Instructors
Guy Caridi has been dancing since 1988, performing and choreographing since 1991, and teaching since 1993. He has taught and performed internationally and is well known for his respectful, sensitive, and humorous teaching style. Guy is a founding member of Seattle’s Savoy Swing Club; He and his frequent dance partner, Nancy Fry, were the first couple from the Pacific Northwest to teach Lindy Hop and Balboa. He continues as the artistic director of the Savoy Swing Club Performance Troupe. In 1999, Guy and Nancy took home trophies in the Lindy Hop and Team divisions at the U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships in southern California. In total, four of five routines choreographed by Guy were place-winners.
Guy has produced many noteworthy dance events and shows in Seattle, including What Is This Thing Called Swing? with The Rhythm Hot Shots from Sweden; Swingin’ Then, Swingin’ Now! with the legendary Norma Miller; and the annual Pacific Northwest Lindy Hop Championships (1999-2006).
Nancy Fry discovered her passion for dance in 1981 and has been dancing ever since! She finds great joy in connecting and co-creating with her dance partners on the dance floor and believes that this special connection is where the magic in partner dancing is found. Over the years, Nancy has enjoyed dancing and teaching a large variety of partner dances. She and her dance partner, Guy Caridi, competed at the 1999 US Open Swing Dance Championships, where they placed in both events in which they competed. One of these awards was for the team competition in which she performed with the Savoy Swing Club Performance Troupe.
Nancy began teaching Lindy Hop, Balboa, and jazz-related Swing movement classes with Guy in 1994, with the Seattle Savoy Swing Club, which she helped found. She started teaching with NW Dance Network in 2004, where she teaches Swing, Nightclub 2-Step, and many other dance styles. Her teaching focuses on developing that special connection between partners, helping her students to develop the ability to lead and follow, and to communicate through movement while having fun doing it!
Janiceis a longtime resident of Port Townsend. At one time she was a dance partner with Walter Dill, who, along with Nancianna Dill, started Living Traditions, which eventually became NW Dance Network.
For the past several years, Janice has been teaching on her own in Port Townsend and on Whidbey Island, although she has also been an instructor during our Seabeck dance weekends. She is president of Port Townsend’s Discovery Dance, which is a non-profit organization, similar to NDN.
Janice says, “I live with an eye toward finding the beauty in everything I do…every day.”
Lara Diniz, from Niterói in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, learned how to dance and teach Forró while she attended university in São José dos Campos in São Paulo, Brazil.
After arriving in Seattle, she hoped to fine tune her proficiency in Forró by taking additional lessons, only to discover the absence of any Forró instruction! Thus began her journey to become Seattle’s first and foremost Forró instructor.
Lara continues to study other Brazilian social dances such as Samba de Gafieira, Bolero, and Brazilian Zouk, but her favorite is, and always will be, Forró.
Lara is fluid in both the lead and follow roles. She continues to dance and teach at Forró festivals around the United States.
Joe Ferreria is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and a dance instructor, choreographer, and performer, with 25 years of expertise, 15 of those years performing and teaching social dances, including Argentine Tango. In the tango scene, Joe has been taught by several legendary tango masters, and he has his proper method of teaching, always looking for the student’s progress. Joe is full of energy and likes to share this energy with everyone in the room, he believes that if everybody does the same action at the same time, the energy become one.
Board
Cheryl joined the board in December 2012. Her interest in dance has been lifelong, beginning by teaching herself basic swing by watching American Bandstand. In college and later years she took lessons in modern, jazz, and various other dance forms, but more recently she has became more dedicated to partner dancing. “Moving my body through space with music while connected to my partner releases endorphins of joy, an experience of positive addiction,” says Cheryl, who is expanding her dance repertoire by learning zydeco and balboa. Retired from a profession in criminal justice, Cheryl continues to be active in social justice issues.
