Sean and Alyssa
Growing Swing From Deep Roots
MORE ABOUT US
SEAN MCKEEVER
Sean’s introduction to dance came in 7th grade, when his Mother brought him to his first ballroom class at a popular youth dancing program in Sonoma County.
Although reluctant at first, he quickly realized it was a great opportunity to make new friends, and that he had a natural aptitude for it.
As a freshman, he tried out and was admitted to a Junior Instructors program where he would perform with a group of high school dancers in the surrounding areas, as well assist and demonstrate in classes of up to 500 junior high aged students. Sean continued to have a major role in the Junior Dance program through all four years of high school.
In 2006 Sean discovered West Coast Swing by attending The Capital Swing Dancer’s Convention with a group of friends from the Junior Dance Program. He instantly connected with the smooth style and relatable, modern music and from then on was completely hooked.
Within the next year Sean took his first private lesson from Parker Dearborn and learned his first syncopations, found his first partner, Cailtlin Lawson, and competed in the young adult division at the US Open.
The following year Sean joined the Schwimmer family’s renowned youth dance team, “Jumpstart”. Sean’s Mom drove the 7 hours from Sonoma County to Redlands twice a month so he could make rehearsal.
During the next several years Sean received the Next Generation Swing Dance Club’s youth scholarship award, as well as the Jack and Annie Foundation award.
Sean spent most of his efforts training, and gaining knowledge of the dance. He began the process of completing Skippy Blair’s GSDTA teaching and judging certification programs, trained extensively with Jordan Frisbee & Tatiana Mollman, Kyle Redd & Sarah Vann Drake, choreographed and performed pro-am routines with Jessica Cox, and cross trained in Ballet, Modern, and Hip Hop.
Sean also began to share his love of West Coast Swing with his local community.
Sean started teaching weekly classes to other junior high and high school aged kids, giving many of today’s northern California All Stars and Champions their first lessons in west coast swing, as well as promoting weekend workshops for Northern CA.
In 2009 Sean began competing in the adult professional routine divisions in both the Showcase and Classic division. By the middle of 2010 Sean committed to dancing full time and focused his efforts on the Classic routine division. In the years following, Sean has won numerous international Classic Routine divisions, Jack and Jill, and Strictly Swing titles, Including titles at prestigious events such as SwingDiego, Phoenix 4th of July, Swingtime in the Rockies, Desert City Swing, Swingtacular, Boogie By the Bay, and Capital Swing.
Sean has consistently been one of the top 5 leaders in the WCS community throughout his career, was inducted into the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame in 2018, and continues to strive to give back to the community through his mentorships of aspiring dancers and through his annual dance event “Choreo Camp”.
Alyssa Glanville
Alyssa has been moving ever since she can remember. She grew up playing soccer, basketball, softball, and tennis. From the ages of 9-15, she competitively showed horses and competed in Hunter/Jumper as well as Dressage. Nearly every activity she did was just that: active. She could never really just sit still (that was before Netflix came along…).
Alyssa was lucky enough to find dance at the age of eight in the form of Lindyhop. It was love at first sight! But as a socially awkward and shy kid, she didn’t fully immerse herself until she was about 12 years old, when she first started the Nordquist dance program. Being surrounded by kids her age learning the basic of all the ballroom dances was so exciting for Alyssa!
At age fifteen, she became a Jr. Dance Instructor at Nordquist and was then introduced to West Coast Swing–and thus fell headfirst into a new love. She started traveling for competitions and made it to the All-Stars Division in around 2 years. She sat in the Champions chairs for the first time at SwingDiego 2012, and shortly after began her career as an instructor. Since then, Alyssa has been fortunate enough to travel the world, teaching movement, sharing in the love of West Coast Swing!
She traveled the circuit for 8 years with her first partner, John. She developed a reputation for herself as an avid social dancer and a desirable draw in Jack and Jills and Strictlies. She’s gained many titles in Champions and continues to push to make that list longer.