RSDS Instructors
Many of our instructors are Rice students, staff, or faculty. Others are members of the local community.
Standard and Latin Ballroom
Pam & Drew Shefman have been teaching at Rice since 2002 when they starting substitute teaching when the then teacher injured his knee. They have been teaching ballroom classes for university students since around 1994. They both started to learn to dance when they were undergraduate students at Carnegie Mellon University (Pam started in 1991 and Drew in 1993). They had different partners early on and started dancing together around 1998. They have both danced competively, for showcases, and socially for years. Most of all they love to teach at the university level. They enjoy the energy of the classes, the student’s excitement about dancing, and mostly the fun atmosphere. For them, ballroom dancing is a lifelong hobby that you can always learn more about and can enjoy anywhere.
Swing
Hank Hauffe is an experienced swing dancer who has taught many classes for the Houston Swing Dance Society (HSDS), Rice Social Dance Society (RSDS), and Second Cup Swing. Hank loves the dance and teaching what he feels to be the heart of the dance – its energy; and its connection in the moment with the music and each other. Hank started the swing dance night and lessons at Taft Street Coffee along with Amber Thomas in October 2004. In July 2006 these lessons and very successful monthly dance were re-christened Second Cup Swing. In January of 2008, Second Cup Swing began another Saturday night dance, know as “Demitasse”, that is scheduled weekly at Té House of Tea.
Natalie Weber began learning swing her first year at Rice University, and has been dancing for over five years. Last year she was Swing Coordinator of RSDS and has helped organize the major swing events on campus, Harvest Moon Ball and Jazz Soiree, for three years now. She finds the mutual conversation of lead-follow to be the main component of swing, and loves to explore that conversation within different styles and connections.
Andrea Deaton has been swing dancing for over twelve years and teaching for eleven. She was one of the founding members of the San Antonio Swing Dance Society, in which she has held every office. She is also a swimming, diving, and gymnastics instructor, which has helped her have an eye for detail. Her nickname in San Antonio is Queen of Play because she has fun every time she hits the dance floor. She has attended numerous workshops in Texas, North Carolina, and Herrang Dance Camp in Sweden.
Anna Whitmire started swing dancing in 2000 in her hometown of Houston, Texas. Since then, her dancing has taken her dancing, teaching, and performing every where from Harlem to Hawai’I to Hobart, Tasmania and beyond . Having started as a fifteen-year-old, her style is etched with playfulness and energy of youth. Get ready to have some fun!