Instructors
Teni Lopez-Cardenas
Graceful and fiery. Feminine yet dynamic. Known for her swivels. Teni Lopez-Cardenas started her dance career as a lucky fluke almost 5 years ago, while living in beautiful Northern Colorado. Since then, Teni has become an accomplished competitor, teacher, and performer, and has had the pleasure of working with many well-known leads.
In the classroom, Teni maintains a fun and accessible attitude while focusing on the importance of connection, body awareness, and technique. Her passion for the dance shines through in her teaching, and she strives to instill a sense of playfulness while encouraging her students to develop their own personal style. To achieve these goals, she makes a lot of sound effects, and will often reference Mel Brooks movies; she awards utterly pointless points to anyone who can correctly name the quote
Teni is happiest when dancing her heart out, and she loves to perform and compete; she has performed for events such as the Great Southwest Lindyfest and Camp Jitterbug's Jump Session Show, as well as for various events in the Denver area. On the competition circuit, Teni has garnered a long list of accomplishments, consistently placing in top Lindy Hop and Balboa divisions at many prestigious events such as the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown, the American Classic Balboa Championships, the American Lindy Hop Championship, Camp Jitterbug, the National Jitterbug Championships, and Lindy on the Rocks.
Find about more at http://www.tenilopez.net
Email: tenishoe@gmail.com
Dave Bradford
Dave started learning Balboa in the Spring of 2007 and quickly fell in love with it. In his quest to gain a deeper understanding of Balboa, he has traveled to some of the biggest Balboa events and learned from the best Balboa teachers in the world. Some of those events are: London Balboa Festival (2007), All Balboa Weekend (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011), Canadian Balboa Championships (2008), the Eastern Balboa Championships (2009, 2010), Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout (2011) and Hot Rhythm Holiday (2010).
Dave has also been helping to build the local Balboa scene. In 2008, he started he started biweekly Balboa practices that have helped Austin's Balboa dancers hone their skills (In the LIOSA Balboa competition in 2009, 5 of the top 6 dancers had been regularly attending practices). He teaches the beginning Balboa class at Four on the Floor. In the Fall of 2008, he started DJing Balboa dancers (as well as Shag dancers and other swing dancers). He was a DJ at the Hot Rhythm Ball in 2009 and 2010 and regularly DJs for Four on the Floor and the Austin Swing Syndicate.
Competitions:
1st Place - Hot Rhythm Holiday 2010 Balboa Strictly (with Teni Lopez-Cardenas)
2nd Place - Hot Rhythm Holiday 2010 Balboa Jack and Jill (with Teni Lopez-Cardenas)
3rd Place - Lindy in Old San Antonio 2009 Balboa Jack and Jill (with Tracy Owen)
Finalist - All Balboa Weekend Amateur Jack and Jill 2011 (with Miranda Longaker), All Balboa Weekend Amateur Strictly 2011 (with Susanne Thybo), Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout 2011 Open Jack and Jill, Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout 2011 Open Strictly (with Jennifer Monk), Eastern Balboa Championships 2010 Amateur Strictly (with Jennifer Monk).
Find about more at http://dance.dbrad.net
Email: dave@balaustin.com
Jennifer Monk
Jennifer began her swing dancing education in 2008 and found Balboa not long after. She was asked to join the teaching team at BalAustin in late 2009 after returning from All Balboa Weekend and the week long Balboa track at Studio Hop Summer Camp in France that year.
Since then Jennifer has continued her Balboa experience by travelling to events such as: Eastern Balboa Championships (Raleigh, NC), Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout (Denver, CO), Hot Rhythm Holiday (Austin, TX) and Twin Cities Balboa Festival (Minneapolis, MS). She has advanced to the finals level of competitions at each of those events.
Email: jennifer@balaustin.com
Chad Skeeters
Chad started swing dancing in 2008 in San Antonio. Chad started traveling to balboa events in 2010 and attended Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout, DC Balboa Weekend, All Balboa Weekend, Twin Cities Balboa Blowout, EBC, and LindyFocus which had an advanced track in 2010. Chad has taken many balboa private lessons from Nick Williams, David Rehm, Jeremy Otth, Laura Keat, and Andreas Olson. Chad applies logic with knowledge of natural movement to develop his own philosophy on dance technique that enables simplicity and efficacy.
Chad has been teaching all types of swing in San Antonio since 2009 and teaches Lindy Hop at Four on the Floor. He joined BalAustin as a instructor in 2011. Chad strives to motivate his students by presenting challenges and ideas that require critical thought. Chad believes in peer practice and feedback.
Email: chad@balaustin.com
