Elena was born in Sicily and theatre was her first love. Although convinced that she couldn’t dance, a year after she moved to Brussels, in 2011, she registered with the Apollo Swing School for Lindy Hop classes. She was immediately hooked and a few months after her first class, she was already participating in international lindy hop, jazz solo, Charleston and blues workshops. She is aware that she still has a lot to learn about jazz and swing history and culture, of which she considers herself to be an attentive observer. In her classes, she aims at sharing her passion and help make everyone feel confident and happy while dancing. Jazz, swing and blues express values she strongly believes in, such as authenticity, freedom and a sense of community. As Elena explains, theatre was the place where she started looking for herself, and Brussels is the city where she can travel through various cultures and get inspired by them. “Jazz is an endless journey which started from my ears, infiltrated my body before reaching my soul.”

Kenneth Shipp hails from St. Louis, USA, as an instructor who grew up dancing hip-hop and DJing breaking comps before jumping into blues. He has spent the past few years passionately studying the family of blues idioms, incorporating his nerdy personality along the way. Kenneth’s life experiences inform his dancing and teaching style so that students walk away with a better historical and contextual understanding. With every class and practice, he'll encourage you to approach social dancing with coolness, relaxation, or in other words “Chill The Fuck Out.” When he’s not dancing, you can likely find him ranting about the latest blockbuster movie, game, or nerd convention, or desperately trying to dismantle toxic institutions.