OUR TEACHERS
Flouer Evelyn is a dance instructor & Embodiment Coach from New York City, currently based in Turin, Italy. She has been teaching Fusion since 2011, has MFA in dance and a background teaching and performing Blues, Contemporary, Latin Ballroom, ballet, and ice skating. She has won plenty of partner dance competitions in various styles, and has performed & taught all over the globe. But what is important is that Flouer has a warm, encouraging personality in class. She is known for her values of artistry and personal expression, complimented by her ability to break down any movement into incredibly specific detail. In Fusion, Flouer brings her fascination of the movement and history of social dances to offer a variety of approaches. She is especially known for offering simple ways to give structure and easy access to all these free dance(s). Using imagery, anatomy, rhythm, embodiment, and concepts, Flouer will build your dance from the ground up; all the while teaching you about the music you are listening to, the related dance cultures, and why a movement became what it is today. https://flouerdances.com
Mark is an international Fusion instructor, dj, and organizer hailing from California. When he is not traveling he is based out of the SF Bay Area, where started the Fusion Dance Academy. His social dancing career started with Lindy & Blues in 2005, and he has since studied Tango, WCS, and a dozen other dances. He has been teaching since 2006, much of that focused on the Fusion scene with its emerging forms and conventions, teaching workshops all over the world (and in two languages). He is at the forefront of shaping what Fusion is and what it can become He has organized multiple events in the United States, most notably & All That Jazz, the SLO Exchange, and Fireside Fusion. Mark is dedicated to sharing his knowledge and exploration of both Fusion and continually strives to make the impossible look easy, and the easy look impossible.
Justin is an internationally celebrated dance instructor with over two decades of dance training and teaching across the globe. He has explored and mastered a diverse range of dance styles in over 30 countries, bringing a nuanced and international flair to each class, DJ set, and performance. Justin's passion for Blues and Fusion dance began in 2004 and has since led him to become a world-renowned instructor, community organizer, and founding member of the Fusion dance community. His classes are distinguished by their innovative classroom pedagogy, centered around Blues-based partnership, and a core emphasis on personal expression. ​ As an educator, Justin offers his students a complex understanding of body mechanics, enabling them to explore new avenues of movement and self-expression. He incorporates imagery and kinesthetic techniques adapted from leading methods such as Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais, and the Franklin Method, enhancing his students' dynamic understanding of movement both on and off the dance floor. In addition to his instructional expertise, Justin is also the founder and main organizer of Recess Productions and is considered one of the driving forces behind the growth of the international Fusion community. He has placed in prestigious events such as Blues Shout, Mile High Blues, and Emerald City Blues and continues to commit himself to the progress of partnered dancing as a living, growing, and ever-evolving cultural art form.
Born in Bern in 1964. Trained as a stage dancer with Regina Baumgart in Berlin. Further training in ballet, contemporary dance, bodywork and acting. Works as a dancer, choreographer and dance teacher. Founder of the dance company Morespace in Basel. Teaching contact improvisation since 1991. Training as a psychomotor therapist from 1999-2001. Co-founder of the interactive bodywork Danced Body Work. https://www.patrickcollaud.ch
Dancing is a need for me, like eating, drinking and sleeping... I had my first dance lessons in jazz dance with Alain Bernard and in 1981 I discovered my love for African dance, first with Regina Ribeiro (Brazil) and then with Casimir N'Zoulou (Congo), who also encouraged me to teach myself. At the same time I attended a 6-month intensive course with Babajaga in Bern / modern dance, ballet, acrobatics, yoga and improvisation. Since returning from my one-year stay in northeastern Brazil in 1989/90, I have been teaching in Bern and the surrounding area and am constantly continuing my education, both in Europe and in Africa. In addition to weekly lessons in Bern and numerous workshops, I have been a course leader at the Uhuru Festival for many years. Since 2010 I have also been organizing dance trips to West Africa. Study trip in 2011 at the école de sable, jant bi, in Senegal with Germaine Acogny. I regularly attended dance workshops in Switzerland and Paris with dancers from Senegal, Congo, Benin, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Brazil. In order to experience African dance authentically, I went on study trips to Ivory Coast and Brazil.
Maybe you saw Natascha last year already running around Fusionizers with her camera. This year she will not only be our wonderful videographer, but also teach! Natascha has been passionate about dance and movement since she was young. Her journey began with hip hop and dancehall. Over the years she found her passion for various Afro dance styles and has been dancing passionately to the music styles Afrohouse, Afrobeats/Afropop and Amapiano ever since. She continually expands her movement repertoire in workshops around the world and brings this inspiration into her lessons. The focus is on the enthusiasm and joy of moving to music. The mixture of different dance styles, as well as the interplay of solo dance and the shared exchange of dance steps, make her lessons unique.
Rita is definitely the teacher with the most dancing experience at Fusionizers. More than 60 years probably! She started as a kid with an intensiv Ballet training. As a teenager she added partnerdancing like Standard and Latin to her agenda. She trained to be a danceteacher at the oldest danceschool in Bern, Garbujo. While teaching she did many further trainings in Paris and London for Modern and Jazz dance. She loves the alternation between Tango, Chacha and Valse and she teaches with a lot of passion and joy.
Whatever her activity (she is also a psychologist and sexologist), Arianne seeks to bring more depth, connection and awareness to the people she accompanies. This is also true in her Brazilian Zouk classes in Geneva and Lausanne. In her classes, she likes to create an atmosphere that allows students to feel safe to explore new things and gain self-confidence. She considers that dance is more than a sport or a simple pleasure. The body also speaks of our deeper mechanisms and dance is sometimes a way to address them in gentleness, joy and good humor.
Mauricio has always been passionate about sports and movement. Throughout his life, he has experienced and mastered dozens of disciplines and sports (we will spare you the list... it is too long, but if you want to ask him, he loves to talk about it). Brazil quickly became his country of heart and he taught Capoeira for a long time. He discovered couple dancing with the Samba de Gafiera and then devoted himself to Brazilian Zouk with great care and passion. He has been teaching this dance for 20 years... in French-speaking Switzerland and never tires of it! Mauricio is a great lover of the feeling of belonging and connection, but also of precision and aesthetics. He has been very keen to serve the community for years by organizing events and maintaining a Brazilian Zouk class through thick and thin.
FUSION BASICS CLASS
Sia has fallen in love with partner dancing after researching, studying, performing, teaching and holding both creative and therapeutic spaces through music, voice, dance, movement, somatics, improvisation and (instant) composition for more than 15 years. From the first encounter with Contact Improvisation followed by Salsa, Kizomba, Bachata, various Swing styles, Tango and many more, there is yet a genre or style to be found that doesn't spark her passionate interest and curiosity to explore partnership & connection. Fusion allows her to combine and bring all of the above into one form of dance. As a musician & singer she approaches dance from a deep sense of listening to the musicality in movement and contact, with oneself and others.
Dominic is a man of many talents. Not only will he moderate our parties and guide you through the evenings, but also he's teaching our beginner workshop with Sia. Dominic fell in Love with Lindy Hop in 2009. Soon he also started to dance Blues, Tango and Boogie Woogie. He loves to switch between styles and has a strong focus on musicality and leading with the whole body. He has been teaching Lindy Hop and Boogie Woogie and now we're happy that he finally will share some of his Fusion Knowledge ;)
