I have always had an interest in dance; however, I never thought I would be any good at it. So, during high school and college I got involved in cross country and track instead of dance. Due to a college running injury that prevented further competition, I looked around for another group of athletically minded people that I thought would fill the social and physical void I felt once I left running. It was that experience that led me into the wonderful world of dance.

During my last semester at UC Berkeley, I finally had enough seniority to be accepted in the school’s social dance class, where I met Bob Demyanovitch. He invited me to go dancing with him in San Francisco on the weekends. After taking West Coast Swing lessons from Tony Genero at a little bar named the Jolly Friar, Bob and I would head over to the only Jitterbug dance in SF at a place called The Avenue Ballroom. At The Avenue we, along with some other West Coast Swing addicts, would dance to 50’s rock & roll music until the early hours of the morning. My friends and I also danced at country bars, discos, the local swing club (Bay Swingers), basically anywhere we could. Eventually I began to teach both Jitterbug and West Coast Swing at The Avenue Ballroom under my maiden name of Kelly Buckwalter and continued to run the swing program there for five years as well as teach at other locations throughout the Bay Area. The Avenue was a real hot spot–200 Westies on Friday nights and 200 Jitterbuggers on Saturday nights–what a blast!

While teaching at The Avenue, I also met a fellow named Bob Rogers who liked to do lifts and aerials. We put together a Jitterbug/New Wave routine for the Dance Fever try-outs and due to the fact that I spent over 60 seconds of the 90 seconds in the air, and we employed every trick in the book (costume changes, props–I blew bubbles at the top of every aerial!) we made it on TV in spite of our lack of technique! At that time I also modeled for a now hard to find book called “How to Jitterbug” (by John Javna) with my good friend Crispin Pierce. I also was featured in “GQ”, “Dance Action” and “California Living” magazines. I promoted swing by performing on television locally, nationally, and internationally in a variety of dance productions, news spots, documentaries and videos. (If anyone has any old videos of Dance Fever, I would love to get a copy of my performance to use in my judging seminars of what NOT to do in competition! Please contact me if you have such a copy-thanks!)

During these years I also began to study International Ballroom with Rex Lewis. After five years of intensive lessons, I decided to concentrate on swing, as that was the music that moved me the most. I am eternally grateful for the training Rex gave me and remember him every time I judge a cabaret division.

While dancing at the Peninsula Bay Club swing dance called “Top of Beardsleys”, run by Ed Cirio and Phil Trau, I met Dominic Yin. He and I decided to put together a classic swing routine to compete at the US Open in 1988. Against all logic, but with the backing of a large contingent of Bay Area supporters who would soon form the backbone of the now famous “Next Generation Swing Dance Club”, we won the US Open Classic Division and soon after opened our own studio, “SwingOut”, in Millbrae. A few years later we closed the studio and I went back to teaching classes at a variety of locations throughout the Bay Area and began teaching and competing “on the road”. It was during this time that I cemented my close friendships with wonderful dancers from all over the country. I will be eternally grateful to all those people who so graciously shared their experience and knowledge with me.

In 1994 I won the U.S.Open Jack & Jill Championship with Tom Paderna. Soon after that I retired from competition due to injuries I had sustained in an earlier car accident. Unwilling to leave the competitive scene, I jumped at the invitation of my mentors, Annie Hirsch and Jack Carey, to start judging. At that time, there were not very many young, competitive judges on panels as most of them preferred to compete. Unbeknownst to me, Annie was grooming me to take over the position of chief judge she held at several major events because she found that chief judging means you don’t get to dance much and she wanted back into the party! As a result, I continued to acquire more jobs at events running competitions. I am grateful to Phoenix’s Fourth of July Convention and Jim and Cathy Tigges for having faith in me, as that was my first major event to chief judge, and to Lance Shermoen who was a great friend and exceptional score person who taught me so much about the Relative Placement Scoring System used at swing competitions.

In addition to winning the 1988 U.S. Open Classic Swing Dance Championship with Dominic Yin, and the 1994 U.S. Open Jack & Jill Championship with Tom Paderna, I have also been awarded several local and national awards for my contributions to swing. In 2004 I was inducted into the prestigious World Swing Dance Council Hall of Fame, and in 2006 I was inducted into the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame. I am a former board member of the World Swing Dance Council, and a former Board of Director for the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame. I am also an original member of the Founders Committee of The Next Generation Swing Dance Club based in the SF Bay Area and served as their Boogie By the Bay Chief Judge for several decades.