Our Dance Teachers

Nathan Dias

Nathan is an accomplished swing dance instructor, performer and DJ in San Francisco. Dancing since 1997, Nathan learned his chops on the social and competitive dance floor, at national and international dance camps, and as a performer with the SF Bounce and 3 Minute Maniacs swing dance troupes. Nathan started teaching dance in 2005 and is the regular dance instructor at Cat’s Corner – the Wednesday night swing dance at Savanna Jazz Club. He is often a guest instructor at Lindy in the Park and the 9:20 Special.

Ariel Krizack

Ariel Krizack is a multi-talented dancer and choreographer, who specializes in Hip Hop with training in various forms of Modern dance as well as African, Salsa and Belly dance.  Ariel is currently enrolled in the Performance and Social Justice Program at the University of San Francisco, where her concentration is in Dance. Ariel loves fusing different styles of dance together. In her class you will learn various forms of Hip Hop as well as integrative choreography that fuses Hip Hop with the unexpected.

Kacie Devaney

Kacie Devaney has been studying West African dance for the past fifteen years. She has studied Modern dance intensively for eight years, and has immersed herself in learning world dances since a young age. Her passion for dance is immediately recognized in her ability to inspire students from all dance back rounds and levels to enjoy dance purely for the mental and physical benifts it offers. Kacie is patient and encouraging to beginner level dancers and advocates having fun and moving above all. Kacie has been teaching West African Fusion dance throughout San Francisco for four years now and is delighted to bring it into outer Sunset where she currently resides! Kacie is also a certified Pilates instructor and has performed with various dance studios throughout the bay area. With her diverse dance backround and zest for movement and dance, Kacie continues to spread her love for the art througout the bay area. Kacie is currently a dance minor at San Francisco State University.

Andrea Fuchillieri

Andrea was born in the beautiful city of Rosario, Argentina. She began her dance studies in 1983 at age siz, and has explored many different genres from ballet, classical Spanish dances, Flamenco, modern dance, contact improvisation, Argentine folklore, Afro-Haitian, and many other ethnic dance forms.

In 1998, Andrea moved to New York City to further her studies in dance and body awareness techniques at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and Nassau Community College, Long Island. It was a combination of living in New York City and the nostalgia of being away from home that brought her closer to Tango. Always fascinated by the dynamics of the human body, how it moves, connects and relates to itself and others, Andrea continues to research and explore movement through a daily practice of modern dance and Yoga.

Guest Instructors

Ann Mony

Ann Mony is an award-winning lindy hop dancer, teacher, choreographer, and performer who recently moved to San Francisco.

Ann hails from Montreal where she honed her skills as a dance teacher after falling madly in love with swing dancing in 2000. Known for her playful style and the joy that she exudes while dancing, she travels as often as she can to share her love of the dance in competitions, performances, classes, and on the social dance floor.  She holds titles from such events as the International Lindy Hop Championships, American Lindy Hop Championships, Canadian Lindy Hop Championships, Boston Tea Party, Quebec Swing Rendez-Vous, and Lindy Focus.  Ann was a founding member of the DC Cherry Blossoms, an all-female solo charleston team, and was proud to be a member of various lindy hop teams in Montreal, including the always inspiring Northern Lights.

Ryan Calloway

Ryan Calloway discovered his love for jazz – dance and music – in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After moving to Los Angeles in 2006, his passion for the dance continued to grow as well as his interest in solo movement and musicality. Since relocating to San Francisco in 2008, Ryan has been competing, performing and teaching (locally and internationally). He has performed at the Boogie by the Bay, 920 Special and The Rhythm Lounge. Ryan continues to explore the elements of solo jazz and finding playful ways of incorporating them into partner dancing.

Carla Heiney

Carla Heiney is competitively one of the most successful women in the swing dance community. With 5 ALHC titles, 6 US Open titles, and a World Lindy Hop Championships title she is one of the most decorated Lindy Hop instructors. She has travelled all over the country and the world teaching, and over the past several years has been a staple of the San Francisco dance community.

In 1997, Carla fell in love with classic Swing music from the Big Band era; a direct result of her grandfather singing the tunes around the house with the occasional ÒtruckinÕ stepÓ added into his leisurely stroll. She went searching for this music and dance that made her Pappy sing & prance, and when she found it, she too lost her heart to the rhythms and rhymes of distant times.

