Ramona Staffeld

(She/her)

Ramona Staffeld is a world renowned lindy hop and jazz dancer, and is considered a modern day great. Her career has spanned more than 25 years and taken her to every continent on the globe. Ramona is a champion dancer, holding first place titles from the most famous competitions in the world, including the International Lindy Hop Championships, the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown, the American Lindy Hop Championships, and the World Lindy Hop Championships.

Ramona learned from, and was class assistant to, lindy hop pioneer and ambassador, Frankie Manning. When just a teenager, she was invited by Manning to perform at Lincoln Center as part of the Midsummer Night Swing program.

Ramona danced with The Vananver Caravan for many years, and performed with such folk music greats as Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger. As a company member, she danced in Tap City on 42nd Street, at Symphony Space, and in Earth Beat! at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, to name a few.

As a jazz practitioner and improviser, you'll often find Ramona with her tap shoes on. Her experiences with elders of Lindy Hop and Tap draw connections and obvious truths of their shared roots.

Ramona lived and danced in NYC for years, and completed the Professional Studies program at the Jose Limon Institute. She studied ballet with Rachel List, and attended summer programs with Doug Verone, Doug Elkins, Ronald K. Brown, and Sean Curren.

For the past 14 years Ramona has made Melbourne, Australia, her home base and we are so lucky to have her at our little festival at the bottom of the world.

Miya Miyazaki

(She/her)

We are excited to welcome Miya to the Dunedin Swing Festival 2025! Miya's journey in dance began at the age of 3, and she has spent most of her life honing her craft as both a professional dancer and teacher, with a Diploma in Performing Arts. While she has explored many styles of dance, she has a deep passion for the rhythm and groove of jazz, and the undeniable connection found in swing dancing – it’s truly addictive!

Miya is the troupe leader and teacher for Swing Patrol's performance group, Shout!, and also performs with the renowned jazz dance troupe, The Rhythm Revellers. With a wealth of teaching experience, Miya has shared her knowledge at prestigious events such as Cheek to Cheek in Taipei, Taiwan, and Boogie Down South in Margaret River, Australia.

She has an impressive competition record, having earned top placements nationally and internationally in Lindy Hop, Solo Jazz, and Balboa. Recent achievements include:

1st place in Solo Jazz at Diga Diga Doo in Bangkok, Thailand

1st place in both Mix & Match and Strictly Lindy at Gold Coast Lindy Fest

2nd place in the Savoy Cup Qualifiers at The Snowball in Stockholm, Sweden

Miya’s passion for dance goes beyond just teaching—she loves social dancing, choreographing, collaborating, and being a student herself. Outside of swing, Miya is currently diving into hip hop and house dance.

Get ready to be inspired and have a blast with Miya at the festival!

Jessie Gordon

(She/her)

Jessie Gordon is an internationally award winning singer/songwriter, vocalist, and dancer. She specialises in solo movement, Lindy Hop and Blues. Jessie began dancing Lindy Hop in 2001, started teaching not long after and has performed as a dancer and singer professionally since 2009.

She has taught all over the world, including workshops in Italy, Korea, Belgium, Spain, Bulgaria, and even New Zealand a very long time ago - she’s been trying to get back ever since!

Jessie’s teaching approach is grounded in the idea that what we pay attention to is what we truly care about. She is passionate about bringing attention to the music that is the foundation of our dance, to the joy that we feel when we move to great music and to the technique that facilitates the expression of that joy.

As a musician, she is particularly inspired by the improvisational element of partnered dancing, and her dance style is deeply responsive to the music she is dancing to (watch out if Dolly Parton comes on, no one is safe).

We are excited to be able to share that we have Jessie singing at our Saturday night event too

Please help us welcome Jessie to Dunedin as this will be her first time here with us ... And we can't bleedin' wait!

Evan Hughes

(He/him)

We just can't get enough of this guy! We keep bringing him back.

After a lifetime of being a dedicated non-dancer, Evan started swing dancing in 2004 and is now ingrained in all things swing, jazz, blues and more. Evan has anchored some of Melbourne's most successful venues, and regularly teaches workshops across Australia, New Zealand.

Evan has been a dedicated troupe member for too many years to count, including being one of the original team to found Echoes of Harlem, now known as the Rhythm Revellers. He has been a highly successful competitor, he has been fortunate enough to win national titles across Lindy Hop, blues, teams and balboa divisions.

His own greatest critic, Evan is always eager to be better and relishes all opportunities for improvement. Teaching, performing, and competing are essential parts of Evan's dancing, as is anything that further develops his dancing skills for the social floor.

We are thrilled Evan keeps coming back to our wee town.

John and Julia Wharington

(He/him) - (She/her)

We fell in love with these two last year and couldn't resist getting them back this time! John and Julia Wharington are passionate about all things Balboa, be it slow or fast. They are experts in their field and love sharing their enthusiasm for the dance with dancers at any level. Over the last two decades, they have attended countless international and Australian Balboa events, and won or placed in many Balboa competitions.

They've been teaching Balboa together since 2012, including local classes, troupes and workshops nationally and internationally. Having learned from and danced with some of the original dancers, their approach to teaching the dance is to be respectful of the roots of the dance, whilst bringing their own ideas and modern perspective into expressive and creative content.

From their classes you can expect an infectious energy, innovative teaching techniques, and challenges that get you thinking out of the box, all bundled in a fun and unique package. Their aim is to get you dancing Balboa comfortably and confidently, looking and feeling good in no time.

Needless to say we are thrilled to host them in our wee city with big balboa dreams!