Bob started dancing in the summer of 2018 after attending a Gator Boy Productions Zydeco dance and learning of NW Dance Network. He attended a dance the following week and this started his real enthusiasm for dancing with NW Dance Network. He has taken numerous classes in Swing, Waltz, Foxtrot, Zydeco, and various workshops. He has found the instructors very competent and has enjoyed the positive social environment at the classes and the dances. As he has become more experienced (thanks to the great classes and encouragement by instructors and partners), he finds he really enjoys the many dances offered in Seattle.
He recently retired from a career in the accounting/finance field, having worked in both manufacturing and non-profit organizations. He is pleased to have time to offer his professional skills as Treasurer and to be part of an organization of positive, enthusiastic dancers. He also looks forward to improving his skills and enjoying much more dancing as well as helping the organization grow.
Pat took up partner dancing in the 90s under the sweet tutelage of Nancyanna and Walter Dill, the founders of Living Traditions Dance, which later became NW Dance Network. She had never danced but soon caught the bug, made many friends, and learned how wonderful it feels to share the music with a partner. Walter and Nancyanna’s dedication to social dancing, and to teaching non-dancers to feel comfortable and joyful on the dance floor, spawned the amazing and unique dance scene we now enjoy in Seattle. She is so happy to help carry on this tradition.
Pat has been a nurse for over 40 years. In addition to dancing, she also enjoys singing in an a cappella group and garage band. In this CovidTime, she’s taken up birding. She has 3 grandchildren. Life is full.
Board director since June 2011, Koz found that the dance community in Seattle was special and he wanted to get involved to give back to it. Returning to dance after many years’ absence, Koz and a friend started taking lessons with several instructors at NW Dance Network: Dean Paton, Susan Balshor, Guy Caridi, Nancy Fry, and Sean Donovan. They inspired him to become a more accomplished dancer. When he’s not dancing, you can find Koz cooking at the grill. He loves to cook and used to own and operate a café and restaurant. Now, he indulges his cooking urges by offering, at auction, elaborate internationally-themed grilled dinners for non-profits around Seattle. He hopes to continue to make new friends on the dance floor and have fun learning more dance steps and techniques.
Harold is excited to be a member of the NW Dance Network Board. He has been involved with the NW Dance Network community since 2014. He started with ballroom dancing then became more active in other forms of social dance, especially through the Dancing ’til Dusk summer dance series. He has really enjoyed expanding his dancing skills through NW Dance Network and through other dance opportunities. He brings the experiences he’s gained doing legal work on other non-profit boards and through his work as an attorney to serve the needs of the NW Dance Network community so it can continue to thrive.
Karen appreciates the opportunity to support the dance community and has served on the Board for NW Dance Network since 2012. Formerly, she was Dance Chair for the Seattle Singles Mountaineers (2005 – 2010) and won the Mountaineer Volunteer of the Year Award in 2006 for running their Rock and Roll dances. Karen was the 2019 New Year’s Eve Dance Coordinator for NW Dance Network and a frequent photographer for NW Dance Network dances and Seabeck Dance Camp. Karen has been dancing in a broad range of styles since age five, including Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern Improvisational Dance, Swing, Lindy Hop, Hustle, and Latin Dance. She performed for three years with USA Dance-Seattle and was in shows that toured around Washington state: “A Chance to Dance” and “Take The Floor And Dance.” She choreographed and performed dances for Dare to Dance Seattle at The Broadway Performance Hall in 2013 and 2014 and in a virtual show in 2021. Karen holds degrees in Broadcasting/Visual Design and Psychology, and she also has experience in dance photography and videography. She has been a photographer for Camp Jitterbug for three years. Recently she has been hiking and doing more nature and landscape photography and her photos have been published in calendars.
Bev served as an NW Dance Network Board member from 2011 through 2018, including four years as President. She served as a consultant to the Board during 2019 and returned as a Board member in 2020. Bev started dancing in 1998, as a Lindy Hopper. Since then she has enjoyed learning a number of other dances and has built a community of friends around dance. She brings to the Board over 20 years of professional experience in volunteer and board management, group development and outreach, grant writing, strategic planning, and consensus-building.
