Managers
Tonya Morris has been organizing swing dance events for over 10 years and is the Founder of Camp Jitterbug and the Jump Session Show. She is very excited to bring Camp Jitterbug to a new level by hiring experienced and energetic managers to help run the camp each year.
Tonya had a beautiful new baby boy named Quinn 3 weeks prior to CJ 2008 and was 9 months pregnant with their second (equally beautiful) boy Tristan during CJ 2009. She is very excited to NOT be pregnant or have just given birth during CJ 2010!! Thanks to everyone who was so supportive and helpful the past two crazy years.
Camp Jitterbug & the Jump Session Show wouldn't be the amazing event that it is without all of our wonderful talent.
Our managers, coordinators and helpers are the behind the scenes talent that makes CJ happen. Our Instructors provide high quality, diverse instruction. Our Performers make the Jump Session Show magical. Our Musicians inspire us on the dance floor.
All of these wonderful people come together to create one of the top dance events in the world!!
Jo Ann has been very active in the dance community both in Hawaii and Seattle, where she now resides. She is an event organizer, DJ, and, an instructor who is passionate about Lindy Hop, Balboa and the music of that era. She was on the board of both Hawaii Jitterbugs and Savoy Swing Club, ran several dance venues, and brings many years of experiecne to the camp.
This is Jo Ann's fifth year with the camp and fourth year as a Camp Jitterbug manager. Each year she helps CJ run smoothly and efficiently. As our registration manager, she tackles one of the most challenging aspects of the camp. Not only is she extremely talented in organizing events, she is great to work with and very personable! We are so lucky to have her on the CJ Managers team.
Lucy Falkner is an avid Lindy Hopper and community organizer from Vancouver, Canada. She can't seem to participate in anything without becoming involved in its operations, from managing the cabaret, Bar Bedlam, and the Lindy Hop Shop at Herräng Dance Camp to teaching classes and organizing events in her hometown. Difficult to rattle and quick to laugh, Lucy is looking forward to the challenge and excitement of stage managing the greatest annual authentic jazz floorshow, The Jump Session, and administering the competitions and auditions for this year's Camp Jitterbug.
Tena Morales is a dedicated promoter and producer of national dance events. She was one of the main organizers for The Frankie Manning 95th Birthday Celebration that brought an unprecedented 2000+ Lindy Hoppers together to celebrate the life of Frankie Manning. She is co-producer of The Swing and Soul Weekend, Lone Star Championships and the International Lindy Hop Championships. Her main hometown base being in Houston, Texas she served for many years as the Director of the Great Southwest Lindy Fest and for the performance team the Houston Hepcats. Tena is also a National Lindy Hop Champion who has placed in the top three places in numerous Classic and Master divisions. She and her students have won several 1st place titles in the American Lindy Hop Championship Pro-Am division. Tena Morales is an exciting choreographer and dancer, whose improvisations and innate musicality bring a unique "Old Skool Flava" to the Lindy Hop.
A nationally renowned swing dance teacher and judge, Tena has hosted the international "Hellzapoppin" dance contest at the World Famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem in conjunction with the Harlem Jazz Dance Festival and has served as a main judge for Camp Jitterbug, US Open, American Lindy Hop Championships, National Hand Dance Association and the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown .
Lee Broxson began his long and sordid dance career in January of 2007, only to eventually become the greatest instructor, dancer, and performer in the world (some time in the hypothetical future). Initially compelled to go dancing by nothing short of divine will and a chance to meet lots of "hot chicks", Lee became hooked nearly immediately, and has not gone more than a week without dancing since.
Lee has won dozens of dance competitions that you've likely never heard of and that probably don't exist, and has trounced more than one angry follow in fierce thumb wrestling battles. While known for often swearing more than is acceptable during any given dance, Lee's vocabulary is indeed filled with things other than colorful metaphors. Lee is the Marketing Director for the Savoy Swing Club, a non- profit swing dance organization in Seattle that seeks to preserve all that is Swing through its classes, workshops, dances and events. He is also heavily involved in behind-the-scenes work for the Seattle dance community, including Camp Jitterbug, the Seattle Lindy Exchange, and Killer Diller Weekend.
