Instructors

Gabi Wasserman

Gabi fell in love with dance in college. He competed on the CSU ballroom team for 4 years and returned after graduation to help coach. He started west coast swing shortly after and hasn’t looked back since. Gabi is competing at an all star champion level and is passionate about teaching.

Jonathan Prichard

Jonathan has been dancing West Coast Swing for the past 10 years. Prior to West Coast Swing, Jonathan came from a break-dancing background, which influenced his teaching style, from body movement, functionality, and most of all, the music. Jonathan is known for his musicality, smooth connection, and having fun wherever he goes. He loves sharing “light bulb” moments and working with students who want to grow.

Olya Khvan

Olya started dancing when she was 5 years old. She began with ballet and tap, moving to jazz and ballroom once she started college. When introduced to West Coast Swing she was able to connect it with her past dances while incorporating her musical knowledge to develop her unique musicality. She finds West Coast Swing to be a fun, stress relieving outlet, that allows her to express herself creatively as an art.

Aleksandr Rozhkov

Aleksandr, or Sasha as his friends call him, started dancing in 2009 in Russia. It was there that he was introduced to the concept of movement to music. As an athlete and lifelong musician, dance captured his attention as it was a culmination of two things that he loved. After exploring various dances, West Coast Swing captured his heart for it’s ability to create and adapt to various styles of music. He finds joy and a freedom of expression embedded within the technique and personal style of West Coast Swing.

Terra Summers

Terra has been dancing and competing in West Coast Swing and Country for over 11 years. Her teaching career began with Country Partner Dancing and Line Dancing, then quickly became involved in West Coast Swing. She competes as an all-star on the WSDC circuit and has won numerous awards. Her passion and enthusiasm for teaching is contagious and loved by her students. Her friendly and outgoing personality makes learning from her fun and exciting! She is also the founder and instructor for the Dancing With Friends adaptive dance program and is making a huge impact helping dancers with disabilities.

Elizabeth Spann

Lizzy fell in love with dancing at the age of 9 right here in Denver, Colorado. Since then, she has earned her points up from the Junior, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, and AllStar Divisions. Although Lizzy loves to teach, compete, and DJ, her favorite part of WCS is social dancing. Lizzy was fortunate to study under the some of highest ranked West Coast Swing dancers, including Ben Morris and Victoria Henk. Lizzy’s goal is to share her love and passion for this dance and empower her students to express themselves to music.

Aris DeMarco

With an extensive background in athletic and strength coaching, Aris sees west coast swing through the lens of human movement as a whole. As a teacher he strives to adjust for each student not only in terms of individual learning style, but also terminology and their current understanding of WCS. In his own dancing Aris is purposeful, adaptable and heavily focused on physical connection.

Derek Newman

Derek Newman has been dancing for over 20 years and teaching at the Mercury Cafe for 10 years. He began his dancing career in East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop, but has spent the past decade focused on West Coast Swing. He has competed across the country in West Coast Swing routine divisions and enjoys traveling to national dance events.