WEST COAST SWING with AUSTIN KOIS and KATHLEEN SUN
WEST COAST SWING with AUSTIN KOIS and KATHLEEN SUN of MISSION CITY SWING
Saturday September 28
12:30 - 1:30pm
Yerba Buena Gardens (East Plaza)
West Coast Swing (WCS) is a smooth, slotted swing dance. It evolved from a smooth style of Lindy Hop here in California and adapted into its own dance form back in the ’50s and 60s. Danced to a wide range of music genres, it is slower than Lindy and East Coast Swing, which are danced to up-tempo swing and big band music, but it is very improvisational, creative, and musical. Often it is defined by the stretch and flow of the dance and its linear shape.
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.
Austin began teaching professionally in 2017, eventually opening his own weekly dance in Sonoma County in 2018 and teaching across the country and world at competitive events and workshop weekends. In 2022, he joined the Mission City Swing teaching staff and leadership team as Head of Education. In 2023 Austin was inducted into the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame in the Nova Star category.
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.
Kathleen Sun began her dance journey as a toddler, dancing ballet and swiveling her way across the ice as a figure skater. She translated those swivels onto the dance floor when she started dancing Lindy Hop in 2012. When Kathleen moved to San Francisco in 2016, she frequented Mission City Swing every week and fell in love with the smooth aesthetic and versatility of West Coast Swing. She is currently is an avid West Coast Swing dancer, instructor, & DJ, spinning tunes at local and international events & social dances.
As a community leader, Kathleen devotes her time towards helping run Mission City Swing on Wednesdays in San Francisco – teaching, DJ’ing, and managing operations. She has been a part of Mission City Swing’s leadership team and teaching staff since 2019. In June 2023, she started her own dance in San Francisco, Moonlit Moves, to give dancers another venue to learn and dance on (most) Fridays! The community she has contributed to and built is felt across the Bay.
Kathleen brings an infectious energy (and laughter) to the dance floor and is so excited to be able to spread her love for movement and dance to all communities!
Learn more about Mission City Swing.
Instagram: @Missioncityswing
