Intermediate & Advanced Track Instructors

  • Jenn Lee (She/Her)

    Jenn is a renowned swing dance instructor with a passion for fostering an inclusive and collaborative learning environment. She emphasizes the importance of follow voice, ensuring equal attention to both leads and follows.

    As a professional follow without a dedicated partner, Jenn’s versatile dance style adapts to various partners and teaching collaborations, enhancing her abilities as an instructor. Her strong music background allows her to seamlessly integrate rhythmic concepts and musicality into her classes, helping students express themselves on the dance floor.

    Jenn is deeply aware that jazz, including swing dance, is a Black cultural art form, and she strives to honor its roots by teaching with respect for its history and the community that created it.

    Jenn's love for social dancing and the swing community is evident in her warm approach and adaptable style, making her a valuable addition to any dance event she participates in.

  • Matt Mitchell (He/Him)

    Since 1998, Matt has been honing his dance skills; starting with East Coast, he quickly moved into Lindy Hop and other Swing-era dances–with a very short detour into Ballroom. He’s studied with top Lindy Hop and Balboa contemporaries as well being influenced by the original greats (Frankie Manning, Dean Collins, Maxie Dorf and Willy Desatoff). 

    From 2007 through 2011, he was one of the lead instructors for Get Hep Swing (assisting the incomparable Valerie Salstrom) and helped choreograph Hustle and award winning Swing routines. He strives to bring solid fundamentals and just-the-right amount of connection to Lindy Hop and Balboa, while creating room for musicality and playfulness. In 2011, he relocated to his hometown of Austin where he’s enjoyed teaching Lindy Hop and Balboa for Four on the Floor, and is a contributing instructor for BalAustin. 

    Nationally and internationally, Matt has been an instructor at Boogie By The Bay, the Eastern Balboa Championships, Dance Renaissance, and the Canadian Balboa Championships. He competes regularly in Balboa, consistently making the finals and has several placements at ABW, EBC, CBC, ILHC, and Camp Hollywood. 

    He was also a stand-in for Kevin Bacon in Footloose.*​​ 

    *Recreating the famous dance scene in a skit. C’mon, he’s not that old

  • Hannah Mackenzie-Margulies (She/Her)

    Hannah MacKenzie-Margulies is an accomplished balboa, lindy hop, and authentic jazz dancer and educator. She is the co-champion of the infamous 2013 Lindy Focus Al and Leon Partnered Solo Jazz contest and previously served as the education coordinator for the 9:20 Special, San Francisco’s longest running weekly lindy hop dance. As a teacher, Hannah loves helping students build their confidence and find their voice through connecting with music, history, and community. In addition to her social dance practice, Hannah is also a contemporary dancer and choreographer. Find her online at hannah-mm.com.

  • Aidan Dunne (He/Him)

    Aidan stumbled through his first Balboa basics around 2004, and has been seeking opportunities to play with Balboa ever since. He started dancing in Southern California, and moved to Minnesota for the sole purpose of foisting more Balboa upon the Twin Cities. Aidan does Lindy Hop sometimes, too – you might see him rolling up to Rhythm Junction on his bike, a half an hour before closing. As a Balboa teacher, Aidan enjoys emphasizing comfort, flow, and musicality.

Beginner Track Instructors

  • Sarah Pederson (She/Her)

    Sarah started swing dancing her first week of college at UT Austin in 2007 and has been exploring all of the varieties of swing dance ever since. With a background in ballet, modern dance, and classical music, she highly values technique and mastering the fundamentals, but delights in the joys of collaboration and improvisation that are core to social dancing. 

    Sarah moved to the Twin Cities in 2018, after hearing about how friendly both the lindy hop and west coast swing scenes are, eager to find a way to give back to the dance community. She then helped to found and currently runs Twin Cities Balboa Connection, where she also teaches and DJs regularly, and she volunteers and DJs at Rhythm Junction. As an instructor, she enjoys helping students think about dancing in new ways in order to create comfortable and fun dances that provide outlets for creative self expression. Sarah is most passionate about growing and fostering the balboa scene in the Twin Cities and is so excited for you to be joining us at MinneBal!

  • Gabi Rosenthal (She/Her)

    Gabi’s swing dance journey began in 2016 when she was seeking a new community to replace the Scottish Highland dancing of her childhood. In her college town, Athens, GA, Gabi soaked up a variety of dance content, learning many social styles, ballroom, contemporary, modern, and ballet. Soon, she was traveling for Lindy/Bal and teaching in the local college scene. Once she moved to the Twin Cities in 2018, her love for Balboa grew, and she now helps teach and DJ for Twin Cities Balboa Connection while volunteering and DJing at Rhythm Junction. 

    Gabi's goal as a dancer and teacher is to have fun, be creative, and grow an inclusive space where everyone can connect with the feel of the music. Valuing playfulness, comfort, and joy, Gabi’s teaching integrates technique to strengthen dancers’ connection to both the music and partnership.

  • Dylan Devotta (He/Him)

    Dylan’s dance journey started with hip hop in school and college. His swing dance journey started in 2017 right after moving to Minnesota. He also has a classical music background and loves encouraging creativity and taking risks. 

    He is an active DJ in the local scene and enjoys supporting local artists.

    As a scene builder, Dylan focuses on building a supportive and encouraging environment to further the art form and keep people motivated to move forward. 

    As a teacher, Dylan enjoys focusing on musicality, connection and comfort along with building individual aesthetics.