Jesse Fatherree found the joy of dance during the swing revival in the late 90’s. After meeting Frankie Manning in 1999, he was inspired to learn and teach Lindy Hop at every opportunity. In his early years of traveling, he also competed in numerous events including American Lindy Hop Championships, Camp Hollywood, Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown and a variety of smaller, regional events.

As a founding leader of the SwinGallery, Jesse has taught thousands of dancers over the last 22 years and helped build a thriving dance community right here in Cincinnati. He’s taught classes in Lindy Hop, Balboa, Blues, Charleston, East Coast Swing, St. Louis Shag and more. His classes encourage every individual to find their own style while being able to effectively communicate with their partner. He enjoys focusing on technique and musicality all while having loads of fun.

In addition to vintage swing dances, Jesse also has been doing West Coast Swing for over 15 years, salsa for 5+ years and has recently started doing Argentine Tango. If there’s music playing, he’s probably dancing!

Abi’s diverse dance background consists of Lindy, Balboa, West Coast Swing, American Ballroom, Social Latin, Hustle and more! These all combine together to create a delightfully knowledgeable teacher with a gift for passing along information. She began dancing Lindy Hop in the middle of the Neo-Swing era in 1998 at the Derby in Hollywood. Growing up in Los Angeles, she always had interest in partner dancing because, as someone who had to lead in life, she aspired to understand what it meant to follow. After moving cross country to North Carolina in 2006, she discovered the West Coast Swing scene was more popular than the Lindy/Balboa scene and she craved the social aspect of community. Abi later moved to Huntsville, AL where she currently resides. Abi is amidst completion of her Bachelor’s degree and about to start a Master’s program. With little free time on her hands, she does manage to find time to enjoy crafting, cooking, playing the piano, and building with Legos. Abi was a musician before she became a dancer and lately, she has been going back to her roots of piano and singing. She played professionally until her mid-20s when her focus shifted to raising kids and dancing. Abi’s favorite aspect of dancing is the never-ending challenge; as she says, “There is always something to learn and improve on.” 

Annie has been dancing East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop since 2016, and picked up West Coast Swing in 2018. She began competing in 2019 were she has quickly rose through the ranks of the West Coast Swing divisions and is a Rising Star competitor on the West Coast Swing Circuit. Her passion is to share her love and joy for swing dance and to share its rich history. She loves exploring where the different types of swing intersect often adding Lindy Hop flare to her West Coast Swing. Annie approaches the dance community as if it a were family. She believes dancing is a fantastic way to build confidence, exercise your body and mind, meet new friends, maintain relationships and add joy to your life and to the lives of others.

Alex and Brianna have been dancing together since 2017, and have been teaching together since 2019. Alex’s dance journey began in college when he started taking Salsa lessons with his university’s ballroom club and Lindy Hop lessons in downtown Baltimore. Brianna started her dance journey in high school with Lindy Hop, and eventually discovered West Coast Swing in 2016. Today, Alex dances West Coast Swing competitively in the Advanced division, Brianna in the All-Star division, and both dance it socially every chance they get. In 2022, Alex and Brianna got married and moved from Maryland to Michigan, where they now share their passion for Dance with anyone who wants to learn.

Known for their entertaining style and emotionally captivating musicality, Chris and Melissa Moy are premier West Coast Swing Dance Instructors in the Ann Arbor and Metro Detroit area. Melissa and Chris also specialize in Zouk as part of their teaching repertoire, offering a social style of Zouk instruction. In either dance, they offer a unique teaching experience focused on technique, purposeful practice and fun all while adapting their instruction technique to each student and fostering each dancer’s unique style. As two of the original members of the Ann Arbor Swing Society, they are enthusiastic about growing Swing and Zouk around Michigan and the Midwest, forming relationships with other dance communities. Chris and Melissa Moy are pleased to offer their instruction services for workshops, private lessons, group lessons, choreography and demonstrations.

Growing up in a studio run by her parents who were professional ballroom dance instructors, Bree started ballroom dancing at the age of 3 years old and competed in her first ballroom competition at the young age of 5 years old. Bree has been dancing and competing for over 20 years and has been professionally teaching ballroom, latin, west coast swing, wedding choreography, line dance, and partner dancing for the past 9 years. Throughout her life she has trained in many dance styles like jazz, hip hop, contemporary, and ballroom but has found her love and passion for west coast swing, line dancing, and wedding choreography!

Bree owns The Ritz Ballroom Dance Studio with her mom in Florence Kentucky and is a full time dance instructor. She currently competes in rising star and has been competing all over the country in west coast swing.

Her passion is to spread her love and joy for dance while being inviting and welcoming to everyone. As she tries to provide a family like environment for her dance community. She believes dancing is such a great way to boost your self esteem, exercise your body mentally and physically, meet new friends, connect with other people and add joy to your life!

During the week, Ward can be found managing a martial arts school in Morgantown, WV or being one of the mentors for Sting Swing. However, on the weekends he can often be seen dancing the night away on the social dance floor. 

Kristen has trained in dance, gymnastics and cheer since she was a toddler in West Chester Ohio. As a basketball and football cheerleader at Lakota West High School, her team won the national cheer leading competition 2 years in a row, the only team to ever accomplish this feat. She worked her way through college coaching gymnastics at a nationally renowned gym in Ann Arbor MI. It was in college that she discovered partner dancing, joining a ballroom dance company which performed in the A2 – metro Detroit area. After college she discover West Coast Swing which quickly became her main focus. 15 years and 2 children later, it is still the dance she loves most, but Cheer is her specialty.

Hank began dancing in 1994 when a girlfriend dragged him kicking and screaming into a country bar to take two-step lesson. He had never been exposed to either, but in no time he was hooked on dancing (the girlfriend not so much). It just so happened that this country bar decided to bring in the best instructors they could find. which were UCWDC world champion Mike Wagner and NASDE Champion Brandy Tobias (Guild) which were his first professional instructors. In 1999, Hank discovered the Retro Swing movement where he focused his efforts on a Retro version of East Coast Swing, eventually learning many of the aerial lifts. Hank was soon hired by a talent agency to perform his neo-swing style at corporate events for companies such as Chrysler Corporation, Diamler, Comerica Bank, Adistra Corporation and others. He also was hired to teach at various swing dance clubs and events. While Hanks loves WCS and two-step, his specialty is Neo-swing dance

Hank and Kristen met in 2009 when she discovered WCS, after which they began competing together and soon began hosting social dance events. They soon became partners in life as well as dance.