Meet The Team

Aaron Rodriguez got his dancing start doing line dancing in a country bar in the wine country, then moved onto ballroom while attending Chico State, and finally took up lindy hop with some of the ballroom dropouts. Since then he's traveled all over the country for swing dancing and enjoys learning new things about it and improving his dancing whenever he can. After taking a short break from dancing, he joined the Swing Cats in 2009 and has been loving it. He works at IGN in the Ad Technology department in an attempt to put his computer science degree to good use and when not dancing, he enjoys playing video games, cycling, and working out.
Angela Lee Yang was dragged into the Lindy scene by her boyfriend (now husband) in Beijing, China, 2004. Her eyes were really opened when she first attended Sea Jam in Singapore a year later--she never had thought partner dance could be so much fun! For all sorts of reasons, she pretty much stopped Lindy Hopping from 2005 till the summer of 2008, when she returned to the dance floor at Wednesday Night Hop. Lindy hop is all about having fun and making great friends for her. Other fun stuff that she does includes but not limited to ^_^: outdoor paintball, photography, watching animated movies, cooking, playing rock band, watching dance clips on Youtube (a lot)!
David Menestrina David started dancing in June of 2005 when his roommate dragged him to a salsa class. He quickly learned that his hips don't lie: they were telling him that he was not a salsa dancer. However, he continued taking dance classes at Stanford and eventually found that the happy, bouncy energy of Lindy Hop was the best match for his personality. He started going out social dancing around the Bay Area and has been dancing ever since.
Gilles Bouvier was raised on cheese and creme fraiche in Paris, France. He came to the United States in 1997 to work as a chip design engineer in the Silicon Valley. Just as he was starting to discover the Lindy Hop, he was exiled (okay, not really) to Britain for 6 months. But the Swing madness had already got to him and he started taking classes with Graeme & Ann in Bristol, England. Back in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1998, he continued to learn under Rob & Diane. When not practicing Jazz steps, he is either rock-climbing, hiking a mountain, playing a little guitar, spending too much time on his Mac, or thinking about French food.
Hazel Dewitt started swing dancing in 1998 with the Bainbridge Island Swingin' Hep Cats, a high school performance troupe. The next two years of her life were mostly spent learning, practicing, and performing lindy hop routines in Washington state. She danced off and on while away at college and grad school until she moved to the Bay Area in 2008 and was thrilled to become a member of the Swing Cats. When she isn't dancing Hazel works in a psychiatry research lab, plays ball with her dog, and reads as much as possible.
Julie Tsai, an original member of the Swing Cats, is happy to still be a part of the troupe after a long hiatus. A native New Yorker, she transplanted herself a number of years ago to the Bay Area for school. Upon graduating from Stanford University she found herself unable to leave such a swinging area and created many 'opportunities' to keep herself dancing here. Her dance background includes ballet and social ballroom. As an undergraduate (and beyond) she has performed with the Stanford Viennese Ball Opening, Stanford Vintage Dance Ensemble with Richard Powers, and the Knotts Dance Company. She is also current Artistic Director of the Academy of Danse Libre. When not on the dance floor or at her clinic she can be found reading (anytime, anywhere), watching old movies or new theater productions, cooking (or just eating), gardening, and traveling the world.
Justin Dewitt began dancing in Ithaca, NY, while attending Cornell University. He was lucky to have stumbled onto a scene with great dancing and greater teachers, and took great advantage of them for the few years he was there. Little did he know that his frequent bouts of dancing and DJing were merely preparartion for the climax of his dance career in the Bay Area. After moving to California, he was quickly gobbled up by the Swing Cats -- and that's when the rest of his life began. If you're lucky enough to find him off the dance floor, you'll catch him skiing, skating, or playing his saxophones.
Kim Carlson was born and raised in mountainous Montana. She started dancing in the SF Bay Area in 2001, including a short stint performing with Swingcats. Pursuit of a PhD at Yale pulled her to the East Coast and Far East (Borneo) for a few years before she happily escaped back to California! While not finishing her dissertation or practicing her swivels, you can find Kim on a yoga mat or trail-running through the redwoods.
Nicole Farar started dancing at the young age of 4 where she was classically trained in ballet, tap and modern dance. It was not until 1998 where she first saw the Lindy Hop being performed at a concert she attended, and it was love at first sight. She soon discovered the San Francisco Lindy scene and started attending all the classes and workshops possible. She continued dancing through college at UC Santa Barbara where she was lucky enough to take lessons from some of the greats based out of Southern California and the rest you can say is history! Nicole is very happy to be a part of the Swing Cats and she loves performing. When sheÕs not dancing you can almost always find her at an Oakland AÕs game or in the kitchen, trying her hand at cooking.
Rachael Rodriguez first discovered Dixieland Jazz at the Jazz Jubilee in Sacramento, in 1985. She was deemed the almost official mascot for two bands there: Allotria, & The Igor Jazz Cowboys at the age of 2. Any music prior to 1950 is always stuck in her head. She started Jazz and tap dance at age 7, and never really stopped. Then she discovered lindy hop the summer of 2001 in Sacramento, and has never gotten enough. As a matter of fact, she and her fiance met at a lindy event in Sacramento! She was a music and dance major for a few years, and then switched to culinary school thinking it would pay the bills. She moved to the bay area for her fiance and a great kitchen job. Now she works in Marketing Research, resides in San Mateo, and tap dances in her chair, and does Charleston while doing the dishes most of the time.
Trevor Gattis made his way from the Tarheel State to the Golden State in 1993. Two years after that, he began to discover the wonders of social dance while attending Stanford University. After being versed in the basic for about 15 different dances through classes at Stanford and DeAnza, he was introduced to the world of lindy at the Monsters of Swing '99 swing camp. Since then, it's been a non-stop lindy-coaster ride. When he's out dancing, you can find him gettin' his groove on to old school R & B, dancing salsa, Argentine tango, and swing. When he's not dancing, you can find him playing ultimate frisbee, basketball, dabbling in video production work, gettin' jiggy wit it, working on miscellaneous programming projects, collecting music, practicing his moonwalk, and just enjoying life. Catch Trevor teaching and DJing at Cheryl Burke Dance.

Founders



 Rob & Diane van Haaren are considered trendsetters and leaders in the world of swing. They frequently travel all over the United States and Europe to teach and perform. They were voted the No. 1 Swing Dance instructors in the Bay Area, as noted by San Francisco Magazine, "Best of San Francisco," January 1998. They are known around the globe for their style and flair on the floor. They've been featured numerous times on both Fox and ABC television specials, as well as the PBS special with Wynton Marsalis, Frankie Manning, Illinois Jacket, and Jimmy Slide on the life of Duke Ellington, "Swingin' with Duke." Perhaps you saw them on Wynton Marsalis's Lincoln Jazz Orchestra's year 2000 tour in the Bay Area called "For Dancers Only." What's more, they were the opening act for former President Clinton during his visit to San Francisco.