Instructors
Damon Stone
Damon has been dancing his entire life, starting with vernacular Jazz/Blues first taught to him at the tender age of six by his grandmother. After nearly a decade of learning at the heels of his elders, he went on and eventually studied a numerous dance forms until coming full circle in 1995 to focus primarily on the history and styles of Swing and Blues as his family danced them with a special focus on the Southern styles from the Mississippi Delta region. He has studied the development of vernacular Jazz/Blues dance across the United States learning from a number of the original dancers.
He is largely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on Blues idiom dance and has been interviewed as a dance historian in documentary, radio, and newspaper. Damon has been a featured instructor at camps, festivals, and workshops across five continents.
Kelsy Stone
Kelsy brings her lifetime of dance training, a passion for vernacular dance, and a sharp eye for technique to the Blues dance world. She has brought her joy and knowledge of blues idiom dances to some of the most important and high-profile events in the US and abroad, including but not limited to: bluesSHOUT!, The Experiment, Muse, Hearken the Blues, Black Label Blues, and BluesGeek--serving as faculty, mentor, competition coordinator, and judge.
Kelsy's critical eye and love of deep technique are tempered by her love of "dad jokes," getting lost in the music and embracing the ridiculous. She shows her appreciation of African American culture by speaking of the history of Blues idiom dance and taking her craft seriously, but never herself.
She believes every mistake is an opportunity to learn, every class an opportunity to challenge, and every dance an opportunity to pay respect to those who came before.
Mike Legenthal
Mike's true loves in life are teaching, dancing, following, and music. There's no order, because for her, these things are intrinsically linked. In addition to national events like Lindy Focus and Enter the Blues, Mike has taught at countless regional events in Lindy, Blues, and Balboa, as well as traveling all over the country to teach and perform. She performed in an all-girls Charleston troupe at Camp Jitterbug's Jump Session Show in 2007, and in the all-girl blues troupe, the Hoodoo Ladies, at events from DC to BluesShout in St. Louis. Additionally, she has taught at events ranging from one-month artists residencies to international training camps.
Mike combines an intuitive understanding of connection with an analytical speaking style to give her students technique, but also strives to challenge and inspire her students to push themselves further into the music. She aims to help leaders create artistic compositions that are clearly led; she wants follows to have the ability to be a completely literal follow, and the inspiration and freedom to be an imaginative and dynamic contributor. In the classroom or on the social floor, she seeks a connection that involves active communication from both partners, to make a dance together.
Dan Legenthal
Dan Legenthal is a blues idiom, vernacular jazz, and swing dancer currently living in Boston, MA. He specializes in early-to-mid 1900’s era African-American improvised partner dances done to blues and jazz-blues music. Since 2012 Dan has taught, DJed, and performed around the world at events like Lindy Focus (USA), Korea Blues Camp (South Korea), and Swingin’ the Blues (Australia).
If you are passionate about African-American dances please consider giving you support by donating to a charitable organization such as the Ujima Foundation (https://ujimablues.org/) or the International Association of Blacks in Dance (https://www.iabdassociation.org/).
Catherine Palmier
Catherine Palmier assists individuals to unleash one’s own authentic movement offering guided explorations to refine one’s dance using grounded organic movement, effortless power and fluid grace.
With over 10 years of professional dance experience, academic dance training in Paris, and knowledge of multiple styles of dance, Catherine skillfully and with a keen movement sensibility helps dancers discover the origin and understanding of their own personal movement. She draws from performance concepts, emotions, visualizations, memories, body mechanics, sensations and alignment to support a constantly flourishing understanding of dance for her students.
Catherine hopes her students receive insight, playfulness and enthusiasm from her work enabling them to develop their own signature style within their dance.
Because of Catherine’s ability to interpret various dance styles coupled with her proficiency in revealing the unlimited nature of African dance an body mechanics, this makes her appealing to dancers of any genre or experience level.