Our Team

Tracy James (Event Coordinator)

Tracy is originally from Chicago. She studied Animation at the Savannah College of Design (in Georgia), where she came across the Lindy Club one fateful evening. The club would play two blues songs each meeting, and the girls would fight for the one lead that could blues. This wouldn't do, so she quickly learned to lead. After graduating in 2005 she moved to Los Angeles, where there was simply not enough blues dancing (especially after losing one of the local favorites, Speakeasy) She started do Something Blue in September 2006 by organizing dSB's first workshop weekend. It was such a success that in January 2007 she began organizing a monthly blues dance, held on the last Friday of the month. Attendance has more than tripled since the first dance. She would like to thank Ken and Rita being the pioneers of Blues in Southern California, and Mandy for her endless support for anything blues in Los Angeles.

Katie Parks (Housing Coordinator)

Katie grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  She started swing dancing as an undergraduate at USC and got into salsa dancing while studying abroad in Madrid.  Katie danced her first blues dances at Glen Echo Park just outside of Washington, D.C. while in grad school at American University.  Since then, blues dancing has become her dance of choice.  A couple months after she moved back to Los Angeles, she was excited to hear that dSB’s first workshop weekend was coming up – which meant that blues dancing had made it to L.A.!  Housing registration closes October9th! Questions or concerns for LA Blues Housing? Email Katie at housing@labluesdance.com

Erin Ho (Volunteer Coordinator)

Erin grew up in a small town in Missouri and made her way to CA in 2002. Through the constant persistance from a close friend to go out more, she was introduced to swing dancing at LindyGroove in 2004 and immediately became extremely addicted. She has since attended lindy exchanges in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver, and New York. But you will usually find her in the blues room. Her first experiences as a DJ were through random house parties which lead to her official debut at DSB. She has a passion for great music, great friends & great dancing!

Charlotte Woertler (Instructor/Contest & Performance Coordinator)

Charlotte is a true LA local! Born & raised right here in sunny Southern California. She started dancing however in a land far, far away. In 2005 she spent a year living in Japan where a friend convinced her to come try swing dancing. A love of Lindy Hop was born! In 2006 Charlotte moved back to LA and sought out dancing wherever she could. She began traveling to various events and exchanges and soon found herself asking "Is it late night yet? Where's the blues room?"  It was then that she decided to try and figure this Blues thing out.  Drawn to the creative expression and dynamics of Blues dancing she's been on that journey of discovery ever since.

Taide Carpenter (Guest Transportation/Food Coordinator)

"Lured to Hollywood from her native San Francisco Bay Area in 2002, Taide has dabbled in various dance forms all her life, including ballet, musical theater, ballroom, country-western, salsa and swing. After discovering the slower side of swing at The Derby and LindyGroove, she attended the first local ‘do Something Blue’ workshop in 2006 and has been hooked on blues ever since. Having recently attended blues exchanges in Austin and San Francisco, she’s excited to help share and grow the love of *The Blues* at the inaugural L.A. Blues."

Jamie Leake (Local Info/DJ Coordinator)

Jamie Leake began DJing in college at the University of North Texas, where he DJed with the Social Dance Liberation Front. He has a deep and abiding love for eclectic blues dance sets. He shakes his fists with glee when he finds a track he's never heard anyone play. His favorite color is blue and he hopes one day someone will give him a clear, concise definition of irony. Jamie shaves his head every other day with a Mach 3.