Instructors

Kenneth Shipp

Kenneth was only dancing swing for a few years before he encountered blues and absolutely fell in love with it. Kenneth has spent the last year traveling to various scenes and workshops to get training and critiques from local and national instructors. As much as he enjoys dancing the blues, he loves sharing the blues even more. Whether it’s from chatting about the history of blues or working on technique, Kenneth is most excited when he’s engaging with other dancers and having fun…or chatting about Batman, movies, geek stuff, and did I mention Batman?

Ruthie Bradt

Photographer: Dre Shipp

After 2 years of hard work and dedication, Ruthie Bradt has been invited to teach beginner lessons for Blues Dance Nashville. She discovered blues in early 2016 during a large workshop weekend. Ever since, she has been attending every workshop she can and taking private lessons with national level instructors. She also enjoys learning the culture and history of blues and strives to share that knowledge with her students.

One of Ruthie’s favorite things about teaching beginners is being able to give her students the tools to have fun and feel confident on the dance floor. She also enjoys helping her classes play with musicality and introducing them to idiom dances!

Myriam Chevalier

Myriam started blues dancing almost 4 years ago, in her home scene of Montreal. After moving to Nashville, where she was welcomed like a family member by Blues Dance Nashville, she was offered the opportunity to teach. Since, she has fallen in love with the dance even more, and strives to transmit her passion to her students. She is known for her French babbling and made-up words, as well as her seemingly unstoppable energy.

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Photographer: Brad Nathanson

John Brannon

John was introduced to social dancing back in college where he formed an on-again off-again relationship with swing. John went to his first blues dance where he met his wife and fell in love with both. After kicking around the Montreal scene for a while, John moved to Nashville, TN. Since moving here, John has enjoyed further exploring the culture around blues. As both a DJ and instructor, John aims to help dancers experience and learn about different facets of blues. He enjoys bringing together music from the past to highlight where modern musicians are taking the music. In classes, John emphasizes on partnership connection, as well as, the individuals voice.