Nicole Trissell & Andrew Smith
About Andrew and Nicole
Andrew and Nicole were drawn together over a shared love of dance expression and technique. Both bring many years of teaching and formal dance training across a range of disciplines, including both solo and partnered movement. Their diverse backgrounds allow them to offer an array of classes that span many styles, including Blues, Lindy Hop, Balboa, Lyrical, Tango, West Coast Swing, and Latin. Their range makes Andrew and Nicole natural Fusion dancers, blending multiple styles together to better express any music. They love sharing the technique and movement principles that span all dances -- as well as the stylings particular to each one -- to provide students a broader creative palette. Andrew and Nicole focus primarily on Blues and vernacular Jazz movement as their preferred style to teach foundational dance concepts and to serve as a platform for students to discover their creative voice.
Andrew and Nicole are strong proponents of “conversational dance,” a paradigm that offers an alternative to the one-directional flow of a standard lead/follow relationship: a two-directional flow where both lead and follow can contribute actively to the shape of the dance. They also offer transformational classes on “switch dancing”, the practice of trading lead/follow roles in the middle of a song. By extensively deconstructing the differences between leading, following, initiating, and responding, Andrew and Nicole have developed a framework that empowers all dancers to speak up both within the traditional lead/follow paradigm and outside it. Students have found these workshops ground-breaking: “Learning that a follow doesn't have to be ‘pure follow,’ can have a voice, that it doesn't have to break connection, or stop listening to your partner, and that it's not actually breaking any social contract is amazing!”
Dance has been a transformative force in the lives of both Andrew and Nicole. It inspires them to teach and share that same power with all their students. Contact them here to discuss workshops, private lessons, or group classes, or pester your favorite local organizers to bring them out.
Andrew and Nicole are strong proponents of “conversational dance,” a paradigm that offers an alternative to the one-directional flow of a standard lead/follow relationship: a two-directional flow where both lead and follow can contribute actively to the shape of the dance. They also offer transformational classes on “switch dancing”, the practice of trading lead/follow roles in the middle of a song. By extensively deconstructing the differences between leading, following, initiating, and responding, Andrew and Nicole have developed a framework that empowers all dancers to speak up both within the traditional lead/follow paradigm and outside it. Students have found these workshops ground-breaking: “Learning that a follow doesn't have to be ‘pure follow,’ can have a voice, that it doesn't have to break connection, or stop listening to your partner, and that it's not actually breaking any social contract is amazing!”
Dance has been a transformative force in the lives of both Andrew and Nicole. It inspires them to teach and share that same power with all their students. Contact them here to discuss workshops, private lessons, or group classes, or pester your favorite local organizers to bring them out.
Videos
Check out our YouTube channel for the latest and greatest videos of us dancing and teaching.
Photos
Testimonials
"Nicole and Andrew's workshop on switch/ conversational dance was the perfect introduction to a whole brand new side of my partner dancing. I appreciated how they first made sure to establish the workshop as a safe place to make mistakes, and continued with a well-paced set of exercises to continue challenging my assumptions about dance and partnering. Highly recommended!" - Evan Samek
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"It was so wonderful to have a workshop that was essentially an advanced lesson on basic techniques. I have been working on learning to lead, but it is difficult in a normal dance context because I just want to rock out and have fun! To be presented with a space for learning and experimentation was perfect. You guys balanced each other beautifully - you're equally comfortable giving instruction and feedback for both dance roles." - Mari Hsu
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"Nicole and Andrew create a fun and welcoming environment for learning in their classes. They get through a lot of new content, but give enough practice time for it to really sink in. It is apparent that Nicole and Andrew enjoy teaching together, and that joy and creativity is infectious. I love that at the core of their teaching is a focus on creating a solid foundation of good technique and connection. Nicole and Andrew make me excited to take their teaching to the social floor." - Meghan Shain
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I've been dancing for 8 years and attend several workshops each year. At Dansstage in Enschede, the Netherlands in March 2014, I enjoyed several workshops from Andrew and Nicole. Their way of teaching struck me with great pleasure and admiration. They are able to create a fun and safe environment in which they easily transfer their enthusiasm for dancing.
