People

Kelsy brings her lifetime of dance training, a passion for vernacular dance, and a sharp eye for technique to the Blues dance world. She has brought her joy and knowledge of blues idiom dances to some of the most important and high-profile events in the US and abroad, including but not limited to: bluesSHOUT!, The Experiment, Muse, Hearken the Blues, and BluesGeek — serving as faculty, mentor, competition coordinator, and judge. Kelsy’s critical eye and love of deep technique are tempered by her love of "dad jokes," getting lost in the music, and embracing of the ridiculous.

She shows her appreciation of African American culture by speaking of the history of Blues idiom dance and taking her craft seriously, but never herself. She believes every mistake is an opportunity to learn, every class an opportunity to challenge, and every dance an opportunity to pay respect to those who came before.

Damon has been dancing his entire life, starting with vernacular Jazz/Blues first taught to him at the tender age of six by his grandmother. After nearly a decade of learning at the heels of his elders, he went on and eventually studied numerous dance forms until coming full circle in 1995 to focus primarily on the history and styles of partner dances as his family danced them with a special focus on the Southern Blues styles from the Mississippi Delta region. He has studied the development of vernacular Jazz/Blues dance across the United States learning from a number of the original dancers.

He is largely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on Blues idiom dance and has been interviewed as a dance historian in documentary, radio, and newspaper. Damon has been a featured instructor at camps, festivals, and workshops regionally and internationally.

Hi Y'all, I’m Jalen from Los Angeles. I’ve been dancing for a little over 5 years now. I can’t wait for The Cookout, I’m bringing the music I grew up with and all the hits. It’s time to turn it up! I’ll see Y'all soon

Charlley loves the Blues. Throughout his life he has played the music, told the stories and danced the dances of the people who created it, his Black American People.

He has twice reached the semi-finals of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis,Tennessee with the Bull City Blues Band. His unique style is derived from his association with Durham Blues great, John Dee Holman, and his own eclectic original material that ranges from urban Blues (like Albert King) to Country material (like that of Holman’s). He has DJed, told stories about Blues and African American culture and taught Traditional Black American Dances at events including Mile High Blues in Denver, Brickyard Blues in Atlanta, Big City Blues in Ghent, Belgium. In 2022 he won the solo Blues Dance Competition at the Riverfront Blues Festival in Portland, Oregon.

He routinely teaches Blues Dance for his home scene, RDU Blues in The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. teaching focuses on the fundamentals of the dances and how they can be used to enhance musicality.

“BB King used to say that playing the Blues is telling the truth.” He says. “It’s one of the ways Black Americans survived. We took despair and turned it into joy. We told our stories, we sang and played our music, and we danced. We told the truth. We survived.”

He is now retired from a career as a public-school Theatre Teacher during which his students received multiple awards in juried competitions. He currently lives in (an allegedly haunted) Colonial era plantation house outside Wake Forest North Carolina.

Kizomba/Semba teacher from Paris, France Tboy met Kizomba 2009-2010 in Paris. He developed his skills and competences on Kizomba & Semba in the best school in Paris, “Centre Momboye and Pénatchon”. Tboy started to teach in 2013 thanks to Lucia Nogueira and performed in different countries such as several times in: United Kingdom, Jersey Island and France. He also performed at the international MSC Cruise on the Atlantic Ocean in 2014.

He taught Semba, Kizomba in one of the biggest dance school in Paris, "Salsabor". He also partner up with Victor de Sousa named Victor Kizomba.fr who is one of the first kizomba teacher in France since 2009.

Additionally, Tboy was the leader of "Semba na Rua" in Paris. Semba na rua is a project of dancing in the different open places in Paris in order to dance freely and show to the public these dances coming from Africa. As well as Pé Leve’s, a dance project based in Paris founded with the purpose of keeping the tradition of Kizomba alive in France.

Through his way in the Kizomba, he had the pleasure of performing and teaching with Ms. Nogueira. Inspired and trained by the best dancers teachers in the Kizomba scene such Puto chinez and Tecas, he also had a special training with Dilson Kizomba who is the 2009 World Kizomba champion and a leader of carnaval parade in Angola. With all that, Tboy developed his own style. Now he is willing to share his passion, dance skills and knowledge with us to have us dance Kizomba and Semba.

Rachel has been dancing all of her life. From dancing down the aisles at the grocery store to performing on stage and everywhere in between. Rachel’s life is full of movement and exploring connections. She has performed around the country as a cast member of SW!NG OUT and consulting and performing in various film and music video projects.

Rachel has a degree in dance with a focus in Graham-style modern from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. Rachel loves dancing, and she loves nurturing her dance community. You can often find her organizing or supporting fellow organizers throughout the Southeast and at various events, but especially at Hot Jam and Atlanta Varsity Showdown (the hometown events that she runs).

Rachel loves the personal growth and the exchange of ideas that occurs with partner dancing and the freedom and energy of Lindy Hop and the flow of solo dancing. You’ll often see her dancing to the music in her head.

