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Ben Luhrman

Ben Luhrman is a young advocate of swing. He began dancing in 2006, when one of his friends invited him to Sam's Burger Joint. Since then his dedication to swing on and off the dance floor has been incredible. His love for social dancing has pushed him to start instructing. He is currently a Kinesiology major at UTSA, and has attended many important dance workshops and lessons. A few of Ben's accomplishments on the dance floor was taking 3rd place in the ILHC 2009 Pro-Am contest with Laura Glaess from Austin and winning the 2007 USO Canteen Dance Contest. He is always willing to give out free advice and encourages his students to ask for help when they need it. Check out videos that he likes at his youtube page or his personal website.


Lara Willars Benavides

Lara's swing dancing adventure started in the year 2000, and in 2002 she began instructing and performing with Swing Cats Perpetual Motion in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her studies in Theatre Arts have afforded her a knowledge of modern dance and movement for the stage, in addition to her devotion to swing and jazz. Professionally, she teaches high school Theatre, Speech, and Dance, as well as enrichment classes for children in the summer. This year, Lara serves as the Executive Director for the SASDS Board, coordinating the curriculum and classes for the society. She is loud, lively, and always ready to express herself whether on the stage or on the dance floor.


Chad Skeeters

Chad started dancing in 2008. Chad loves learning and attends one or two dance events per month. Chad loves to take private lessons and loves sharing dance ideas with others too.

Chad loves balboa and placed in the ninja masters level track at EBC in 2011. He was recently accepted to week 2 of The Experiment 2012 and attended week 3 in 2011.

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Erin McCartney Mahood

Erin was introduced to swing dancing in 2001, after bumping into an outdoor lindy hop competition in Santa Barbara, CA. She watched in awe, admiring how much fun the dancers were having. Shortly after, she signed up for classes and was instantly hooked! Erin danced her way up and down the coast of California before moving to Columbus, OH, in 2006. There, Erin continued swing dancing (of course!) and was a member of the SwingColumbus Performance Team. Now Erin carries her passion for dancing to the San Antonio Swing Dance Society. She hopes her students find it as fun and addictive as she does!


Mikey Segura

Mikey Segura began learning swing dancing in Fall of 2009. After his first beginner lesson at Semenaya, now Amora, he was immediately hooked. From that time forward, his attendance to Sam's Burger Joint Swing Night and SASDS's Wednesday night lessons was virtually guaranteed every week. Mikey was tapped to begin instructing by one of his mentors, Ben Luhrman. After Ben had observed Mikey working with fellow students on moves after lessons were over, he approached Mikey to begin instructing. Soon Mikey was the regular instructor for Sam's Burger Joint for several months and is now working into the rotation at Amora Ballroom as well. Mikey's goal for his students is to teach them how to social dance; to make friends, exercise and most of all, have fun!


Katy Alexander

Katy took her first swing dance lesson when she was in the 5th grade. After a long break, she started taking classes at Sam's and Amora, and is now happy to be a part of the SASDS team of instructors. She is currently interested in learning Balboa and Collegiate Shag. Swing dancing is a perfect match for her other interests which include American history, vintage fashion, and travel. Katy enjoys studying (and celebrating!) the historic and cultural heritage of the Jazz Age.


Ed Willars

Ed has been dancing in his heart since he was born. In 2005 his two favorite dancing daughters, Lara and Lydia, convinced him to transfer that passion into his feet as well. Since then Ed has taken swing classes with SASDS and attended Lindyfest in Houston. He began instructing in 2007.


Cheryl Dalros

Cheryl Dalros began her swing escapades in 2001 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Instantaneously she was hooked on the dancing, the people, and the music. Since then she's never stopped swingin'. Whether it be lindy hop, west coast swing, blues, shag, charleston, boogie woogie, or east coast swing... Cheryl can be found on the floor. She started instructing and competing in 2006 in Colorado Springs and Denver but once she graduated college she packed up and moved to the California swing scene. There she danced and competed in Los Angeles, Irvine, Fullerton, Pasadena, Burbank, San Diego, and Santa Barbra. Cheryl was part of a handful of dance troupes including the Bobbysox Brigade (from Fullerton, CA) and 23 Skidoo (from Denver, CO). Then finally in 2011 Cheryl moved to San Antonio. She enjoys the San Antonio and Austin swing scenes and is very happy to be a part of them. She hopes that through her classes she can inspire dancers to fall in love with swing just as much as she has.

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Tia Redford

Tia first began her swing dancing career in 2002 in Idaho. Through the years she has attended various workshops and events and takes advantage of any opportunity to learn more. She teaches East Coast, Triple Swing, Lindy, Charleston, Shag, Balboa... you name it! For Tia, dancing isn't just a hobby, it's a lifestyle.




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