Instructors

Erin Morris and Nathan Bugh

Erin Morris (STL)

Erin Morris
Photo Credit: Carly Vanderheyden

Erin Morris has been teaching, performing, and competing in jazz and swing dancing for over 25 years. She has enjoyed international artist residencies in Vienna, Berlin, and Krakow but above all loves contributing regularly to her local communities and students. Erin received her MFA in Dance in 2023 from Washington University in St. Louis and is now adjunct faculty.

Her art-making focus has been on blending her background in Black social jazz dance with personal explorations in postmodernism, and she finds that all paths return her to the importance of improvisation and collaboration with musicians. In 2024 she launched the performance initiative “Jazz Shift” with renowned drummer Steve Davis (her husband), aiming to shift perspectives on how jazz sounds, how jazz moves, and what is possible when the language of jazz explores both fluency and futurism.

Whether in the studio, the classroom, or the jazz club, Erin is committed to laying bare cultural roots and discovering a present that is individual, informed, aesthetic, and connective.

Nathan Bugh

Nathan Bugh is known worldwide for his intimately rhythmic style of Lindy Hop and vernacular jazz. He "rocked the stage" at Carnegie Hall, dancing Lindy Hop with the New York Pops Orchestra; he performed in Harlem’s famous Apollo Theater in Swingin' Frankie's Way; and he danced in the CT&Co's More Forever, at Jacob's Pillow. Nathan is also co-creator/choreographer of the Joyce Theater's SW!NG OUT, one of the greatest theatrical presentations of Lindy Hop in the modern era.

His on-film appearances include: "My Fair Wedding" S.3 E.3 Great Gatsby Bride, Making Money w Charles Payne, Fox and Friends Christmas, Rebel In The Rye, and The Weepies - Be My Honey Pie. As a national jazz-dance competitor, Nathan has taken 1st place in Lindy, Slow Dancing, Solo, Team, Jill&Jack, Video, and Cabaret divisions. Throughout the 2010s he was one of the most eminent solo-jazz contestants in the world, winning both the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown (2012) and International Lindy Hop Championships (2014), as well as achieving 3rd place in the ILHC invitational (2018).

He was also the director and choreographer of “Yeah Man,” the 2015 ILHC Team champions. Nathan is based in New York City, where he performs frequently and teaches social-dance classes. He has taught the Columbia University Swing Club since 2006, and he is adjunct dance faculty at Marymount College.