Laurie took her first "swing" at dancing about ten years ago when a friend convinced her it would be good exercise and she might even like it! Continuing on with lessons at Living Traditions, she soon met her to-be husband, Marshall, at one of the free dance parties. She has continued to take lessons and workshops around the Seattle area and loves to be able to partner dance to almost any song on the radio. Well, at least the danceable ones!

Being a new TA is sometimes challenging, but always rewarding. Seeing a student have the big "ah ha!" during a lesson is so much fun and rewarding. The NW Dance teachers and TAs are also great to work with, encouraging not only the students but each other.

Thanks for the opportunity to help! Now, get out there and dance!

Steve Afrin's passion for partner dancing and his desire to share that joy with beginning students shows in his enthusiasm in classes and workshops. Steve took his first Swing 1 class with Living Traditions in Apr. 2003 and never looked back. Once he learned the new concepts of leading, following, and partner connection, he quickly started taking every class he could with eight registered classes during one six week session as his all-time personal best.

Enjoying Swing, Blues, Waltz, and all other forms of social dance, Steve particularly enjoys the Latin beats of Salsa and Cha Cha and has taken many classes, workshops, and private lessons with Northwest Dance instructors, other dance schools in the Seattle area, and with visiting instructors who occasional pass through town. Steve feels tremendous gratitude for how partner dancing has helped transform his life and hopes that he can share that powerful feeling with other dancers in the dance community.

Steve has also enjoyed teaching private lessons to students to help them improve their skills on the social dance floor and to prepare them for intermediate level workshops. You may also sometimes see Steve offering his technical expertise and assistance to Northwest Dance instructors and staff in classes, workshops, and even at an occasional dance. He has worked off and on as an audio engineer in television and radio over a couple decades and enjoys volunteering his time to help Northwest Dance in many different capacities.

Michael Michael has been dancing since the late 1990s, when he was first dragged, kicking and screaming, to a Swing class. It turns out that he had an aptitude, and he hasn't looked back!

Partner dancing has become an important part of his life, sustaining him in many ways.

He particularly enjoys interacting one-on-one with new students, reassuring, cheering, and encouraging.

Lise Baadh started partner dancing in 1994 as a competitive ballroom dancer. After six years of studying and competing she turned her interests to social dancing where she could dance to a variety of music and experience a true lead-and-follow partnership. Then, after discovering the world of Argentine tango and studying with Michelle Badion, Lise became a true dancer. She now frequents the many dance venues in Seattle, and enjoys every form of dance from Argentine tango and ballroom, to swing, waltz, zydeco and latin dancing. In 2006 she founded DANCE IT!, a program that provides free social dance lessons to high school students. Since then, and with the support of NWDance, this program has inspired over 900 local teenagers to dance. Lise also likes to paint, hike, and play tennis.

Jack Bautsch . . . more info coming soon

Paul started out dancing in 1994 with Living Traditions while going to Seattle University. Walter and Nancyanna Dill were very generous to him. As a returning college student later in life, they gave Paul many opportunities to volunteer for classes, which eventually led to a TA position in 1996. He enjoys helping others and seeing faces light up when they start to get into dancing for themselves. It really is good exercise for the whole body. One of the most interesting dance experiences Paul had was being in Prague, Czech Republic in 2008 with his stepmother and going out dancing in a club. His stepmother was so proud of him because he danced well with the locals. Paul couldn't speak the Czech language at all, yet was able to communicate and gracefully maneuver around the floor through dance. People were quite impressed.

Sheila has danced her whole life . . . mostly alone in her living room! She dabbled in tap as a child, ballroom as a teenager and "boogied" with her husband, Jack, throughout most of her adult life.

In 1996, five months after a transcontinental move to Seattle with hubby, she got serious about dance. She came to NW Dance in a roundabout route: ballroom lessons at a studio, swing at Seattle Central Community College, lindy at Hep Cat Productions and a Frankie Manning Workshop and social dance at Living Traditions.

After several years of lessons, Sheila became a volunteer dancer for NW Dance and finally decided to become a TA. She thoroughly enjoys teaching one-on-one, giving little tips and helping fledging dancers become proficient ones.

Dancing was always enjoyable for Sheila but she's discovered that it's not just a pastime, but a passion. "Keep dancing" is not just a saying for Sheila, it's a way of life. She hopes to dance until her feet drop off . . . or she's knocked off her feet. . . whichever comes first.

Juanita Holmes has been dancing since 1989, when she began folk dancing with the Seattle Estonian community's folk dance group. In July of 2009, Juanita and fifteen other members of Tuhandest Tuulest ("from a thousand winds") performed with nearly 7,500 other dancers at the national folk dance festival held every four years in Tallinn, Estonia.

Juanita began dancing with Northwest Dance, back when it was known as Living Traditions, in 1996. She began TA-ing in 1998. She loves just about every kind of dance, especially salsa, swing, and waltz.

Juanita believes that the sense of rhythm, playful social interaction, and connection with one's body that come with dancing make her better at her other activities. When she's not dancing, Juanita can be found biking, skiing, playing the violin, and practicing law.

Having enrolled in a beginning swing class at the legendary Living Traditions Dance, Kris began his immersion in social dance some time late in the last century. In the early years of the new millennium Kris became a teaching assistant for Living Traditions and later Northwest Dance Network.

Over the years he's taken a gazillion classes and workshops in a lot of styles of partner dance, but swing dancing, especially Lindy Hop, is still his favorite. When he's not taking a class or at a dance, he's practicing piano or guitar, reading a book, riding his bicycle or supervising a prostate cancer prevention research project at Swedish Medical Center, where he is employed.

Laura got her start dancing at age 3. Unfortunately, it was 42 years later before she was able to return to dance. Laura started taking lessons in 1995 with Living Traditions (the precursor of NW Dance Network) and became one of the first TAs in 1997. Laura is proficient in most of the forms of dance taught by NW Dance, but her first love will always be Swing or Lindy Hop, especially to Big Band music.

Laura does have another dance life. When not dancing with NW Dance she can be found dancing in the south end at the Dancemakers NW studio in Bonney Lake. She has been performing with an adult tap group for many years and simply ADORES tap. The tap group has been to competitions and won several awards. If you watch closely in some of the classes she is TAing, during breaks you will see her sneaking in a practice of some new and intricate tap step for the next performance. When not tapping she also works on Jazz and Lyrical performances.

Laura has recently launched into the world of dance photography. She has been taking pictures for a number of years of dance recitals and has even won a photography award for one of her recital pictures. She is now branching into taking pictures of NW Dance dances and workshops and other local dance events. Be sure to say Hi! if you see her walking around with her camera at the dances.

Dan Loewenstein . . . more info coming soon

Debbie Mazur . . . more info coming soon

Janet Oberembt . . . more info coming soon

John Palmieri is a mathematician working at the University of Washington. Along with teaching and research, he actively contributes to Sage, a free mathematical software package. At home, he plays with his two kids and likes cooking (especially desserts).

He and his partner Debby Bacharach moved to Seattle in 1999, and she convinced him to start dancing shortly thereafter. The welcoming environment of Living Traditions, which continues in Northwest Dance, has helped to create his love of dancing. He enjoys swing dancing, zydeco, and waltz, among others, and was a proud member of the Zydeco inTENsives troupe in 2008 and 2009.

Carla Reinke . . . more info coming soon