SWOUZY BLUES

Bryan Sykes, has been a leader in Cincinnati and the broader region for many years. A music aficionado, Bryan loves to bring dancers together with musicians and has done just that as the driving force behind Blues Dance Cincinnati. A technically gifted social dancer with an acute awareness of partnering as well as an excellent teacher, Bryan has taught workshops at a broad array of events around the Eastern United States. We are very excited that he will be teaching our Intermediate to Advanced Blues class with Rachel Payne.  

Delaan Sumler is a staple of the Cincinnati swing dance community, also having traveled to various other communities in the tri-state area, teaching, dancing, and learning from some of the best! A dancer since 2018, co-owner of Supermurganati, and SwouZy Blues veteran, she will be teaching Beginner to Intermediate Blues with Bryan Sykes and Intermediate to Advanced Lindy Hop with Shelby L Johnson! She loves answering questions and helping other dancers grow, so if you see her, say hello! 

Shelby L Johnson is a dance instructor, DJ and lecturer based in Columbus, Ohio. Beginning his career in 2011, he grew up dancing and listening to a wide array of music, including hip hop, R&B, Funk, Electronic, various styles of jazz, and, due to the local Latin scene, Salsa. So when he started dancing Lindy Hop in Orlando, Florida, he already had a knack for solo movement and musicality. A superior sense of partnering soon followed. Over the years, Shelby has developed a wealth of knowledge not just of lindy hop and jazz dance steps, but connected the dots between the cultural customs and traditions of these and other dances to those of current Black dances and spaces. Shelby isn’t just a keeper of classic steps and choreographies, but also of stories of how these jazz dances came to be and how they evolved over time, along with the music and events that shaped them. In 2021, Shelby became a board member for Collective Voices for Change, which Supermurganati has also collaborated with.  

Brad Rusoff is a Columbus native who has a rich background in a variety of dance styles, and a passion for dancing and teaching Blues Fusion! Beginning his dance career in 2016, he has traveled to and been a part of many different dance communities across the United States, picking up many skills and ample experience along the way. This month, he makes his way back to SwouZy Blues to DJ the first set of the night!