Becca fell in love with partner dancing through a college club where she learned over 15 different dances. She has been dancing West Coast Swing for nearly 15 years and loves sharing her passion for this dance with new dancers. Becca’s favorite part about social dancing is getting to adapt her following to mesh with partners of all levels, skillsets, and styles. While her primary role is following, Becca competes in both roles. She is excited to continue her dance journey through both building her own skillsets and teaching others.

Ben started his dance journey in Oklahoma City in 2007. He spent over a decade teaching weekly classes, private lessons, and helping grow the OKC Swing Dance Club until moving to Austin in 2021. Ben has travelled all over the country judging, teaching, and dancing as an All-Star level competitor. Ben currently teaches beginner WCS classes Monday nights at Fast Friends Brewery, helping to bring more people into the amazing Austin WCS community

Debbie is known for head judging, performances, choreography, and dance instruction. She is an award winning competitor in Country, West Coast Swing, and Hustle, among other dances. Debbie started competing on the West Coast Swing circuit in 1999. Since that time, she has won many major titles including the USA Grand Nationals, Dallas Dance, ASDC, and many others. Debbie currently lives in Austin, TX and works teaching, judging, and performing at events across the nation. Debbie was also co-owner of the Austin Swing Dance Championships, which was a fun, friendly, and successful event for the last 9 years.  

Emily started her dance journey at the University of Texas, where she first discovered west coast swing. She is a WSDC US Open Showcase champion and and competes in the Champion JnJ division. Emily travels all over the world to teach, compete, judge, and DJ. She is passionate about social dancing and sharing new music!

Joseph discovered West Coast Swing near the end of his time in college and really fell in love with it when he moved out to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016. As an avid competitor on the circuit, Joseph has traveled all across the world for west coast swing and currently competes in the All-Star division. He has taught weekly in the San Francisco/Oakland area for the past 2 years and also built the SwingPoints app as a way to give back to the wider community. Having recently moved to Austin, Joseph is super excited to have the opportunity to share his passion for this dance and inspire others to find a home in this amazing dance community as well!

Kelly first was introduced to partner dancing through the country dance halls in Austin after college, but dove more into west coast swing in 2016 after some friends suggested she try it out. Her favorite part of social dancing is being able to create something unique with each partner. You can find her teaching a class or getting to greet everyone at the check-in desk.

We thought that the best way to give a snapshot into Liz's interests and personality was... The 5 C's: 1) Cats 🐱 2) Cacti 🌵 3) Cheese 🧀 4) Coffee ☕ 5) Cannibalism 😨 (she loves horror movies and spooky season 😆). She's been a consistent and fun-loving part of our Austin community for over 8 years and often brings the tunes that evoke booty drops. She is hired to DJ west coast swing events across the country and competes in the All Star division. You may find Liz teaching a class or at the DJ booth to discuss any of her favorite topics!

Rachel discovered West Coast Swing years ago while attending college at UT and instantly fell in love with the dance! Rachel is an All Star West Coast Swing dancer that travels all over the country competing, teaching, and judging. Rachel practices and works diligently on her dance and loves to stay out all night social dancing. Rachel teaches private lessons, workshops, and especially enjoys teaching solo swing workshops to help dancers incorporate isolations, footwork, and other individual movement into their West Coast Swing.

Ryan has been a part of the Austin dance community since 2010. Ryan started dancing in the country bars and taught country dancing at Mavericks Dancehall for 6 years before fully transitioning to West Coast Swing. Ryan has been dancing WCS for 7 years and continues to train frequently with his dance coaches to not only improve his own dancing, but also to keep up with new trends and learning styles in West Coast Swing. Ryan is available for private lessons. You can also find him teaching, at the registration desk, or at the DJ booth Thursday nights at AWA.

Sheven is an All-Star/Champion dancer. This founder of Team Panda wants to spread the joy of dancing to everyone while educating all levels with fun interesting patterns, stylings, variations and much more. Ready to dance as long as you're ready to have a great time!