DANCEFEST! Labor Day Weekend, 2009
Centennial Hall

Guest Instructors

Dora Oliveira, Guest Dance Instructor (Brazilian Dance)
Dora Oliveira has performed and taught Afro-Brazilian dance for 30 years. She has lived in Seattle, Washington for 15 years.

Dora¹s career as a professional dancer began in 1976 when she joined renowned Brazilian folkloric dance troupe, Exaltacao A Bahia. Ms. Oliveira has learned a repertoire that ranges from Afro-Brazilian dance forms through jazz, ballet, and modern dance.

After obtaining a professional dance degree from the prestigious Federal University of Brazil, Ms. Oliveira moved to the US. Starting in 1991, Dora has developed a large dance student following teaching at Madrona’s Spectrum Dance Studio and other locations across the city of Seattle.

Dora has toured the world as the principal dancer with Olodum – the world famous samba bloc. She was also featured on the opening credits and Brazilian dance episode of the PBS' "Dancing" series.

Ms. Oliveira has recently worked as choreographer for two Washington state based schools: Vamola and SambaOlywa. Currently, she continues to tour as lead dancer with Occeami and Show Brazil.

Rebecca Smith and Eric Lindgren, Guest Dance Instructors (Argentine Tango)
Rebecca and Eric began teaching together regularly in January of 2009 after a decade of ongoing Tango devotion. Since then they have taught in many major US cities and are quickly becoming popular instructors at festivals around the country. Coming from very different Tango upbringings, Eric and Rebecca offer a unique blend of modern ideas about technique and vocabulary while maintaining a strong emphasis on traditional aesthetics and values in the dance.

Rebecca has been dancing all over the Northwest since 1999. She has offered tango classes through Southern Oregon University and Linfield college and helped facilitate the not-for-profit Tango Center in Eugene for many years. She has worked with the University of Oregon, Yale, and University of Michigan. In the Fall of 2008 she traveled to India where she taught in Mumbai, Bangalore, and New Delhi. Her teaching has taken her throughout the United States, England, and Canada. She has worked with many small communities as well as in New York. Rebecca has been fortunate to work with many great dancers and spend ample time in Argentina resulting in a comprehension of the dance widely respected by her peers.

Eric began studying tango intensively in October 2005. Within weeks of his first class, he had moved to Buenos Aires to pursue the dance full time. After a year of study he returned to the us and continued dancing full time socially. This fall he returned to Buenos Aires to take advantage of the high level of dance and exceptional instruction available in the city. Eric spent the winter of 07-08 teaching at Dance Manhattan in New York as well as at Providence Tango in Rhode Island. After a brief visit to Buenos Aires in the spring, Eric traveled to Toronto to teach in June and July. In September Eric moved to Portland, OR where he enjoys that community’s strong focus on close embrace and emotional expression. Eric has had many influences. Among those who have had the greatest impact are Daniel Trenner, Claudia Bozzo, Carlos Lobos, Rebecca Shulman, Adriana Dure, and Pablo Rodriguez.

Rachel Lidskog, Portland, Oregon
A professional dancer, singer, and choreographer, Rachel has been teaching dance as a certified dance professional since 1989. A two-times Bronze Medalist, Rachel has traveled the globe for training, teaching, and competing in destinations such as Argentina, Cuba, Canada, France, Holland, and Sweden, as well as many cities throughout the US. Known for her joy while teaching, Rachel's dance knowledge includes a broad repertoire of styles, from the social to competitive level. She offers weekly classes in Ballroom, Latin, Swing, Country Western, Night Club and Argentine Tango. www.2dancewithjoy.com

Her Musical Theatre Performance credits include the leading and supporting roles of “Nellie” in South Pacific, “Dorothy” in The Wizard of Oz, “The Ghost of Christmas Past” in Scrooge, “Stupefying Jones” in Lil' Abner and “Old Devil Moon” in On With the Show, as well as a principal dancer and chorus singer in Oklahoma, South Pacific, Annie Get Your Gun, Evita and Cabaret. Rachel's choreography credits include Newberg High School's Show Choir, Newbergy High School's musical production of Guys and Dolls, a community theater production of Haddasah, and Forest Grove High School's production of Brigadoon.

