Lindy Cats Festival 2025

Alice was trained at National Choreographic Center of Roubaix (France) as an interpreter and contemporary dance teacher, between 2013 and 2016. Graduated in dance from the University of Lille 3 and from the « Pôle Supérieur de Musique et de Danse du Nord Pas-de-Calais », she moves to Montreal in 2016 to start a master thesis in dance at UQAM (Quebec University in Montreal). Her research master’s degree focuses on Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers’ dancing, lindy-hop pioneer dancers.
Since 2016, Alice is practicing and teaching both contemporary and vernacular jazz (mostly solo jazz and lindy-hop) in Montreal. She started the swing contest circuit since 2017 and won several medals in both lindy-hop (Canadian Champion 2023 and 2024, 1st strictly all-star division ILHC 2024) and solo jazz (2nd all star solo jazz ILHC 2023, 2nd advanced division at Stompology 2023).
In 2021, Alice has been accepted for a doctorate in the study and practice of the arts (DEPA) in UQAM. She currently continues her journey of understanding African-American jazz culture through a research-creation project.

Michel studied broadcasting at the Cité Collégiale in Ottawa. At the same time, he discovered vernacular jazz dances in a local scene and gradually migrated towards a career as a dancer.
Since 2018, he has taught, coached and performed vernacular jazz dances full-time, particularly solo jazz and lindy-hop. In 2024, he won for the second year in a row with his partner Alice Bourgasser the title of Canadian Champion as well as 1st place strictly all star at the international lindy-hop championships (ILHC) in Harlem.
He travels to several continents (Europe, America, Asia) to teach and perform these dances. At the same time, he developed his career as an interdisciplinary artist by participating in different productions in the music and circus world (CampShow 2024, 2023; Camping, 2021).

Ana is a social dancer, teacher and choreographer of various dance styles in the swing family, a guest in African-American dance and culture. She has competed and taught in different countries and currently owns, teaches at and directs her own swing school, „Rayuela Swing“.
Ana’s main values are respect for the history of the music and the dance, connection and communication amongst dancers, and self- expression. In her classes, Ana strive for personal feedback, material that can be used way beyond the hours shared in the classroom, and creating an environment where fun, growth and vulnerability can co-exist.

Born in Italy, Alberto discovered Swing dance in 2015, and he hasn’t stopped since. Shortly after beginning his dance journey, Alberto started traveling to various festivals across Europe, where he learned from different artists and participated in competitions. Following a couple of residencies in Budapest and Vilnius, he has now made Warsaw, Poland, his home/dance base, teaching at the dance school ShimSham.pl.
While he still enjoys competing and ‚throwing down‘ on the dance floor, his favorite moments are undoubtedly spent social dancing. Alberto finds inspiration in every lindyhopper he meets, as each encounter on the dance floor brings something new. Dancing fuels his energy and curiosity, driving him to continually explore the history and culture of the dance. His pockets are filled with rhythmic variations and…jokes 😉

Špela is an active dancer and teacher of various dance genres. In her childhood she attended dance classes in standard and Latin American dances, trained gymnastics and passed a small music school of guitar. At the age of 15 she was introduced to jazz ballet and contemporary dance at the Terpsihora Dance Company, where her teaching career as a contemporary dance teacher began. Since the age of 18 she has been teaching contemporary dance and „jazz“ ballet to children, students and adults. She has always received additional training at dance workshops around Slovenia. Since 2021 she collaborates with choreographer, dancer Ajda Tomazin in the performance Giants-Plastic Landscapes, production Open Drawers.
Since 2013 she has been actively dancing and teaching swing dances (lindy hop, solo jazz, balboa). In 2015 she started teaching locally, and has been developing and deepening her knowledge and love of the many dance styles of swing at various festivals and dance workshops in Europe.
As a dancer and swing instructor, Špela focuses on quality body movement as the fundamental basis of all dance styles, both rhythmically and musically, and deeply values her relationship with her students as a co-creative two-way flow: moving from teacher to student as well as from student to teacher.
Her specificity is her dance versatility and her pedagogical and andragogical background (sociologist of culture and professor of geography), which allow her to teach different age groups and genres.

Born and raised in Mallorca, Xesc started dancing Lindy Hop in Barcelona, after learning that swing music can be danced!
Since that day Xesc‘ life changed completely. Hewas fascinated by its rhythmic richness, the variety of movements and dynamics, and the space for self-expression, so Xesc started his dance journey, first by learning Lindy Hop and then Tap Dance one year later.
In 2017, Xesc had the opportunity to start teaching some classes, and after fi nishing his Psychology studies, he turned dance into his way of life. Early on, Xesc started to research about the Tap Dance masters and the first generations of Lindy Hop dancers, and to this day, they still are my main source of inspiration.
In class, Xesc like to create a nice vibe while putting on a challenge. Sometimes we need a little push to get out of our comfort zone and allow ourselves to grow. And with that, he also encourage students to take a proactive attitude in class, so everyone can take the most out of it. As a teacher, Xesc constantly grows by learning new methodologies and other ways of understanding how Vernacular Jazz Dances can be taught nowadays, acknowledging both the teacher’s and the student’s cultural and background differences.
All in all, nowadays, Xesc is lucky enough to live these dances in the most complete way he could have ever imagined, practicing and competing with different dance partners; sharing the dance in regular classes and workshops; performing with the company Cia. EnJazz; and of course, enjoying the social dance whenever he can.

Serpil is a passionate dancer, teacher and a performer from İzmir, Turkey. She is mostly inspired by Afro-Cuban Jazz and enjoys expressing herself through jazz dance.
She is also the founder of Lindy Hop İzmir and one of the organizers of İzmir Swing Festival and a member of the Lindy Hop Team Turkey.

Erol is an admirer of the ‚bop style‘ of music and dance. His understanding shifted over the years, towards respecting and understanding the culture and history. Researching into bebop/bop dancing for the past few years, he choreographed several ‚bop-influenced‘ performances. Being a part of the local community, he tries to re-shape the approach towards jazz dancing.
In class Erol shares his free perspective about technique and style, focusing on improvisation and groove.

The Smile Trio three dance teachers from Hodi Maputo Afro Swing. The Smile Trio is composed of one dancer (Eugêncio Macuvel) and two musicians (Elias and Augusto Manhiça). Hodi Maputo Afro Swing is a non-profit cultural association founded in 2014 and registered officially in 2018. The mission of Hodi is to work for the preservation, research and dissemination of Mozambican traditional dance, music and traditional instruments as well as African American Swing Dances.