Since then, Carla has been around the world teaching, learning, & dancing. Competing is fun for Carla and a great way to push her limits, but her real passion is teaching dance and social dancing. She travels all over the country and the world teaching this art form to others and is excited to call San Francisco home and be a part of the thriving San Francisco Bay area dance community. She has a down to earth teaching approach, but still takes learning seriously and focuses heavily on quality of movement, partner connection, musicality, and most importantly, enjoying the dance! Carla searches for that fine balance of staying connected to the roots of the dance, where it came from and why, while still pushing the envelope of where the dance can go. Lindy Hop is a constantly evolving dance that should be rooted deeply in its vibrant & extensive history, but still bursting with energy towards a brilliant future.

Yoga Instructors

Nicole McCracken

Nicole McCracken has trained as a teacher in many forms of yoga including, Jivamukti, Ashtanga, Anusara and pre/post-natal yoga.

Being naturally athletic, she was a nationally ranked gymnast at the age of 14.  Training rigorously from the age of 6, chronic injury and pain seemed normal to her. Nicole attended her first yoga class seeking healing for severe chronic neck pain.  She was so inspired by the results that she began studying and taking classes in as many forms of yoga as possible.  Wanting to share the profound results from a daily practice with others, she started training to be a teacher.  Nicole received her certification as a Jivamukti Instructor in May 2008, and recently completed the Anusara Teachers Training at Yoga Kulu with Katchie Ananda.

Shareese Wheeler

Having been introduced at a very young age different backgrounds of spirituality and the freedom to explore on her own, it’s no wonder Shareese crossed the path of yoga. Finding herself expressing through dance and being nurtured by nature, she began meditating unbeknowing the definition as a child. Having her first taste of yoga in 2004 by her mom dragging her to a class, the seed was planted. Initially chasing after a holistic health degree, specifically homeopathy, she accepted the school of life is more her style. Finally in 2009, it came to her. You’re going to be a yoga teacher. It was perfect. Meshing health, medicine, connection and movement into one.

Originally hailing from Denver, CO, learning of the fire dancing scene in San Francisco, she packed 3 bags and moved. She found herself 3 months later training at The Yoga Tree San Francisco, graduating in 2010 and has been on this awesome journey since. Certified thus far with 200 hours and also a certified pre-natal instructor, she hopes to deepen her practice with the ultimate, the life givers, the mamas, even more focused, the teen mamas as well as specialize in Ayurvedic yoga. Currently weaving anatomy and energy cues into mellow groovy hatha flow classes as well as a meditative safe space for babes in moms womb.

Past Instructors

Audrey Kanemoto

Audrey has been tap dancing for 23 years with a smattering of jazz, ballet, tango, waltz, and lindy hop along the way. She enjoys executing big ideas, so when she first started swing dancing in 2001, she produced a music video with a 40-person cast and crew that included all of her new friends and instructors. She continued work on her technique, style, and stage quality with lindy hop performance groups SF Bounce, The Swing Cats Rhythm Revue, and the 3-Minute Maniacs.

In the last two years, Audrey has been traveling and competing at lindy hop events and camps earning a name for herself as an exuberant and passionate solo charleston dancer. Her most recent lindy hop success was a clean sweep of the three first place trophies at Inspiration Weekend 2007 in Orange County. When she is not dancing Audrey is an architect specializing in green custom residential additions and remodels.

Michelle Richter

Michelle Richter has been dancing for over 20 years and seriously studying dance for about 15 years. Her background in ballet and modern dance has inspired her to focus on technique combined with creative movement in her teaching style. She has studied the movement of the human body in many forms of dance, including African-Caribbean, Jazz, Contact Improvisation, Belly Dance, Hip Hop and various Ballroom styles. For the last 8 years, Michelle’s main focus has been Lindy-Hop and Blues dancing. Her teaching focuses on connection, attitude and self-expression, proper body mechanics, and one-on-one attention. She finds that her profession as a Nationally Certified Massage Therapist, which gives her extensive knowledge of human anatomy, compliments her dance instruction in a unique way.

LeAnna Sharp

LeAnna has trained in a variety of dance styles such as Latin cultural dances such as Salsa and Cueca, Folkloric dances such as Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Cuban and Afro-Haitian, and Contemporary-Modern, Musical Theatre, Jazz, and Hip-Hop. At SFSU she received instruction in the Horton, Graham and Dunham Technique, as well as trained with the Joe Goode Dance Performance Group through the CSU Summer Arts intensive, a technique that uniquely combines theatre and dance.

Rose Connally

Rose has been dancing for ten years, beginning with ballet and then eventually adding on modern dance, jazz, swing and blues, feeding her constant hunger for more dance.  She has been performing for most of her life and enjoys dance as both a form of expression and a form of entertainment.  She has been swing dancing since 2005, tearing up the floors at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, then Midtown Stomp in Sacramento, and now she dances wherever she can, whenever she can, in the San Francisco area.  When she is not dancing, Rose is also an artist, specializing in pencil portraits.