Shani Brown

Shani hails from sunny southern California. She is best known for her fast, syncopated Balboa footwork, tight swing style and her soft connection – which has been said to feel like a ‘warm hug’. As an instructor, she strives to make dancing simple and effortless with a strong emphasis on combining foundational basics with the soft skills of connection and personal body awareness to develop one’s own smooth flow and style.

For 20 years, Shani has dedicated herself to learning, preserving and sharing her love for Balboa and other social dances. She began swing dancing 1998 before moving to Orange County where she discovered a vibrant vintage swing community well connected to their local original dancers. She was immediately attracted to the fast footwork of Balboa and began frequenting the dance floors of first-generation dancers.

Shani is honored to have honed her social dance skills and footwork under the guidance of legendary dancers Willie Desatoff, Hal and Marge Takier, Bart Bartolo, Jack Carey and many others. And although she has competed, placed and won several major competitions, she mainly enjoys social dancing and inspiring others to love balboa and swing.

Jacob Wigger

Jacob started swing dancing in 2003 and has been hooked ever since.

Jacob discovered his love of Balboa in 2005 and began travelling to various events and competitions not much later. His first love is social dancing, but he also enjoys competing as a way to set goals and push himself. As a teacher, he enjoys using a mix of humorous analogies and serious instruction to create a fun and exciting learning environment.

Jacob has been teaching at national and international events for the last 15 years. He has honed his ability to break down and analyse the dance to make complex and dynamic movement happen with ease and comfort. He is known for his intricate, yet traditionally based, Pure Bal, as well as his unique shapes and movement in Bal Swing. He is also known for his continuous flow and effortless way of floating across the dance floor, while maintaining a highly rhythmic feel.

Jacob’s primary goal in all his partnerships has been to connect in a way that works for both him and his partner to find what they can create together. This has resulted in numerous placements and wins at all levels of competition, but more importantly, having ever-evolving social dances.