Professional Horse Trainer by day, Swing Dancer by night, backpacker, adventurer…Olivia’s interests and abilities are widely diverse! She started Swing Dancing in 2005 while visiting Disneyland with friends. She just loved the energy and music and from that moment on, couldn’t get enough!

Because she worked full time as a Horse Trainer and was often gone at Jumping competitions, for the first 6 years of dancing she danced about 5 nights a week but only as a hobby, never doing competitions or classes and mostly dancing Lindy Hop. 

In recent years, she has grown a passion and love for Balboa as well as Lindy Hop and has dived deep into truly learning what makes these dances so special. Within the last year, she and Jacob Wigger have together founded “Westside Balboa” and teach weekly Balboa classes in Los Angeles to any and all wanting to learn. They also host monthly socials where they encourage all levels of dancer to come and participate and encourage various types of dancing..Lindy, Balboa, Shag, etc..They also teach weekly Lindy Hop lessons at Lindy Groove in Pasadena, CA. Olivia truly has a passion for sharing her love for Swing Dance and is wanting to cultivate an environment where people at all levels and ages can come, learn about vintage Swing Dances, who these dances came from, how they did it and how it can truly change lives by bringing joy and life into any situation.

Olivia has made finals in Lindy Hop, Pure Balboa and Bal Swing at events such as Camp Hollywood, Hot Rhythm Holiday, European Balboa Festival and Great Lakes Balboa Escape and plans to continue competing because she enjoys challenges and it pushes her to become more of the dancer she desires to be. 

The things Olivia values the most in Swing Dancing is the partner connection, the flow of movement and the intricate subtleties of communication that is the “glue” of partner dancing. She loves Lindy Hop and Balboa equally and loves drawing inspiration from the Old Timers. She thinks of partner dancing as a duet, where two people are singing at the same time in order to create something unique, beautiful and complimentary. 

Theresa Manney has been a passionate member of the jazz dance community for over 10 years. She values musicality, quality of movement and social dance etiquette. You can catch Theresa dancing and teaching lindy hop, collegiate shag, St. Louis shag, and solo jazz. When not teaching, you can catch her performing as a long time member of the Sister Kate Dance Company.

Jacklyn “Jackie” Walling’s Collegiate Shag journey all started on the top of a parking garage—in the middle of a Flagstaff, Arizona winter, NAU campus, no money for a studio, and needing something to break up the work of graduate school. Inspired by Live Collegiate Shag and Steve and Chanzie’s classic 2013 routine, she broke down moves of this energetic, vintage dance.

In 2021, she moved to Phoenix, where she began digging into the fine details of technique and connection for both Collegiate Shag and Lindy Hop. A casual hobby soon morphed to obsession and the joy of competing. She has had individual successes in Collegiate Shag competitions in the U.S. and abroad, most recently Hot Rhythm Holiday and Barcelona Shag Festival.  She's also a team member of the award winning 2023 team: Phoenix Bomb Squad.

While she enjoys all vintage swing dances, she really only knows one word. SHAG. She enjoys the fast pace of the dance, its spirited nature, and finding synergy with a dance partner at warp speed. Are feet worth having if the don’t go fast?

Chiadikaobi "Chiadi" Njoku is from Arochukwu Local Government, Abia State, Nigeria, and is part of the Igbo tribe.

He started dancing as a kid with Anglican Children ministry, performing at his local Church and school in Gombe. He grew up learning tribal dance from various instructors that helped create the passion he has for dance. Every time he hears an Igbo song, he is so excited to express the joy he feels through movement. 

After discovering Lindy Hop in college, he began learning the similarities between Jazz and Igbo music, and embodying different rhythms. 

Lindy hop as become such a huge part of his life and, as of 2023, he started traveling and competing in the US and overseas. 

Chiadi recently won the 2023 Lindy Focus Mix and Match competition and made finals in the Solo Jazz competition at All Lithuanian Weekend 2023. When he is not dancing, he likes reading and collecting antique books. 

“Dance enables you to find yourself and lose yourself at the same time" - unknown 

Known by his friends as "Spinney," Jacob Spinney has been obsessed with swing dancing for well over a decade. Achieving titles such as National Jitterbug Champion, Arizona Swing Dance Champion, Arizona Balboa Champion, and California Balboa Classic Champion, Spinney’s love for swing dancing has helped him create a unique style focused on creativity and expressiveness. 

Co-Captain, Choreographer, Talent Developer, and Skills Coach for the Phoenix Swing Project which encompasses national award winning teams, Phoenix Bomb Squad, Phoenix Firecrackers, as well as the Sunny Side Stompers, Spinney enjoys sharing his love for swing dancing, doing slides, and being a goofball. He drinks a Roy Rogers, easy on the ice, extra cherries.