Brooke ~ Director/Instructor; One fateful day, many moons ago, Brooke stumbled on dancing as a very effective study distraction and quickly decided a bachelor degree was good enough. Although she’s often called upon to revive the organizing, djing and bartending skills of her sordid past for many events that may prefer to remain nameless, today Brooke primarily moonlights as Director of the Swing and Tap Academy of Toronto where she’s all about the finer things in life – chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven, thunderstorms, long afternoon naps, and dance classes that are actually fun. Seriously. If you leave her classes without a sore belly from all that laughing, she won’t have done her job. (Plus, she promises you’ll learn a bunch of really cool stuff too). Perhaps this wasn’t the life doctorate-less Brooke originally intended (although to this day she remains true to the quest for her very own Coke machine!), but it sure is good!
Troy ~ Director/Instructor; is friggin' entertaining as a teacher! Seriously, though, he’s smarter than he looks. His uniqueness comes from his belly... it's very talented. He’s also a really good guy and thankfully has a good sense of humour. His most favorite thing is his Maria; she's even better than a Transformer! In fact she's so great, she's probably a Cylon. He runs Next Step Swing, a local studio, with his baby-mama Maria, and did you know Troy’s parents are from Guyana? Guyana makes good rum. That’s why… Troy + Rum = Tradition.
Maria ~ Director/Instructor; loves Jello...and cookies...and cakes! Yup, she's preggers*! One of her favorite hobbies is cleaning; she loves to clean. If you let her clean, you'd make her happy. If you then let her cook, you'd make her happier still. If you'd let her clean AGAIN after cooking, oh my... that's just crazy talk!! Her current source of entertainment -- finding ways to eat the foods that her baby-belly says no to and painting the walls of her house bright colors! (Hey if you can't reach your toes, reach for what you can!)
*Okay so she's not preggers anymore and has a beautiful baby boy who often is seen dancing in class but she still really likes her Jello, cookies and cakes!
Kaitlyn ~ Instructor; is a 65 foot tall quadrupedal, plant-eating titanosaurid. But, in reality, she’s a woman. Here are a few things she has to say about herself:
- I thoroughly enjoy office supplies that are either unique or very tiny.
- I like classic musicals and ponies.
- When I graduate I aspire to join a choir.
- At home I live with my husband and our formerly overweight cat (with his sidekick psycho kitten)
- In my spare time I read fiction that is meant for teenagers
- I wish I owned a Great Dane (I would name him Mr. Rochester).
- If I owned a Great Dane I would buy him his own dog - a Yorkshire Terrier (Bob)
Phil ~ Instructor; Phil lives, breathes and sleeps dancing. According to his parents, when he was young, his nervous twitch was to dance frantically. Nowadays his constant joy and enthusiasm towards Lindy Hop is exemplified by his fun and informative classes.
To refine his craft, Phil’s desire to be taught by some of the biggest names in Lindy Hop and has had him travel to cities around Canada, the United States and in Europe. When he isn’t in the classroom, Phil can be found spending most of his evenings tearing it up on the social dance floor and mixing with other friendly Toronto dancers. Even when off the dance floor he’s been known to spontaneously dance in random public areas, e.g. moving subway cars, city buses, restaurants, movie theatres, water fountains, etc. Phil is also a performer with Capital Dance Productions, Toronto’s premiere swing and jazz performance troupe.