Together, Andrew and Nicole seem to have a symbiotic way of teaching, complementing each other during their workshop like they do in their dancing. They extend to their students the feeling that dancing is something you do together. They illustrate their ideas about communication in dance by the way they teach and communicate with their students.
They both show great knowledge of the human body and how it works in relation to dancing. They provide you with a range of different exercises to make you more aware of your body and make you more in control of it. Also they can show you ways to "feel" your dance partner more clearly and react better to what he or she is "telling" you.
Their workshops are fun and energizing, letting you do all kinds of crazy stuff in which they lead by example. At the end of the workshop, they leave you astonished at how much you learned about how to dance. I'm looking forward to the next time they'll be in the Netherlands.
- Marco van Barneveld, Ede, Gelderland, the Netherlands, 2014
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"It was so wonderful to have a workshop that was essentially an advanced lesson on basic techniques. I have been working on learning to lead, but it is difficult in a normal dance context because I just want to rock out and have fun! To be presented with a space for learning and experimentation was perfect. You guys balanced each other beautifully - you're equally comfortable giving instruction and feedback for both dance roles." - Mari Hsu
--
"Nicole and Andrew create a fun and welcoming environment for learning in their classes. They get through a lot of new content, but give enough practice time for it to really sink in. It is apparent that Nicole and Andrew enjoy teaching together, and that joy and creativity is infectious. I love that at the core of their teaching is a focus on creating a solid foundation of good technique and connection. Nicole and Andrew make me excited to take their teaching to the social floor." - Meghan Shain
--
I've been dancing for 8 years and attend several workshops each year. At Dansstage in Enschede, the Netherlands in March 2014, I enjoyed several workshops from Andrew and Nicole. Their way of teaching struck me with great pleasure and admiration. They are able to create a fun and safe environment in which they easily transfer their enthusiasm for dancing.
Together, Andrew and Nicole seem to have a symbiotic way of teaching, complementing each other during their workshop like they do in their dancing. They extend to their students the feeling that dancing is something you do together. They illustrate their ideas about communication in dance by the way they teach and communicate with their students.
They both show great knowledge of the human body and how it works in relation to dancing. They provide you with a range of different exercises to make you more aware of your body and make you more in control of it. Also they can show you ways to "feel" your dance partner more clearly and react better to what he or she is "telling" you.
Their workshops are fun and energizing, letting you do all kinds of crazy stuff in which they lead by example. At the end of the workshop, they leave you astonished at how much you learned about how to dance. I'm looking forward to the next time they'll be in the Netherlands.
- Marco van Barneveld, Ede, Gelderland, the Netherlands, 2014
Bios
About Nicole Trissell
Nicole has been a dancer her whole life. Ballet, west coast swing, lindy hop and tango are all dances that have driven her need for expression through movement. But when she discovered blues 4 years ago, it was love at first dance. This unique dance style that combined creativity, freedom of movement, and a strong dance connection with her partner inspired her in a way no other dance had before. After a few years, she couldn’t withstand the draw of the dance any longer and started her life as a vagabonding dance instructor.
Since then, Nicole has become a prominent dancer, DJ, instructor, and organizer in the national blues and fusion scenes.
Nicole’s love and passion for expression through dance propels her through life. She brings that same zeal to her students through challenging but inspiring classes that encourage her students to learn, play and grow as dancers and as people.
Learn more: Nicole's Got Blues
Nicole has been a dancer her whole life. Ballet, west coast swing, lindy hop and tango are all dances that have driven her need for expression through movement. But when she discovered blues 4 years ago, it was love at first dance. This unique dance style that combined creativity, freedom of movement, and a strong dance connection with her partner inspired her in a way no other dance had before. After a few years, she couldn’t withstand the draw of the dance any longer and started her life as a vagabonding dance instructor.
Since then, Nicole has become a prominent dancer, DJ, instructor, and organizer in the national blues and fusion scenes.
Nicole’s love and passion for expression through dance propels her through life. She brings that same zeal to her students through challenging but inspiring classes that encourage her students to learn, play and grow as dancers and as people.
Learn more: Nicole's Got Blues
About Andrew Smith
Read his profile here.
Read his profile here.
