2016 Jazz Dance
CLINIC & WORKSHOPS
Jessi Brown began dancing at the age
Lisa Nikssarian has been dancing
since she was young. She started out at a small dance studio in Castro Valley, California, learning all types of dance styles. She focused her learning on tap, jazz, ballet, and hip hop, and competed and won in many national dance competitions. In her high school and early college years, she had the opportunity to teach at her home studio. After performing for over a year at Las Positas College, she has continued pursuing her dancing career as a dance major at the University of Idaho and hopes to continue teaching.
Benjamin Devaud started as
Lauren Smith is a dancer, teacher
Morgan Douglas is a social dancer who believes that
The Swing Devils are a local group of swing dance enthusiasts in Moscow who meet once a week to celebrate the invention of swing music by moving in unison with it. For more than 15 years, the Swing Devils have been promoting jazz dance and jazz music by hosting dances, teaching lessons, and supporting jazz musicians. This merry band of social dancers welcomes those with two left feet as they have extra right ones to spare.
soccer player, but he began formally dancing at the University of Idaho in 2011. Over time he focused more on dances within the Hip Hop culture, specifically b-boying. He received further intensive training from the American Dance Festival for two summers, taking technique classes in Hip Hop (Teena Custer), Afro-Modern (Michele Gibson), and Modern (Brenda Daniels, Rodger Belman). He graduated with a B.S. in Biology with Dance and Spanish minors. He currently teaches Hip Hop at University of Idaho and danced in the 2015 premiere of Belle Baggs’ Settle/Unsettle in New York City. His goals for students are to love the dance and be themselves.
connection is the key to dance. From foxtrot to salsa to swing, dance is a conversation in another language and the dancer must be able to speak and listen, to communicate clearly. He has taught dance for the University of Idaho, Festival Dance, Swing Devils of the Palouse, Sandpoint Swing and numerous individuals. If you ask, he’ll say his first loves are West Coast Swing and tango, but the truth is, it doesn’t matter as long as he’s dancing. University of Idaho
WORKSHOPS
of two at a studio in Boise, studying ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, and modern. Her love for Hip Hop grew and she has been teaching the Intermediate Hip Hop class at the University of Idaho for three years. She holds a B.S. degree in Exercise Science and Health with a Dance minor and has been actively involved in performances, as well as research studying the dance style KRUMP. She presented on KRUMP at the national and state AHPERD conferences in 2014 and presented at SHAPE America in March 2015.
and choreographer. She is completing her B.S. in Dance and a B.S. in Exercise Science and Health. She has taught ballet, jazz, and modern courses for UIdaho and ballet for Festival Dance Academy. She has danced professionally with Long Beach Ballet and has performed all throughout China and across the United States. Her choreographic work has been showcased at UIdaho, American College Dance Association, and throughout the Pacific Northwest on tour. She is a member of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science where her research in dance biomechanics was presented this past fall.
49th Annual Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival
61