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Lawrence Page

    The founder of Austin Lindy Hop, Lawrence has danced all his life, but only in adulthood has he learned to do so without making people snicker at him.  He studied dance and theater in high  school and college before settling into law school and eventually practicing law in Chicago and now here in Austin.  He helped build the Chicago Lindy Hop scene from a group of twenty friends dancing in back-room bars in 1995 to thousands of Lindy Hoppers once again filling Chicago’s grand ballrooms, which gave Chicago its reputation as one of the Lindy Hop meccas in the country.  Lawrence moved from Chicago to Austin in 2000 because the weather was too hot in Chicago and people were dying en masse from the 98-degree, half-week-long heat waves that occasionally broke out every few years.  He has danced and taught Lindy Hop extensively, traveling around the world repeatedly to learn to dance from the greatest Lindy Hoppers in the world and to teach it to some who have become some of the greatest Lindy Hoppers in the world.  His style emphasizes musical movement, the connection between partners that helps dancers do things they could not or would not do on their own, and using dance as a physical musical instrument in its own right.  He is also known for his Swing/Lindy Hop DJing and his extensive collection of danceable Blues and Jazz music.  Lawrence has played guitar and sang acoustic blues casually for over fifteen years, and is also an avid softball player, swimmer, and cyclist.  

Sunday Patterson

         Sunday has Lindy Hopped for years, developing into one of the most revered social dancers in Austin not only because of her dancing, but also because of her unshakably positive and fun attitude.   Dancing to a slow song with her is amazing: as if she flows with her leader... as if she is reading his mind.  Sunday was chosen among hundreds of Central Texas swing dancers to be in an up-coming "Texas Swings" Miller Genuine Draft commercial along with Lawrence.  (Click Here for pictures).  Sunday is graphic designer by day, and also an avid runner.  She also recently went on an amazing, trip-of-a-lifetime, extended tour of New Zealand, Australia, Africa, the Orient, and the sub-continent, investigating the Lindy Hop world Down Under so she could return and share with us how to do "Adventure" Lindy Hop up-side down while jumping from a plane in a Zorb.  (www.zorb.comClick here for an abbreviated version of her trip.

 

Charlotte Simpson

        Charlotte is a senior at the University of Texas, majoring in Sociology and minoring in Philosophy.  She used to be that ultra-hip Vespa chick riding that blue motor scooter to and from dances, but she's recently upgraded to a Honda Shadow to prepare for cross-country motorcycle trips with her family, with whom she is very close.  She loves trying new things, which is what inspired her to learn how to dance years ago.  She has danced for years in Austin, developing into one of the best (and friendliest) followers around.  Prior to learning how to Lindy Hop, she was the head cheerleader in the jazz company of her high school drill team, but broke the cheerleader stereotype by also being a member of the National Honor society and the president of the local chapter of the Mu Alpha Theta mathematics honors society.  Often a quiet and mysterious enigma, few people know that Charlotte worked her own way through UT through scholarships and by working at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired helping blind, deaf and mentally handicapped children with daily living skills, as well as through an internship with the Austin State Hospital helping the mentally ill.  She currently is pursuing her second major at UT in communications/mediation and plans to get a masters degree in mediation.


Kelly Cone

    Kelly is a proud home-grown product of our own Lindy Hop classes.  Tall and lanky, Kelly's style takes full advantage of his height, athleticism, and inherent goofiness.  An architecture student at UT, he is a true-to-form Texan who would make Hemingway proud: driving a pickup truck that is far too big for his needs; possessing an amazing knack for slow-cook barbecue; and sporting a tradition-laden passion for hunting in the Fall and deep-sea fishing in the Gulf for sailfish in the Summer.  He also plays guitar and is a wine aficionado.  

 


Hannah Trzeciak

    Hannah is another home-grown product of our own Lindy Hop classes.  An Air-Force brat whose family traveled around when she was younger, Hannah considers herself an Austin native at heart.  Hannah is awesome in every possible way.  Sweet and adorable and sex-driven, Hannah maintains the illusion of a bubbly teenager as a cover story for her double-life as a woman of the night roaming Austin's streets to support her rampant illicit drug habit.  Her father is a Leander police officer.  She was home schooled, which she credits for enhancing her creativity and her desire to learn.  

