihai is a dance DJ with a rare combination of both breadth and depth, bundled in a love affair with music. No other DJ in the world has played at lindy exchanges, tango milongas, blues venues and blues/fusion house parties - making him the perfect candidate to DJ at a fusion event. He listens to the radio, to his friends' suggestions, to Pandora, eMusic and iTunes, constantly uncovering diverse gems that other DJs embrace.

The depth in Mihai's DJ'ing comes from never settling for playing the same type of song over and over. He studies and knows the artists. He can play an all-blues night, but mix in Memphis Slim, Koko Taylor and Sonny Boy Williamson with the foundation of Muddy Waters and B.B. King. He can DJ a milonga because he knows the difference between D'Arienzo, Biagi and Fresedo, not just classic tango and neo-tango.

Derrick Dingman (Portland, OR)

Derrick got into the dance scene in late 2005 in Portland Oregon. He started out as a swing dancer, but when introduced into blues he was hooked. From that first day that he acquired the taste of blues in his mouth he has been dancing non stop, except to eat, sleep, and the occasional work and school. His love for the dance turned into a passion and manifest it self into becoming a community leader and organizer in Portland. Derrick has been DJing for nearly 2 years in Portland. His appreciation of music is shown not only in his style of dance but in the way he DJ's. This will be the first exchange at which Derrick will DJ. He looks forward to becoming a national DJ one day.

Magen Dean (Portland OR, Austin TX, and the World)

I started with east coast swing back in 2006, did a little lindy, but really started dancing in 2007 when I discovered the wonderful world of blues. Shortly thereafter I fell in love with fusion and alternative blues (and Portland) after attending the Portland Fusion Exchange. Dancing is my passion, top priority, first love, I could go on and on. I hold a bachelors in Architecture and maybe one day I will use it. Right now I am hoping to get my feet wet in the world of teaching blues dancing because I want everyone to know and experience the amazing world of dance I live in. I enjoy DJing fusion and alternative blues music because it is what really sets my soul on fire and motivates my imagination for new movement. My only problem DJing is I have trouble staying behind the booth. I have DJ'ed for many house parties, Aspen Blues Recess, PDX underground and Tuesday Blues in Portland.

Hmm, what else? I LOVE traveling, I spent five months traveling the states, attending 12 exchanges and workshops. I have been to Italy twice (no dancing though), Germany twice, once for a lindy exchange, also France, Spain, Portugal, Canada and Mexico. I have hopes for returning to Europe one day to spread the blues love!

Whitton Frank (Los Angeles, CA)

Whitton learned Lindy and blues dancing while at college in
Pittsburgh, PA. She got her first chance to DJ a blues event at Saturday Late Night Blues, which was hosted by Shawn Coyle. It has been her goal to bring a little bit of the "Pittsburgh Dirty Blues" to California. She has DJed many events in Pittsburgh including End of the Month Blues and Saturday Late Night Blues. She moved to Los Angeles 2 years ago and currently DJs at various venues in and around Los Angeles. You can catch her at DoSomethingBlue on the last Friday of every month. She has also DJed at The Juke, Blue Bella, and is a recurring guest DJ at SoulNBlues.

Blues Dancing in Sherman Oaks

Andrew Sutton (Sacramento, CA)

Andrew travels the globe, DJing and encountering other DJs in over 10 countries and 40 cities every year. He pulls from all of these experiences to create a unique Fusion for his sets. Beyond this, in Andrew's DJ sets you will always experience at least one of his unique creations. Whether it is a Fusion Medley, Contact Dancing, a DJ Challenge, or something else, Andrew believes Fusion is all about creation and he is a DJ who will do more than just play music, he will give you a Fusion Experience.

Andrew Sutton and Anna Whitmire at HFX

www.smoothsavoy.com

Kayce Spear (Portland, OR)

Kayce is as fickle about her blues as she is about her peanut butter - sometimes she likes it chunky, sometimes smooth. Either way, though, she likes blues with a bit of distortion and a lot of depth. She digs a long, sexy harmonica solo and piano players with some oomph and quick fingers. When Kayce isn't dancing or djing in Portland, she's getting paid to stare at Mt. Hood and think about wind mills (...and their transmission of power).

Andrew Smith (Portland, OR)

Andrew Smith began as a humble (and rather inept) Blues DJ nearly three years ago. He has refined his craft to actually become a respectable DJ: he recently placed among the top 4 in the DJ contest at East Meets West. He is excited to be at SDFX and to continue developing as a professional DJ.

Andrew's musical tastes were originally focused on alternative music, particularly ones with orchestral scoring and melodic overtones; he still incorporates such emotive music in setlists for late-night dancing. His love for traditional music came later; he considers traditional music to be much like fine wines: sometimes unpalatable at first, but eventually revealing profound depth. While he appreciates a wide variety of Blues genres, he specifically seeks music that connects with the rich culture and history of the Blues.

He would like to thank several key people (in order of appearance) for their encouragement, inspiration, and support of him as a DJ: Karen Maria Capo, Joshua Keroes, Stryder Crown, Karissa Lightsmith, Steven Watkins, and Tina Davis. Thank you -- I wouldn't be here without you.

Andrew & Karissa - 1st Place Strictly Emerald City Blues

Cid Galicia (Chico, CA)

Cid has been djing for 4 years now; beginning with house parties and then, under the tutelage of Scott Kaufman and Ron Thompson, djing lindy nights at Midtown Stomp. After which, he began djing frequently at FNB, getting to dj along such great influences as Steven Watkins and Roy Rydbeck. Cid djs blues, spending time in the study of its music, artists, and history. Always searching for contemporary hits and classic songs. Some of his favorite artists are Etta James, John Lee Hooker/Jr, Chris Thomas King. Some of his favorite songs are "Come into my Kitchen", "Lets Burn Down the Cornfield", "Comes Love". He has djed such events as the Utah Lindy Exchange,