Austin Kois, Head of Education
Austin Kois is a Champion level West Coast Swing dancer and a local of the San Francisco Bay Area. He began dancing West Coast Swing 10 years ago after being pressured into trying out a dance class by his mother. Ever since that first day at WnY Warehouse in Novato, he’s been hooked!
He quickly climbed up the competitive ladder for West Coast Swing reaching the All-Star level in under two years. Austin began teaching professionally in 2017, eventually opening his own weekly dance in Sonoma County in 2018 and teaching across the country at competitive events and workshop weekends. In 2020 he won his first Champion-level competition.
He was one of the first people in attendance in the early stages of Mission City Swing and is now excited to be more involved than ever before in the role of Head of Education. His focus in this role is to promote rapid and thorough education of both students and teachers to enable everyone in the community to create and enjoy West Coast Swing in new and exciting ways.
Estelle Bonnaire, Instructor
Estelle began her dance journey at age 13 when she discovered Lindy Hop. Hooked from her first swivels, swing dancing quickly became her central passion accompanied by her second passion, travelling. At 18, she embarked across the world to learn as much about the dance as possible, eventually discovering her favorite dance, West Coast Swing. It melds all her favorite elements—smoothness, grace, and technique—with her love of swing.
In 2011, she moved to Montreal for two years to train professionally as a dancer and dance teacher while developing her technique and pedagogy amongst the best of the community. All the while, she travelled to compete and became the first French All-star.
In November 2018, she competed at The Open, category Classic, with Thibault Ramirez, and placed 6th, working closely in collaboration with Kyle Redd and Sarah Van Drake, and coached by Maxence Martin and Torri Zzaoui.
She continues to travel the world, sharing her passion with everyone she meets. Her joyful personality, easy-going and open attitude, and skillful reduction of hard ideas to easily understandable concepts make her a renowned teacher. These qualities make her workshops and classes leave her students with greater confidence and understanding than when they began.
Maggie Moreno, Instructor
Maggie started dancing West Coast Swing at Mission City Swing in 2016, and she has been teaching at MCS since 2019. Maggie is an active competitor on the WSDC circuit as well as an avid social dancer, and although she has traveled in Europe and the US for west coast swing events, Maggie loves the dancing the most at her home venue: Mission City Swing. Maggie is passionate about finding quality of movement through focused practice and training, and she is excited to have this opportunity to share her passion with the community that she loves.
David Mulford, Instructor
David Mulford took his first social dance class in 1999, as an awkward college sophomore, unaware of how transformative dance would be in his life. After exploring many dance styles, he eventually found West Coast Swing and realized he had found his favorite dance. He particularly likes the level of connection, communication, and musical creativity that the slower tempos of the dance encourages. He taught at Stanford West Coast Swing from 2012 until 2016, and has been competing on the convention circuit since 2014. David is super excited to get back into teaching and to share his love for West Coast Swing.
Kathleen Sun, Instructor
Kathleen began dancing West Coast Swing in 2016. While her dance background stems from ballet and figure skating, her swing dancing roots originate from Lindy Hop, which she started in 2012. When she moved to San Francisco in 2016, Kathleen fell in love with the smooth aesthetic and versatility of WCS. Since then, she has competed at both local and national events. Mission City Swing has been a second home to her and she’s excited to be a part of the MCS teaching staff and spread her love for WCS!
Dillon Luther, Instructor
Dillon grew up as an athlete and had very little interest in dance until, one day, his little sister joined a hip hop crew. Inspired by her skills, Dillon went out on a limb and took his first hip hop and breakdancing class. Ever since, he has had a passion for combining music and movement. In 2014, Dillon found West Coast Swing in Arizona shortly before moving to the Bay Area, where he began to fall in love with the dance. He actually took some of his first classes and lessons right here at Mission City Swing! Today, he is an Allstar dancer and has taught WCS all over the world. He has performed two showcase routines with Chantelle Pianetta, and in 2019 they placed 5th at the US Open with “Sunday Smile”. He has also competed in Classic with Alyssa Glanville, and in 2019 they performed “I Lost A Friend” at the US Open. All in all, Dillon is extremely grateful for how West Coast Swing has changed his life, and he is excited to share his passion with others and continue developing his home community!
Bella Bierezowiec, Instructor
Bella started her dance journey with ballroom dancing in 2014. She soon discovered west coast swing and quickly fell in love with the dance. While she enjoys competing, working on her dance, and learning from instructors, social dancing is, by far, Bella’s favorite part of west coast swing. She loves the magic of creating shapes and movements with another person. When Bella moved to the Bay Area in 2018, she was overjoyed by the warmth and generosity of this west coast swing community. Bella is very excited to join the teaching team and spread the love that this community has given her.
Joseph Tong, Instructor
Joseph discovered West Coast Swing near the end of his time in college and really fell in love with it when he joined the MCS community in 2016. As an avid competitor on the circuit, Joseph has traveled all across the country for west coast swing and currently competes in the Allstar division. He also co-founded and built the SwingPoints app as a way to give back to the community, allowing dancers all over the world to track their competitive progress and the competitive progress of their friends. Having “grown up” as a dancer in the MCS community, Joseph is super excited to have the opportunity to share his passion for this dance and inspire others to find a home in this amazing community as well.
Jodie Tarpo, Instructor
Jodie began attending Mission City Swing in 2017, shortly after moving to the Bay Area from Santa Barbara, CA. She began dancing through her ballroom dance club in college, where she competed in Latin, Standard, and the various “Nightclub” dances, which included salsa, bachata, hustle, Lindy Hop, and West Coast Swing. Ask her to see a video of what her West Coast Swing looked like back in those days, if you’re in the mood for comedy. Jodie loves the fun, playful personality of West Coast Swing as well as the versatility of styles within the dance itself. She has received so much support through the MCS community throughout the years, and is excited for the opportunity to give back to the community by sharing knowledge and encouragement.
Mission City Swing 