Alina Sokulska

Kyiv born, Barcelona based, Alina Sokulska is a dance & performance artist. Graduate in Literary Studies, she is continuing her artistic research within the medium of movement. Alina’s experience of choreographing live with jazz and improvisational music has shaped her movement language and pushed her to develop her approach to rhythm and body representation in dance improvisation and spontaneous composition. Her work encompasses solo, group choreographies, and interdisciplinary collaboration with other artistic media as music and visual art. In her work, she focuses on how power relations shape the body representation and how body as a subject of actual reality fulfills its potential to rethink the order of things. These questions aligned her research endeavour in both in artistic and academic practices. PhD candidate in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature, she is also currently studying choreography at Conservatori Superior de Danza, Institut del Teatre in Barcelona.

Alina and Nicolas

Alina and Nicolas are united by a long story, tested by time and distance. 

Having met each other in Minsk back in 2015, they instantly felt their duet to be harmonious and easy going. The classes with them, marked by a fascinating mix of French charm and eastern austerity, are friendly meetings where everyone laughs, shares thoughts aloud, listens to the stories of the sensei, gets silent and flows into the dance…

As each of them has their own independent dance background and experience, their dancing style is rich in different techniques. Tango, hip-hop, classical, contemporary dance and later lindy hop and blues – all these different families of dance now help them in understanding mechanics and aesthetics of the body and the way of moving according to the traditions of different dances. Relying on feelings and self-expression, virtuously combining their experience in dance, with every dance they build their unique universe of blues.

Nicolas and Alina are based in Rennes (France), where they are organizing numerous events and teaching in a school called “Dance Addict”, established by Nicolas in 2014. They have already taught together in their native France, Belarus, and beyond, took prizes in competitions separately and in a couple. And the common passion for travel and sharing each time inspires them for new projects – they love traveling and inspiring smaller communities helping them to grow.Their passion in blues doesn’t stop at dancing only. The hunger for knowledge of history and blues culture pushed them to make regular research that finally turned into the idea of creating an unusual festival, called “Blues Spirit”, dedicated to discovering Blues Ethos.

Edmilson da Cruz Botelho

Born and raised in the São Tome and Principe Islands, Edmilson da Cruz Botelho has always lived surrounded by music. His rhythm palette builds on the African traditional dances that he has learned while in his home country, including usôa, puíta, funaná, kadance (kizomba), and semba. At the age of 17, Edmilson moved to Porto, Portugal, and soon after that, he discovered Lindy Hop and Blues. His passion for dance led him to become a Lindy Hop and Blues teacher – he started teaching Lindy Hop in 2014 and Blues in 2018. For him, dance is all about feeling, groove and joy.

Bibi and Dara

Bibi and Dara are a very enthusiastic dancing duo and they are very excited to share their love for blues music and dance.

Bibi has been dancing for 27 years, but it is only when she discovered the blues that she found her true “perfect match” and fell in love with it. The overwhelming passion for music and dance quickly became a one-way ticket to the world.

Dara’s love of dancing started with moving to latin rhythms while growing up in the Caribbean, but he fell in love with Lindy Hop in the frozen north of Scotland, in 2009, and fell in love again with Blues at a workshop just 6 months later. 

They are well-known faces in the international scene and have been traveling all around Europe, USA and Asia to deepen their knowledge, teach, share and spread all of their love for the blues.

What Bibi and Dara love about the Blues is the breadth of blues music, the range of emotional expression, the creativity and the playfulness in the connection and communication with the music and the partner in the dance.

They are always excited to talk about blues and can’t wait to dance with you all!

Lucía and Andrea

Lucía and Andrea crossed paths in the summer of 2017 while dancing the Blues at a festival in Italy. Just five months later, Lucía moved to Rome, and together they began teaching Blues and Lindy Hop in 2018.

Lucía has been dancing all her life. She began with classical and contemporary dance, and she explored modern jazz and various partner dances, especially Latin dances, during her performing arts degree. She grew up on stage, pursuing a career as a professional actress and dancer. In 2013, she delved into Swing and Blues dancing and by 2015 she was attending Blues festivals and participating in numerous international workshops.

Andrea is a professional musician who balanced his high-level studies in violin, piano, harmonica, and guitar with dance training. He explored various dance styles, including West Coast Swing, Hip Hop, Lindy Hop, and Salsa. However, his heart was captured by Blues in 2016 when he began attending Blues festivals. His experience as a musician also enriched his participation in Blues, Swing, and Fusion festivals.

During their time in Rome, they actively nurtured the Blues scene from scratch, collaborating with Emanuele Margiotta, the owner of Swinghaus school. Together, they organized regular Blues events and conducted local and online classes. The couple has started teaching internationally in 2019. In 2020, they relocated to Valencia, where they are deeply involved in fostering the Blues scene in Valencia, organising socials, workshops, and regular classes.

Since 2016, they’ve attended approximately 50 Blues festivals, demonstrating their unwavering commitment to investing in their passion for Blues and continuously improving as dancers and teachers. They are also skilled DJ’s, specializing in both Blues and electronic music, and have played at numerous festivals, weddings, and private events.

In their classes, Lucía and Andrea seamlessly blend their diverse backgrounds to provide added value, emphasizing musicality and bodily expression as pivotal aspects of their teaching philosophy.