Peter Strom
Peter Strom has been a featured instructor at workshops and camps all over the world including the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Since 1999 he has both competed and won at various national competitions. Competitions and titles aside, Peter is first and foremost a social dancer. With this in mind, his classes focus on solid lead/follow technique as the road to finding one's own unique style. His simple philosophy, based on momentum, connection, and rhythm helps students to learn more than a bunch of cool moves. In his classes, Peter shares his love of dance with his students, helping them enjoy the dance on a deeper level and becoming more connected to the music and their partner.
Melody Sturdivant
Melody started dancing salsa in Baltimore in the late 90's. When she went home to DC she decided to try something different. Melody's first contact with Lindy Hop was in 1998 when she took a weekend of workshops at George Washington University at their first Inter-Collegiate Swing Dance Competition. She later went on to take classes for a few months at GW before taking a break of almost two years. After rejoining the world of Lindy Hop in 2000, she went on to discover a love for West Coast Swing as well. She even occasionally dabbles in Balboa and Carolina Shag from time to time. She has competed and won Jack and Jill contest at various events such as ALHC, NADC and ULHS. After 18 years in the world of dance she stills loves the classroom as much as the social dance floor. Melody will bring her great energy and unique style of humor to ILHC in her first year as MC!
Nicole Frydman
Nicole has been singing and dancing since she was a small child and, thanks to her parents' support and encouragement, has always been active in the arts. She studied classical acting at Tisch School of the Arts and in 1998 graduated from NYU with a BFA. Since then she has performed all over the country in national tours, regional theaters, summer stock, repertory, and even some major motion pictures. For example, you can catch her head fly by Julia Roberts in the dance scene of "Mona Lisa Smile".
In 1997 she discovered swing dancing to go along with the jazz she already loved so much. Since then she has become a professional dancer placing in over 40 local, regional, and national swing dance competitions and previously taught swing at Dance Manhattan Studios in New York. She considers her emphasis and style in teaching and dancing to be about connection with her partner and the music - all else is secondary.
She has also spent time and energy behind the scenes creating events,
shows,
workshops, galas, concerts, dances, etc., and continues to work in event
production today. Some of her favorites include Frankie Manning's 88th
Birthday
weekend, the Harlem Jazz Dance Festival 2001-2003, and co-founding JellyRollProductions.org.
Nicole is a resident Lindy Hop instructor at the 9:20 Special in San
Francisco, CA.