Esteban Beamon, Washington DC Metropolitan, Okinawa Japan, San Diego CA
Esteban Beamon, has been dancing salsa for over 10 years. This lifelong interest started in college and he danced socially in local clubs within the Washington DC Metropolitan area. From there he moved to Okinawa, Japan where he danced on a Salsa (Casino) team. Later, moved to San Diego, CA where he became hooked On2 and performed with a dance company in various Salsa Congress.
Today, Esteban lives and works in Lim,a Peru. During his free time he teaches On2 free of charge to anyone who wants to learn. In conjunction with his personal dance efforts he has partnered with the "Rumba y Sabor" dance school to work with adolescents interested in Salsa On2. Additionally, he has also established a partnership with "Rumbalaska" (founded by Antonio and Heather) a developing company in Lima Peru, which now teaches On2.
To ensure dancers have shoes on their feet, Esteban has started a Salsa Shoe drive, where he receives used shoes from all over the states, has them "pimped-out" and distributed to Salsa Lovers. "If you got beat-up shoes, I got room in my suitcase".

Janice Hurley, Local
Janice Hurley received her teaching certification from the University of Minnesota and her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Speech and Theatre Arts from Jacksonville University in Florida. During the course of her career, she has taught in both academic and performing arts venues. She has performed, choreographed, and directed in a variety of dance art styles. Since moving to Juneau in 1997, Janice has done projects with Northern Lights Junior Theatre, Juneau Lyric Opera, and Perseverance Theatre, to name a few. She was the Assistant Director of Gold Creek Child Development Center, she conceived of and instructs the children's dance program for Juneau Racquet Club--The Alaska Club. She joined the teaching staff of Juneau Dance Unlimited in the Fall of 2003 and took the creative lead in 2004.

Local Instructors

Heather Haugland and Antonio Diaz, Lima, Peru
Heather and Antonio taught salsa in Juneau and around Southeast Alaska since 2002, prior to moving to Lima, Peru in January 2008. Antonio taught and performed in Seattle for several years, winning the city-wide Seattle Salsa Contest in 2000. Antonio is originally from Lima where his family runs a dance studio. Heather received her Latin dance training in Cuba, where she spent four months studying salsa and other Latin rhythms. Together, they teach weekly classes at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. In addition to their regular Juneau teaching schedule, they have taught workshops in Sitka, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Haines. They also perform at numerous special events, along with their dance group Rumbalaska.

Pat Belec & Frank Bergstrom
Pat Belec and Frank Bergstrom met and started their dance partnership in 1990. In March 2006, they opened their own dance studio in Juneau – The Dance Loft – offering social ballroom dance instruction. Starting in 1977, Pat has taught in NY State, Colorado, and as of 1982 in Juneau. Pat holds national social ballroom instructor certification from the US Independent Dance Council. Frank is Pat’s dance partner. They currently hold classes at their studio on Monday and Thursday evenings, and teach at the Valley Racquet Club on Wednesdays. Their teaching philosophy is to provide a comfortable setting to learn the social dance steps and skills needed to fully participate and enjoy the social opportunities in Juneau, and provide periodic review classes to cement the steps previously learned.

Alysia McLain
Alysia McLain has been teaching Swing and Charleston lessons in Juneau since 2005. Previously she had been an assistant swing instructor at the Community Center in Los Alamos, New Mexico in 2002 -2003. Alysia initially began swing dancing in 1997. She received training in a variety of social dances while attending the University of Mary Washington & University of Oregon. Her passion is Charleston style swing, but she has taught East Coast Swing, Charleston & Lindy Hop. In January 2009 she was invited to be a guest Lindy Hop instructor at the annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Alysia has performed salsa routines with Rumbachicas and is an active member and choreographer for the Off the Hook Honeys dancing troupe.

Dan and Lorinda Kassner
Dan and Lorinda have been dancing together for about 25 years and teaching at the Alaska Club for seven years. They have studied with Janice Holst and Pat Belec in Juneau, taken lessons and workshops in Juneau with Pablo Rapun, Richard Powers and Purcell Thomas, and in San Francisco with Christy Coté. They teach waltz, fox trot, east-coast swing, cha-cha, rumba, bolero, and night-club two-step.