Lee goes out social dancing 3-6 nights a week and is so in love with the dance that he regularly gives up his other nightlife opportunities in favor of Lindy Hop. His favorite song is Lavender Coffin, so much so that certain members of the dance scene know little else about him other than that he goes into a frenzy of excited hooting every time it comes on.
This will be our third year with Max as our housing coordinator for Camp Jitterbug. He helps match up hosts with out of towners that cannot afford the costs of a hotel. He is unbelievably gracious and selfless and has done an amazing job. CJ would not be the same without him!!!!
Christine Corey is a swing dancer and organizer in Olympia WA. She currently organizes a weekly event on Tuesday nights as well as OlySwing Jam, an annual event since 2002. In addition to swing events she has been the organizer of countless parties and events ranging from rock shows to the Opening Night Gala for the Olympia film Festival. She has attended and volunteered at Camp Jitterbug in previous years and is excited about being part of the management team this year. Mostly, she just loves to dance.
Michael Darigol has been dancing Lindy Hop for 5 years. He has performed with Moscow/Pullman Swing Devils and Jackson Street Lindy Hoppers. Highlights of his career include performing with JSLH at the first Century Masters of Lindy Hop and Tap in 2006 and performing at the 2006 and 2008 Jump Session Shows. Michael, commonly known as Dargoff in the local and national Lindy Hop community, teaches regularly at the Century Ballroom. Though Dargoff loves to perform and rarely misses an opportunity to compete including winning the 2008 Killer Diller Harvest Moon Lindy Hop competition , his true passion is social dancing. His enthusiasm and energy seem to have no bounds on the social floor.
Gavin MacDougall has been Swing dancing since 1996. He loves Lindy Hopping
around the world and has danced in Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland,
England, Germany and France. He has been working behind the scenes at
Seattle's Century Ballroom since 1999. In 2003 this became a full time job
in a role he (but nobody else) likes to call "Executive Director, Swing
Division". Gavin was one of the primary organizers of Swing Out Northwest
2000 and is also the "man behind the woman" at Century Ballroom's Masters of
Lindy Hop & Tap every August. Since at least 2001 he has been volunteering
for Camp Jitterbug, as a host, a dancer, and various other roles. He is
excited to once again be joining the fray in 2009.
For over a decade Chris Chapman has studied Lindy Hop with a variety of other Authentic Jazz Dances, and feels fortunate to have trained with many legends of the dance. Having toured extensively across North America as an instructor,
Chris brings to dancers his study of biomechanics and various philosophies of movement acquisition along with his deep appreciation of the dance's history. He's an American Lindy Hop Champion, a Pacific Northwest Lindy Hop Champion, and an Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown Champion. Chris has choreographed and performed for numerous plays, musicals, and shows. Founder of HepCat Productions, he offers many levels of lindy hop classes and Seattle's longest running all-ages weekly Swing dance. Chris formed, trained, and choreographed the American Lindy Hop Championship performance team Zah-Zu-Zay. Above all, Chris believes in keeping active on the social floor, where he finds the most joy!
Brent Keane is from Kailua, Hawaii and has been dancing since 1999.
He graduated with an Associate Degree in Visual Communications from Al Collins Graphic Design School in Tempe, Arizona. That is Al Collins, not Dean Collins. Co-founder of Indevtech Incorporated in 2001, his company provides web development and creative design services to businesses.
Brent has lent his talents to countless dance events over the years with flyers, website design, photography, DJ skills and mad dance moves. He is an invaluable part of the dance community and we are glad to have him back at Camp Jitterbug this year. Brent generously donated his time and designed our incredible posters for the Jump Session Show this year!
Bobby Bonsey is from Long Beach, CA and has lived in Seattle for 13 years. He loves swing dancing as much as he loves making movies. The end.
webpage: Bonzypro.com
contact info: Bbonsey@mac.com
An avid Lindy Hopper for seven years, Marc began his interest in photography over four years ago when he decided to bring his brand new camera to a Jitterbug Weekend (with Peter Loggins & Sugar Sullivan). Since then he has photographed many events such as Camp Jitterbug, Rhythmic Arts Festival, Century Masters, Killer Diller Ball, and Pacific Northwest Lindy Hop Championships. His pictures have appeared in the Seattle Times and Seattle Weekly.
Marc is currently a student at the Photographic Center Northwest and a current member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.
