Born and raised in the Midwest, Joel found a love for dance early in his college days and quickly became hooked on growing as a dancer and competitor. Aside from having amazing hair, Joel Torgeson is now one of today’s rising stars in West Coast Swing. Joel provides a youthfulness and vigor to his dance … Continue reading "026 Phrase Change Podcast – Joel Torgeson"

Kay Newhouse has helped grow and shape the WCS community through her hard work and compassion. In addition to working as an event director for Mad Jam, DCSX, and Swing Fling (Dance Jam Productions), Kay has helped establish safe and friendly dance communities. Through her work with Dance Jam Production, Kay produced the Code of … Continue reading "025 Phrase Change Podcast – Kay Newhouse"

Koichi Tsunoda has traveled all over the US honing his skills as a DJ to become one of today’s most popular WCS DJs. Whether playing music for competition or late night socials, Koichi’s set is always innovative and refreshing. Koichi defines his approach as a  “westie geek who DJs like an engineer”. His latest project, … Continue reading "024 Phrase Change Podcast – Koichi Tsunoda"

Recorded at Wild Westie 2019, we sat and talked with Jason Wayne on his history in WCS. Jason shares his views on the dance as well as who he studied as a dancer that inspired the footwork and style he is known for today. We hope you enjoy this episode and be sure to check … Continue reading "023 – Phrase Change Podcast – Jason Wayne"

In this episode, we sit down with Champion level dancer Arjay Centeno to learn about his dance journey and life as a traveling instructor and family man. Arjay found his love for music at an early age and traveled the world as a classical violinist before transitioning into dance. He discovered West Coast Swing during … Continue reading "022 Phrase Change Podcast – Arjay Centeno"

We are excited to share this episode of Phrase Change featuring Alyssa Glanville! Alyssa started her journey in West Coast Swing at the age of 15 when she started ballroom. She quickly fell in love with the dance and its creativity drawn from other dance styles. Having trained in Lindy and Folk dancing prior to … Continue reading "021 Phrase Change Podcast – Alyssa Glanville"

His strengths – Contemporary and falling on the floor His Weaknesses – Blues and falling on the floor Chris Dumond joins us again on Phrase Change and shares his experiences from the 2018 US Open as well as his expertise in how he created the music used in several routines. We also talk with Chris … Continue reading "020 Phrase Change Podcast – Christopher Dumond"

Estelle Bonnaire is a multi-swing dance savant and one of the leading west coast swing instructors, dancers and judges coming out of Europe. She has a deep passion for growing her dance knowledge and sharing her love of WCS with dance communities around the world. Her joyful personality and ‘choose happiness’ attitude, have made her … Continue reading "019 Phrase Change Podcast – Estelle Bonnaire"

Malia San Nicholas began her passion for dance and performing arts at the age of two when she started her formal training in classical ballet. She performed in lead roles in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, and Cinderella. she also began studying tap, jazz, contemporary and has a background in gymnastics, American ballroom, … Continue reading "018 Phrase Change Podcast – Malia San Nicolas"

This special episode of Phrase Change features the Routine lecture panel recorded at Wild Wild Westie in 2018. We want to thank Ben McHenry, Cameo Cross, Glenn Ball, Taletha Jouzdani, Austin Scharnhorst, and Kali Casas for participating in this panel and this episode. We would also like to thank the amazing event directors of Wild … Continue reading "017 Phrase Change Podcast – 2018 W3 Lecture Panel – All Things About Routines"