Morning Teachers

Cofounder of the Mo-Ho Mammas dance troupe and noted malt liquor enthusiast, Sarah has had quite the road to arrive at Central Swing Time. When she was younger she embarked on an Iberian Ham study abroad program in Europe. She came to discover that ‘elite’ meat wasn’t her thing, but that breakfast meats were where her true passion lived. That realization led her to be the featured speaker at a breakfast meat sommelier conference. At that conference the evening ‘ice breaking’ activity was a local swing dance and the rest, as they say, is history. Sarah is very excited to be back at Central Swing Time to share her love of all things dance AND breakfast meats with you.

After a horrific knee injury McKenna permanently knew her career as a covert paratrooper was over. She was nursed back to health in a monastery nestled deep in the Himalayas. The monks there encouraged her to do something deep and meaningful with her life. She chose dance instead. But humanity’s loss is our gain as she will bring her love of the dance to all the students at Central Swing Time! Feel free to ask her about the dance troupe she’s starting with Sarah Liem, the Mo-Ho Mammas! (audition dates pending)

Afternoon Teachers

This is an interesting picture of Nicole. Friends are gathered together to enjoy a cookie cake, which is about to be cut about a machete. Nothing interesting there (except for the disappointing lack of frosting on said cookie cake), no the interesting part is what happened five minutes after this photo was taken. You see the feel of the machete in their hand triggered memories for Nicole of a part of their past hacking their way through the jungles of Nicaragua and……well we don’t have time for that right now. The 90’s were crazy, right? Anyhoodles, Nicole….became a different person. All the people in the picture are fine, but let’s not talk about the cookie….or the cutting board….or the coffee table. All that to say make sure to ask Nicole to dance at CST! (After you’ve done a quick visual sweep for bladed weapons) What’s this Thai boy doing in the middle of Missourah?! The search party has given up, so you might as well befriend him to your Lindy Hop scene with a trail of Werther’s hard candies. House him in a cool space with plenty of sunlight and video games. Let him out to dance a few times a week to reduce restlessness. Conceal fruits and berries at higher cabinet shelving, or he will display aggressive behavior. Don’t worry, he’s also vaccinated.

Matt’s relationship with the arts pre-dates his interest in dance. Matt was the innovator of a performance art trend: corpsing (think planking, but pretending your dead). There wasn’t a public space Matt wouldn’t lay in as if he’d collapsed for hours at a time – all to make a statement about late stage capitalism or the terrors of for-profit healthcare. Ironically this involvement in the arts is how Matt found dance. He was corpsing in a dance studio one random Tuesday and couldn’t help but notice how much fun all the dancers were having. That moment was when he started to move away from corpsing as an artistic outlet and move towards lindy hop. He’d still be happy to ‘corpse’ for you, but please wait until after he’s taught class to ask, he might be there a while….

Haaaave you met Ben? Real piece of work. Won’t stop dancing. Surprisingly nimble. Tall guy (not as tall as Evan). Really cheery, too cheery, honestly. I hear he’s from out of the country and only came over for the comics, though I bet he misses the food back in Thailand. It’s hard to find a restaurant that serves an authentic Kao Soi. Anyways, he’s big on communication, like at his job, in his relationships, with his fish, and on the dance floor. Keep an eye out for him, he may not smell like trouble, but he’s definitely bringing a vibe, one of them good ones.

The Savoy Ballroom was known as the “Home of Happy Feet”. To honor this piece of history, Evan has strived in his multidecade dance career to make every ballroom he steps into the “Home of Gorgeous Feet”. Whether you want to dance cheek to cheek, rock in rhythm, or jump at the woodside, his feet are here for your feet. While yours may not look as good as his on a boat, Evan will help your dancing feet look fantastic on the floor!

Haley signed her first performing contract at age 14, releasing her debut album Haley soon after. Little did she know it would be the beginning of an avalanche of musical success with subsequent albums Unafraid, Talk Presently, Rojo, 1995, Notoriety, Admirer, Fable, Nevermore, Noons, and finally The Mildly Perturbed Creative Writing Department. But despite all of her professional success, she wanted more. She had a hole that even a professional football player couldn’t fill. Luckily for us, she found dance to fill the void. Haley is definitely in her dance…let’s say “era”. She’s excited to show you all about it at Central Swing Time!