 


Jeramie Anderson

    Jeramie Anderson is a self-described "smart ass street dancer" and one of the charter members of Austin Lindy Hop's teaching troupe.  He has been Lindy Hopping since 1999 obsessively and has amazed the Lindy scene with his natural talent and rhythmic ability (not to mention his endurance, ladies).   Jeramie is hands-down one of the best Lindy Hoppers in Texas, if not the world.  He and his partners have won the ALHC regionals in Texas the past two years, and he constantly travels Nationally, becoming recognized as one of the best dancers in the country.  He has also developed into one of the best Lindy Hop DJs around.  Not only does he DJ at the Jazz Cafe, but he has been flown to DJ at Lindy Groove in L.A. as well as other Exchanges and National Events.    Jeramie was also a member of the Neo Swing dance troupe that performed at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.  He was also invited to the 2001 Presidential Inaugural Ball, and was photographed there by the Austin American Statesman Lindy-Hopping with his partner.  

    Jeramie's street-dance style harkens back to the origins of Lindy Hop, where musical and athletic ability were just as if not more important to the dance as learned, artsy technique.   Jeramie has played drums since he was five years old, playing big-band swing and jazz since junior high school.  He also played on occasion for 4 years with T.D. Bell, one of the founders of Texas-style Blues.  He now plays with a new Austin band, Morphis.  In high school, he ran long -distance in cross country, qualifying for the Texas State meet, and placed fourth in State in wrestling (despite a serious dislocation to both his shoulders).  He was also a cheerleader for six years, taking second place in Nationals his senior year.  He also took some ballet, tap, and jazz dance as a child, although he is not... too... proud of that fact.   

Sherry Mundell

        Sherry Mundell, another charter member of Austin Lindy Hop's teaching troupe, has danced since she was three, learning how to do so at an early age so that people would not snicker at her.  She has intensively studied several styles of classical ballet since childhood.  Sherry also studied gymnastics for five years as a child.  She learned how to Lindy Hop in 1998, and has taken dozens of workshops, including Swing-Out New Hampshire, The Lindy Hop Body Shop, Great Southwest Lindyfest, H-Town Swings, and Hop the Millennium.   Due in large part to her extensive dance background, she has quickly developed into one of the best follows in Texas, winning the 2000 Swing Riot Jack and Jill competition.  She also performed with the Austin-based "Swingtips" performance troupe.  In addition to Lindy Hop, she now studies African dance, Rhythm Tap, Argentine Tango, and Bellydance.  She enjoys studying all forms of improvisational dance movement and applying those principles across boundaries to other forms of dance.  Sherry is also is a trained figure skater and has competed in ice dancing.  She also is probably more proud than she should be that she captained her ice drill team... oh, wait, she just explained that it did not involve power tools on ice but ice dancing as a team.    Sherry is a civil engineer in her alter ego, partly responsible for the engineering behind some of the more ambitious commercial construction projects in town.

 

Carol Harrison

     A "retired" charter member of our teaching troupe, Carol is one of the friendliest people  in the Austin Lindy Hop community.  Carol has an extensive dance background that extends early into her childhood.  She taught, performed and competed with award-winning local dances teams in the Austin area since elementary school, specializing in many different dance styles: including  jazz, lyrical jazz, hip-hop, high-kick, and even military routines.  In college, she studied ballet and jazz dance at the University of Texas as she worked toward her Bachelor of Journalism (Public Relations).  Since college, Carol has continued studying hip hop and has learned to dance several social dances, including salsa & meringue, but Lindy Hop and Swing captured her attention and has became her favorite.  Since 1999, she has attended several Lindy Hop workshops and classes across the country.  She even studied Jive dance (a descendant form of Swing dance) in London briefly before coming to her senses and realizing that Lindy Hop is it for her.   

 

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