A transplant to the Pacific Northwest from Texas, Gayle McKool has been social dancing since 2005. She enjoys many forms of partner dance, particularly East Coast Swing, Cajun, Zydeco, Waltz, Night Club Two Step, and Country Two Step.
Gayle has many years’ of experience as a volunteer and board member in nonprofit organizations. She serves as the Dancing for the Ages Coordinator and Compliance Officer for NW Dance Network.
Staff
As Office Manager, Tiffy Daud manages inquiries to Northwest Dance and provides support to our classes, workshops, and other events. She began her love of dance as a tap dancer in childhood. After discovering partner dancing, she developed a particular love for swing dancing, including East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, and Lindy Hop. Come say hi to her on the dance floor!
Tiffy also works as a Programming Assistant for GeekGirlCon, an organization that empowers women and girls to pursue their passions—whether they love science and technology, comics, literature, gaming, or anything else.
Martin started his editing career at age 12 as a proofreader in his dad’s typography business. He holds a BA in journalism and has done publication work for Group Health, Microsoft, Amazon, drugstore.com, the Swedish Club, Thalia Symphony, Public Health Seattle–King County and the University of Washington. A violinist and mandolinist, he’s more comfortable on the bandstand than the dance floor, but is excited to be part of Northwest Dance Network’s dedicated team.
Luann Ferguson has loved being a part of the Northwest Dance community since 2011 as a participant in dances and classes. She loves the people and spirit that she came in touch with at Seabeck Dance Camp in 2011. In 2015, she took a more active part by becoming the accountant for the organization. Accounting and dancing have been a big part of her life since she was a teenager; now she has a place to combine both talents. Luann is a CPA with her own practice and brings fresh ideas as well as experience. Her closing comment, “See you on the dance floor.” Contact the Accountant.
Dean Paton manages our bi-monthly dances. He abandoned the baseball diamond for the dance hall in 1994, and fell so hopelessly in love with waltz that he founded the Valse Café Orchestra, an ensemble committed to the art of playing music for dancers. He teaches waltz and foxtrot classes regularly at Seattle’s Century Ballroom.
Volunteers
Gayle McKool coordinates our Dancing for the Ages outreach program, which brings social dance to elderly people living in group settings. Gayle has been an active volunteer her entire life and relishes the many volunteer opportunities our organization provides. She relocated from Texas six years ago and loves life here in the Northwest. She began her social dance experience with ‘Mrs. Smith’s Cotillion’ in junior high and after that awkward beginning didn’t partner dance for decades. She resumed partner dancing 11 years ago and has been joyfully pursuing many dance styles ever since. She particularly enjoys Cajun and zydeco, East Coast swing, waltz, two step and most recently, Carolina shag. Contact the DFA Coordinator.
Don was voted the Seattle Dance Sage. He helps with special events and spreads the word on the joys of partner dance. His mum made him take dance lessons when he was a teenager and he’s been grateful ever since. Don was Executive Director of Northwest Dance from 2004 to 2009. His approach to dance emphasizes cooperation with and connection to his partner. He loves to encourage all ages to glide across the floor and feels that, above all, building community is what makes Northwest Dance special.
Prior to that, Pam worked in the UW Retail Management & External Program and has owned and operated retail stores in the Seattle area. She has worked with boards in the non-profit sector including as Development Director for Gilda’s Club Seattle, and Executive Director of Northwest Soccer Camps. She has served as a board member for the Environmental Education Association of Washington (E3); Salish Sea Cooperative Finance, and the Girl Scouts of America. In addition, she has worked with volunteers, including PTA’s, Capitol Hill Youth Soccer, etc.
Pam has 3 grown kids, 6 granddaughters, loves to ski, hike, spend time at the family property on Dabob Bay, travel, read and garden. Fun fact: in 1971 she worked in D.C. for the Youth Citizenship Fund (Common Cause) as an ‘under 21’ lobbyist for the 26th Amendment to the Constitution. “If you’re old enough to fight for your country, you’re old enough to vote.”