How Kelly Supports the West Coast Swing Dance Community
With decades of experience as an instructor, champion competitor, judge, and chief judge, Kelly is dedicated to helping dancers grow-on and off the dance floor. After retiring from chief judging in 2025, Kelly now focuses on mentoring judges and chief judges all the while continuing to work with social dancers on a weekly basis.
Classes & Instruction
Judging & Chief Judging
Mock Judge Training Intensives
Workshops & Seminars
Coaching & Mentorship
Advocacy & Community Leadership
About me
Champion, Hall of Fame Inductee, and Leader in Swing Dance Education
Kelly Casanova is a former US Open Classic and Jack & Jill Champion. She has been inducted into both the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame and The Worlds Swing Dance Council Hall of Fame for her lasting impact on the swing dance community. With over four decades of experience, she has taught, judged, chief judged at major conventions across The US, and currently serves as the chair of the Chief Judge Committee for the World Swing Dance Council.
A pioneer in inclusive dance practices, Kelly has helped reshape competition standards by promoting role flexibility and eliminating gender bias. Today, she focuses on mentoring the next generation through her Mock Judge Training Intensives, open to dancers of all levels.
For more information, you can read her complete bio here.
A Lifetime Dedicated to Dance
My mission is simple: to help dancers grow with skill, confidence, and respect for one another and the craft, all the while building a more inclusive, safe, and supportive community.
Advocacy and Community Leadership
After years of unsuccessfully lobbying event directors to allow competitors in the Jack and Jill divisions to lead or follow regardless of gender identification, Kelly ran her own event, Swing Break, in 1999 to allow competitors to choose their roles. As a result, events responded with providing a Strictly Swing division where competitors could choose any partner they wanted. Several years later in 2016, aided by Kelly’s continued lobbying, the community allowed Jack & Jill dancers the same opportunities she championed in 1999. As a result, many competitors now compete as both leads and follows and Kelly is especially pleased that many dancers are unaware that it was ever even an issue!
Over many decades, Kelly has volunteered her services as an instructor for a variety of local fundraisers. Kelly volunteered for several years as a co-instructor alongside Andy Bouman for Swing Diversity’s Judging Training. Kelly has also volunteered her time to serve on the board of the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame, and currently volunteers as the Chair of the Chief Judge Committee for the World Swing Dance Council where she works to improve conditions for competitors, judges, and chief judges worldwide.
