Dance Instructors: 2011

Rick Dominguez (Los Angeles) has been a country-western DJ for 20 years. He has taught and choreographed line dances for the past 17 years in the Los Angeles area, merging pop and country styles into a unique style of dance. Rick is also the founder and lead choreographer for the award-winning line dance troupe, The LA Wranglers, now in its ninth year.

Jim Drew (Seattle) has been dancing country-western since 1990, teaching since 1994, and competing since 2005. He is a board member, DJ, and instructor for the Rain Country Dance Association. He has performed with the San Jose Spurs, the San Francisco Saddletramps, and currently with the Rain City Rhythm Riders. He medalled in Line Dance at the Copenhagen OutGames in 2009.

Matt Ellinger (San Francisco) performed with the award-winning Barbary Coast Cloggers for twenty years and served as the Artistic Director from 1999-2009. He finds great joy in clogging, and now teaches the dance form throughout the U.S. Matt Ellinger is a researcher by day and is often seen zooming around San Francisco on his bicycle.

Christa Erwin (Seattle) has been dancing for several years, and she is one of the original members of Seattle's Rain City Rhythm Riders. In the last few years, she has become a devoted line dancer, traveling to numerous out-of-state line dance events. She is a regular featured instructor at the Emerald City Hoedown in Seattle and the Sundance Stompede.

John Festa (New York) learned the Lindy Hop at an early age. After pursuing a career in ballet, John rediscovered Lindy Hop in a burgeoning swing scene in NYC in the mid-80’s. John was introduced to West Coast Swing at his first swing weekend. John quickly became a pivotal figure in both the national and local West Coast Swing worlds, where he not only competes, judges and teaches, but is also one of the top DJs.

Lee Fox (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), IAGLCWDC Dance Competition Director, has been teaching country-western dance for 20 years. He was a finalist in ballroom at the 1998 and 2002 Gay Games and IAGLCWDC champion in 1998. He is a member of Southern Country South Florida, a founding member of the 2005 IAGLCWDC champion team Crossfire, and has served as choreographer for the Southern Country South Florida Dream Team and the SunDancers.

Michel Guimond (Vancouver, BC, Canada) became a professional ballroom competitor in 1980 and certified dance instructor in 1992. He has been a prominent coach and choreographer to many other competitors, and has taught same-sex dancing at Not So Strictly Ballroom for four years. He has numerous musical theatre credits to his name. Michel has been country-western dancing with the Vancouver Timberline since 2009.

Dave Hayes (San Francisco) came out to country music in 1993 in Orlando Florida. He started teaching line dances in 1994. Dave jumped right into Sundance when he moved to SF in 2002. Not only is Dave one of Sundance Saloon's regular line dance instructors, Dave is also the IAGLCWDC Webmaster, on the board of directors of the Sundance Association, and chair of the Sundance Stompede.

Sara Hilbrich (Washington, DC) is a regular instructor with the Capital Country Dance Club and has taught at many other venues in the D.C. area. She won same-sex country-western dance couples competitions at the 2008 and 2009 IAGLCWDC conventions, and has placed in many west coast swing competitions as leader and follower. Formerly from San Francisco, Sara is particularly happy to return to teach at the Stompede.

Troy Inman (San Diego) has performed with Banevolks International, Dance Force, and DanceFx, and he is the co-founder and Artistic Director for Contact Dance Theatre - UNstrictly Ballroom.  Troy is a trapeze aerialist and also performs in the Theatre Arts/Cabaret style of dance.  When not dancing, Troy manages a national healthcare training group.

John Lindo (New York) began dancing in 1992 with country-western and line dancing. He quickly moved into West Coast Swing and garnered more than his share of awards and championships. Some of his First Place awards include the US Open, Grand Nationals, Phoenix Champions of Champions, and the North Atlantic All Star Division. He received the Entertainer of the Year award at the USA Grand Nationals in 2001. web-site

Michael McGee (Minneapolis) started dancing in 1989. A friend actually told him, "You may be one of those people that never quite gets it." But since his first IAGLCWDC convention in 1993, you'd be hard pressed to keep him off the dance floor! Michael's teaching career began with the debut of country dancing at The Town House Country Bar in St. Paul. People haven't gotten tired of him yet, so he's still doing it!

Michael Metzger (San Francisco) has been country western dancing for five years now and still isn't sated. His love for dancing is rivaled only by his love for sharing the fun with others through teaching. He has been a featured instructor at Sundance Saloon (San Francisco), Gays For Patsy (Boston), and Dirty Water Saloon (Boston) and at the Sundance Stompede.

Stina Rogal (Chicago) started country-western dancing at Charlie's in Chicago 16 years ago and has been teaching "Virgins" to dance for the last eleven years. She loves the energy from people learning and loving to dance. She is a longtime member of US Figure Skating and has taught competitive figure skating for 35 years. She is very honored to be returning to teach at the Stompede.

Scott Schrank (Atlanta) has been line dancing since 1998. He has won top awards at numerous competitions in both IAGLCWDC and in the "Mainstream" dance world. Scott has been choreographer of Southern Line Atlanta since 2000. He has written over 60 line dances to date, including Georgia Winder, Someday-Someway, and Working It. Check out Scott's web-site.

Susanna Stein (New York) traces her country-western dancing roots to San Francisco's Rawhide Bar in the mid-1980s. After moving to New York City, she began competing in and teaching dance, and co-founded the Manhattan Prairie Dogs. In 1997, Susanna co-founded the Big Apple Ranch, New York City's only weekly country-western dance club, which she still runs with Jon Lee.

Rosa Turi (Long Beach) has been a country music DJ and line dance instructor for over 13 years. Known for her hip-hopish dance style, she teaches and choreographs line dances to all music types. Rosa currently DJs and teaches line dances in Long Beach at Cowboy Country, The Executive Suite and Hamburger Mary's. This will be her fifth year teaching at the Sundance Stompede. DJ Rosa's website

Patrick Turnbull (Los Angeles) caught the country-western dance craze at Los Angeles Gay Rodeo in 1990. When the opportunity arose, he started teaching 2-step, waltz and swing at the Rawhide (now Cobra) dance club, Los Angeles area gay pride festivals and rodeos, and privately. With his partner Collie, he brings his direct and easy-to-understand style of teaching to each workshop, reflecting his love of dance and desire to share.

Collie Valadez (Los Angeles) has been devoted to country-western dancing since 1990. Along with his humor, he brings his formal training in ballet, jazz and musical comedy to the dance floor, making novices quickly feel comfortable. He has taught in the Los Angeles dance scene since 1997 with Patrick Turnbull, his lover and dance partner of 42 years. His skill has inspired people young and old to move together on the dance floor. 

Aldo Watkins (Austin) has been dancing forever, and started teaching when the "little living-room dance" he created was seen by some members of his country-western dance club. They convinced him to teach it to the club—and the Bayou City Twister was born. He hasn't stopped learning and teaching since then, and most recently was the staff line dance instructor at Austin's gay country-western venue, the Rusty Spurs.