Not only is LaDell the real deal for DFW Swingout as an in demand judge and dance instructor, but he is also an amazing DJ. True talk, LaDell is Damon Stone's and my beloved instructor and we choose to spend our time and money in his classes every week when we are in the same city. Yes, he is that good! Trust me you won't want to miss a single minute of LaDell's eagle eye instruction in one of my favorite dances.

Susan has been DJing for social dancers for more than fifteen years, continuously honing her ear for what makes people want to get up and dance. It might be a funky baseline, rhythm you can sink your teeth into, earth shattering vocals, or simply an irresistible groove. Susan always seeks to keep a party going, building in moments of high energy and relaxation into every set. She's especially excited to be part of The Cookout; the chance to spend a whole week exploring a variety of music and dance styles is a rare and wonderful opportunity.

Kenneth is the Director of the Ujima Blues Foundation. Before learning partner dances like Lindy Hop or Blues, Kenneth spent the majority of his early dance career break-dancing or DJing for break/hip-hop comps around the southeast. In 2014, Kenneth took over as President of Blues Dance Nashville (BDN), the local blues scene in his hometown. He spent the next few years developing the organization with his team, focusing on a steady slate of classes and local events that emphasized and built upon Nashville’s rich live music history.

Throughout that time period, BDN took over running two local blues events, Mo’ Better Blues and Southbound Blues Exchange. Kenneth and his team were instrumental in turning those into well-respected, national-level events. Mo’ Better, in particular, would be the testing ground for concepts that would eventually turn into BluesGeek and is a testament to his creativity and desire for community.

Julie is a Boston-based blues dance teacher, DJ, choreographer, competitor, organizer, and enthusiastic student. She has been participating in blues dance for 20 years and has taught blues dancing around the globe and won many national competitions.

As a teacher, Julie aims to help students connect with and understand blues dance’s deep roots, find their own voice, and connect to the music, themselves, & others authentically, joyfully, and respectfully. Julie has taught blues dancing in New York, Austin, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Seoul, London, Zurich, and many places in between. They are grateful to have won or placed in many solo & partnered blues competitions, including at bluesSHOUT! invitational level, Blues Muse follower invitational, Mile High Blues, Steel City Blues, Northstar Blues in both roles, and more.

Mike is a passionate aficionado of jazz and Blues, known all over the world for her kindness, friendliness, teaching skills, following, and expression. She embodies vibrant energy and technical precision, and strives to make every social dance the best possible. Whether at residencies, international workshops, or private trainings, she brings preparation and flexibility every time. Her classes can involve students morphing into robots or seaweed, standing on one foot blindly, or analyzing chord changes- always in pursuit of art. Regardless of subject, she always brings abstract and concrete topics, plenty of levity, and homework, to help students improve long after class ends.

Dan is a Blues idiom, vernacular jazz, and swing dancer currently living in Atlanta, GA. He specializes in early-to-mid 1900’s era African-American improvised partner dances done to Blues and jazz-blues music. Since 2012 Dan has taught, DJed, and performed around the world at events like The Blues Experiment (USA), Korea Blues Camp (South Korea), and Swingin’ the Blues (Australia).

Soleman Krebs has been grooving since the age of 4, when his mom signed him up for tap class. He loved it so much that he never stopped moving! After becoming a certified ballroom instructor and teaching countless students the grace of ballroom dance, his path took a surprise twist 24 years ago during a night at a country bar. There, he watched a guy pull off the moonwalk to a dance he’d never seen before. Instantly hooked, Soleman knew he had to learn everything he could about this mystery dance. It turned out to be West Coast Swing (WCS), and he’s been hooked ever since. WCS not only fueled his love of dance but also let him groove to his favorite R&B jams—a win-win for his dance soul!

Angela Krebs took a slightly different route. She started her dance journey in high school with contemporary dance lessons, but that was just the beginning. Soon, she stumbled into line dancing, followed by couples dancing, and she hasn’t stopped two-stepping since. By 1996, Angela was competing in the country dance circuit, but in 2007, she found her true dance passion in West Coast Swing, where she’s been grooving ever since.

Known for workshops packed with technique, connection, and fun variations, their top priority is always the same: You must always have fun! Soleman and Angela are thrilled to share their love for West Coast Swing at The Cookout, and they’re just as excited to learn some new moves along the way!

Josh has been telling stories since the first time somebody asked him what he wants to be when he grows up. The jury's still out on that but Josh has been a fixture of the storytelling scene in Austin since he moved there in 2016.

For his whole life Josh has been involved and immersed in music: choirs, a cappella ensembles, bands in a wide range of musical styles, and every single jam session he could get into or instigate.

Josh believes art of any medium is at its best as a vehicle for community. He is honored and delighted to collaborate with the amazing lineup of artists at this year's Cookout!

Ben is a photographer, Blues dancer, and software engineer based in Minneapolis. As a photographer he is easy-going and unobtrusive, and loves capturing candid moments full of movement and expression. He made this website, and took the photos on it, except for those of Charlley, Tboy, Rachel, LaDell, Angela, and Soleman.