We are very happy to share with you the team of teachers we have gathered! Frankie, Siân, Sia, and Moe are experienced teachers with a strong background in following and apply it also to leading. They are enthusiastic about creating a learning environment focused on following.
Frankie
Frankie gave up dancing at the age of four, when she was cast as the Ugly Duckling for a ballet recital and was so offended she quit on the spot.
She was lured back in 2011 when she began a heated affair with Argentine tango, and has since fallen for a variety of styles from blues and reggaeton to popping and west coast swing (she still hasn’t been back to ballet). On the fusion floor she blends grounded funk with tight isolations and a LOT of smiling.
She now teaches across the UK and internationally, focusing on developing both creativity and control, and values building concepts in an accessible way to provide an expanded palette of musicality.
She believes strongly that the braided qualities that make up the skill of following – responsiveness, adaptability, resourcefulness, collaborative creativity – are fundamental for ALL improving dancers, and is excited to be part of an event that centres and nurtures these abilities.
Her goal for The Response: “I remember the moment in my own dance journey when I stopped minimising what I did as “just” following. I would love to help other dancers arrive at the same realization.”
Siân
Siân runs the fusion scene in Bristol, UK, throwing everything from one-night parties to 12-day dance marathons. She’s been on her soapbox about the depth of skill in brilliant following, follow voice, and how much more she wants to see the skill of following spotlighted since she first started to switch, so The Response is pretty much her dream event.
As a dancer, Siân is all about blending deep connection with attitude. Find her in a dance trance in the micro room at 2am, giddy on tiny, crunchy isolations. Find her taking up space on the main floor with big, sweeping leg movements. Or maybe soloing in the middle of it all, experimenting with a million ways to move her hips.
Siân’s approach to teaching (and life) is “less talking, more dancing”. Expect simple concepts, and space to play, experiment and break things to see how they fit together.
Sia
Any day of Sia’s life without dancing and singing has always felt like an incomplete day to her. Sia is a voice movement artist with therapeutic and artistic training as a vocalist, dancer and somatic movement educator. Beginning in her studies in Jazz & Contemporary Music she developed her specialty in Improvisation and Instant Composition.
Continuously exploring different musicalities and various movement & dance approaches throughout her life, Sia has fallen in love with partner and social dancing after researching, studying, performing, teaching and holding both creative and therapeutic spaces for more than 15 years.
Fusion Dance allows her to weave all of those areas and components of her work, research and joy together.
Currently based in Switzerland Sia teaches Fusion both locally and internationally. In 2024 she launched the first regular Fusion Dance classes in the country and now hosts the monthly “Fusion Lab” as part of the Fusion Dance Bern association.
Sia’s work is dedicated to the intersection of the creative and the healing arts. Among other things it is to address social justice issues from a body-based liberation practice that drives her work. And as a musician & singer she approaches dance from a deep sense of listening, to the musicality in movement, breath and contact – with oneself and others.
Moe
She was born to connect through dance and spent many years learning, exploring, choreographing, performing and teaching Partner & Solo dance. It showed her that choreographies were a useful tool to become a technical dancer, but improvisation and connection in social dance were and still are the tools to become herself. For Moe, intuitive and mindful dancing is the most powerful way of feeling, healing, expressing and connecting. It’s what makes her feel alive, authentic and calm. Where there is music, there is Moe, dancing. Using every cell of her body.
Moe’s vision for social dance and why she loves being part of The Response:
It is time for the world to learn and accept, that following and leading in dance are skills for life, regardless of gender and intention. And social dance is a great space to practice (basic) human interaction: to feel, to listen and to respond to each other in a mindful and caring way, being and making aware our own needs, wishes and boundaries.
That is the reason Moe founded Tanzheit, the queer-feminist dance space in Bern and that’s why she’ll be there sharing her experience.
The Response 