Dance Instructors

Here is our line-up of instructors to date, with more to come!

		William Bercini (Chicago) began dancing C&W competitively 12 years ago. After winning a UCWDC World Championship, he turned to ballroom. He is versed in all dances of the American syllabus. William currently teaches at the North Shore Dance Center in Skokie IL. His partner says, "If William can teach middle-aged, straight white men to dance, he can teach anybody!"
		Jason Colacino (New York) is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. He attended a country-western dance class with his parents at the age of 15, starting a dance career that would take him traveling across the nation teaching, choreographing, competing, judging and performing in many stage productions. His background includes West Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, East Coast Swing, Country Western, Argentine Tango, Jazz, Ballet and Ballroom dances. More info: www.jasoncolacino.net
		Don Curran (Houston) is the current Director of Dance for the IAGLCWDC. He is a member of the Rainbow Ranglers, Houston and is a dance instructor/choreographer. He is also a member of the South West Whip Club, Houston. He has won in several couples divisions on the gay rodeo circuit and IAGLCWDC. He has taught line and couples dancing at many mainstream UCWDC and ACDA events, as well as gay hoedowns throughout North America.
		Rick Dominguez (Los Angeles) has been a country-western DJ for more than 17 years. He has taught and choreographed line dances for the past 14 years in the Los Angeles area, merging pop and country styles into a unique style of dance. Rick is also the founder and lead choreographer for the award-winning line dance troupe, The LA Wranglers, now in it 6th year.
		Jim Drew (Seattle) has been dancing country-western for over 15 years and teaching for ten. He currently teaches and DJs for Rain Country dance events and dances with the Rain City Rhythm Riders dance team. During the 1990s, he lived in the Bay Area and performed with the San Jose Spurs and the San Francisco Saddletramps.
		Matt Ellinger (San Francisco) has been performing with the award-winning Barbary Coast Cloggers since 1991 and has served as the Artistic Director since 1999. He finds great joy in clogging, and now teaches the dance form throughout the U.S. Matt Ellinger is a researcher by day and is often seen zooming around San Francisco on his bicycle.
		Lee Fox (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), IAGLCWDC Dance Competition Director, has been teaching country-western dance for 18 years. He was a finalist in ballroom at the 1998 and 2002 Gay Games and IAGLCWDC’s first champion in 1998. He is a member of Southern Country South Florida and has served as choreographer for the Southern Country South Florida Dream Team and the SunDancers, and is a founding member of the 2005 IAGLCWDC champion team, Crossfire.
		Dave Hayes (San Francisco) came out to country music in 1993 in Orlando Florida. He started teaching line dances in 1994. Dave jumped right into Sundance when he moved to SF in 2002. Not only is Dave one of Sundance Saloon’s regular line dance instructors, Dave is also the IAGLCWDC Webmaster, on the board of directors of the Sundance Association, and co-chair of the Sundance Stompede. He also loves to sing in our Karaoke Lounge on Sunday nights.
		Andrew Johnson (San Francisco) started teaching line dancing in 1997 with the Capital Country Kickers dance club in Albany, New York. He currently lives in Oakland and teaches line dancing at Sundance Saloon. He is also active in the Leather Community and is this year's Mr. International Bootblack 2008. If you find him staring at your feet when you’re not line dancing, he’s probably admiring your boots.
		Troy Inman (Atlanta) has performed with Banevolks International, Dance Force, and DanceFx. He is the co-founder and Artistic Director for Contact Dance Theatre - UNstrictly Ballroom. Recent projects include the International Fitness Supershow, the UNICEF Party, Legendary Ball, Spoleto Festival, Ballroom Magic, and Androgyny. Troy also performs as an aerialist and in the Theatre Arts/Cabaret style of dance. When not dancing, Troy serves as a director for a healthcare advisory firm.
		Michael McGee (Minneapolis) started dancing in 1989. A friend actually told him, “You may be one of those people that never quite gets it.” But since his first IAGLCWDC convention in 1993, you’d be hard pressed to keep him off the dance floor! Michael’s teaching career began with the debut of country dancing at The Town House Country Bar in St. Paul. People haven’t gotten tired of him yet, so he’s still doing it!
		Michael Metzger (San Francisco) began country western dancing a modest three years ago, and was instantly hooked. Within the first year he learned over 40 line dances, and since then he has taken every opportunity he could to teach at Sundance Saloon in San Francisco and at Club 1220 in Walnut Creek. As a math tutor he even taught a line dance to sixth graders and their parents to demonstrate fractions and angles.
		Stina Rogal (Chicago) started country-western dancing at Charlie’s in Chicago 13 years ago and has been teaching “Virgins” to dance for the last 9 years. She loves the energy from people learning and loving to dance. She is a longtime member of US Figure Skating and has taught competitive figure skating for 32 years. She is very honored to be returning to teach at the Stompede.
		Scott Schrank (Atlanta) has been line dancing since 1998.He has won top awards at numerous competitions in both IAGLCWDC and in the “Mainstream” dance world. Scott has been choreographer of Southern Line Atlanta since 2000. He has written over 30 line dances to date, including Georgia Winder, Someday-Someway, and Working It. A complete list and select videos of his dances can be found at Scott’s web-site: www.scottschrank.com.
		Susanna Stein (New York) traces her country-western dancing roots to San Francisco’s Rawhide Bar in the mid-1980’s. After moving to New York City, she began competing in and teaching dance, and co-founded the Manhattan Prairie Dogs. In 1997, Susanna co-founded the Big Apple Ranch, New York City’s only weekly country-western dance club, which she still runs with Jon Lee.
		Mike Topel (Austin, TX) started line dancing in 1992, but then found dance partners who liked to be tossed in the air. He has been teaching dance since 1994, full-time since 1998. He has performed at several US Open Swing Dance Championships, UCWDC Country, and everywhere else in the NASDE and WSDC swing circuits. He's chief judge at most events he attends, emcees often, and created a swing dance convention in Madison, Wisconsin.
		Rosa Turi (Los Angeles) has been involved with the country-western dance scene for over 15 years. Her unique dance style incorporates hip-hop & urban dance techniques into traditional line dances. Currently Rosa is the DJ and Line Dance Instructor at InCahoots Fullerton, CA, Cowboy Country in Long Beach, and guest DJ's at Kicker's in San Diego. She donates her time to DJ and instruct line dance lessons to numerous events throughout the year.
		Barry Welch (Fresno, CA) started swing dancing at the age of 8 years. He has been a featured swing dancer in Reba McEntire’s stage show. He has taught workshops all across the U.S. He also clog dances and is a former Western US Champion. He is a past member of the Barbary Coast Cloggers and is the director of the California Ground Pounders. Barry and his partner Paul raise paint horses and miniature donkeys on their ranch in Madera, California.