Byron Alley - Swing Dance Teaching Resume

Bio

Byron Alley is a swing dance champion who has been dancing, teaching, competing and performing for nearly two decades across Canada and the US. He's been invited to teach and judge contests at national events, choreographed and coached winning team routines, and performed on some of Canada's most prestigious national stages, often with live orchestras. He's made over a dozen TV and movie appearances, including several music videos, and live performances broadcast to over a million viewers. After founding dance organizations in three different cities, many of his students are now dance champions, teachers and coaches in their own right.

Byron has enjoyed top national competitive success in Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing, Blues, and Balboa, and for years organized Canada's biggest annual Shag dance competition weekend. He's one of Canada's top swing aerial specialists and he's judged competitions in every style he dances (as well as occasionally styles he doesn't). He also enjoys cross-training in many other dance styles. He's danced Salsa in Colombia, explored hiphop, cross-trained in ballet, stolen some of his favourite rhythms from tap, and taken many ideas from modern dance.

In dance, Byron's passion is social dancing, and as a teacher his focus is helping people improvise and partner better. He leverages his experience in martial arts and theatre improv to teach pure movement principles and innovate with unique training methods. He takes a two-pronged approach to social dancing: developing strong technique in students on the one hand, and on the other hand, giving them tools to step out of the box and improvise together in partnership. He likes to get students improvising as early as possible because playing and learning to enjoy the unexpected is the heart of social dancing.

In Action

This Lindy Hop and Blues routine placed 4th at the International Lindy Hop Championships. It was choreographed and coached by Byron with Natalia Rueda.

This Lindy Hop routine place first at the Canadian Swing Championships. It was a special project where senior team members choreographed most of the routine under the direction and mentorship of Byron and Natalia.

Byron choreographed this West Coast Swing routine with Natalia Rueda, coaching the team from their start as mostly beginners, to performing this routine at several competitions.

Jack 'n Jill: Improvised WCS dancing with a randomly selected partner at the Canadian Swing Championships.

A fun Lindy and Charleston routine performed at a bar in Ottawa. This routine was originally choreographed for a special event and performed with the Lost Fingers band live.

Back in 2008...

A blast from the past! Placing 4th internationally in 2004, the best accolade this routine received was compliments from renowned Jazz dancer Chester Whitmore.

This routine was especially fast and acrobatic, earning 3rd place at the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown.

Testimonials

I wish Byron was still here in Montreal to teach... This guy has an awesome teaching history and has won countless awards in competition... Didier Jean-Francois, founder/director of the Canadian Swing Championships (Montreal)

I appreciate Byron's approach to teaching Lindy Hop because it combines fun with great technique... strike the right balance between getting students dancing and engaged with new moves and variations while not compromising the importance of proper style for the dance and effective connection between partners. Maria F. (Ottawa)

There hasn't been a lady that hasn't told me how much they love dancing with Byron. And in my quiet jealousy, I've inquired as to his secret.

Clarity!

He's easy to follow because he puts a great deal of emphasis on being clear and easy to read. Women love the feeling because there's less effort put into keeping up, and more into gazing into the his eyes. Adam J. Duff (Montreal)

Congratulations on your participation in the NACO Pop Series Tribute to Benny Goodman show. My wife and I were at Saturday's show. You and the other three swing dancers ... were definitely one of the highlights of the show. Your infectious enthusiasm and amazing synchronized dancing raised the energy level by 100%. Chris Thompson, drummer, Standing Room Only Big Band (Ottawa)