Swing dancing is an African-American creative art, built on African-American dance values. These roots and values deserve to be reflected in our communities, to respect the spirit of the dance, and make it an inclusive space for people of color. Conversations on this topic have started in the Lindy Hop and Balboa communities. The Collegiate Shag scene is long overdue to start contributing to this important work.

The main event of March's Hot Rhythm Hangout is a research presentation and panel discussion on the African-American roots of Collegiate Shag, and how we can honor those values in our scenes. Check out the members of this team below.

Team Members

Tzefira Jones

Tzefira started her dance journey in the summer of 2017, and has been hooked since. She is currently a board member of the Dallas Swing Dance Society, and a manager of 35Jive, a Swing dance team based in Dallas. Her main goal is to use her education background to share her love of dance and its history to others in the community at large.

Jeron Tuell

Jeron has been in love with Collegiate Shag since 2017, ever since he saw the dance on a social dance floor. He has volunteered at Hot Rhythm Holiday and other events around Texas. One of his central beliefs is that we aren’t really a community if we don’t work together as one. Jeron is committed to his goal of elevating the Shag scene to more than just a group of people with a similar hobby, and instead create a community that is inclusive to all that love the dance just as much. Jeron wants the Shag community to grow, and in order to do that, he wants to do everything he can to be a part of the change in the scene that allows more people to feel welcomed, when setting foot on the dance floor.

Zach Lockett-Streiff

Zach has been dancing Collegiate Shag in Austin since 2014, and has helped lead the scene for nearly as long. He has also been the Tech Overlord of the Hot Rhythm Foundation since 2018, having joined in 2016. One of his core beliefs is that our work as community leaders is never done, and can always be improved upon no matter where we currently stand. Zach works to not only solidify Shag as a Swing dance, but to help improve the scene and its image to make it a more inclusive environment. His brief Facebook research presentation on the problematic social context of Rockabilly (June 2020) is proof of this commitment. Zach wants Shag to be taken seriously, and regarded as equal to the other Swing dances. Getting there will take a lot of work – including on himself – and making some noise along the way.

Laura Keat (panel team)

Laura has been dancing Shag and Bal since 2002, and loves mixing the dances together and dancing all the swing dances on any given night.  She has spent the last 17 years visiting Swing dance communities globally for dance events.  She recognizes that we all can do better honoring the African-American heritage in these dances, and she is looking forward to listening, learning and sharing some insight.

Ryan Martin (research team)

Ryan’s love of jazz music initially inspired him to start Swing dancing in 1996.  Since that time, the music and dance of the Swing era have become major preoccupations in his life.  He has been dancing and teaching various Swing dances off-and-on for twenty plus years.  And in the last ten years, he has expanded his involvement by studying the history of these dances.  Ryan has traveled around the country collecting interviews with dancers from the original Swing era, and he completed a feature-length documentary, called "The Rebirth of Shag", that focuses on one Swing dance in particular: the Collegiate Shag.  He was one of the original co-founders of the Hot Rhythm Foundation, a non-profit organization that seeks to promote and sustain the Jazz music and dance forms that originated in the early part of the twentieth century.  For eight years, Ryan was involved with running that organization and its main event, Hot Rhythm Holiday.  Today, Ryan travels to teach and compete in Collegiate Shag, domestically and abroad.