DJs
Sarah Siertle
Meet Sarah Siertle, one of our swing DJs. She began dancing in 2011 in Cleveland and started DJing soon after. Based in Indianapolis, she teaches and DJs regularly in scenes around Indiana and has DJed lindy hop and balboa dances around the country. Sarah loves the improvisational nature of lindy hop and the strong connection between the dance and the music. Her favorites songs to DJ are the ones that swing hard and get everyone in the room moving!
Emma Durham
Emma Durham began swing dancing in the fall of 2008 in the college club at Savannah College of Art and Design. She learned to Lindy hop at an Atlanta workshop weekend that spring and hasn’t looked back since. After Savannah, she spent a year in Atlanta and half a year in New Orleans before moving back to her hometown of Cincinnati five years ago. She started DJing locally after missing the music she heard in New Orleans and Atlanta. She loves female vocalists (like Ella Fitzgerald and Anita O’Day) and any song that really makes her want to swing out.
Meghan Stapleton
Meghan began swing dancing in 2016 as part of the University of Cincinnati Hepcats club. She quickly fell in love with the connections created through swing dancing—with the music, with the partners on the dance floor, and with the community off the floor. While she still calls Cincinnati her home scene, she loves travelling to other scenes to experience different styles and mixes of music. She began DJing in 2019 and is excited to share her first regional sets with CincyHop! Meghan’s favorite songs are those with playful rhythms, rich vocals, and a little sass.
Katie Spang
Meet one of our Blues DJ’s, Katie Spang! She has been dancing Blues and Lindy for the last 7 years. Her enthusiasm for this dance is greatly influenced by her love of Blues music. There are so many styles of blues that facilitate many different wonderful dances. She is excited to share her love for this dance with you at CincyHop!
Daniel Vernon
Daniel fell in love with partner dancing over a decade ago, mesmerized by the healing power of dance. The more time he spent on the dance floor, the greater his curiosity grew about the music that drives the movement. What Daniel loves most about the Blues is its ability to tell a story that touches the soul. His playlists have been described as ‘groovy’, ‘sultry’, and downright ‘good music’. Daniel djays for several scenes in the Ohio Valley and is thrilled to make his CincyHop debut!
Rachel Kreher
Rachel fell in love with swing dancing at her very first lesson in college in 2012. Spending a gap year in St. Louis taught her about St. Louis Shag before moving to Indianapolis to work on her Masters in Human Biology. She has spent incalculable weekends traveling to learn, compete, and meet new friends from all over the country. She is ALWAYS excited to use all the experience and knowledge she’s gathered to teach in Indianapolis and the surrounding college scenes as the President and Head Instructor for Naptown Stomp. Best described as an exuberant, mildly-awkward teacher, Rachel loves to share her passion for dance with anyone willing to learn. Excited to teach Lindy Hop, Charleston, St. Louis Shag, Balboa (and more!), Rachel specializes in technique, musicality, and developing a deeper understanding and love of the art of dancing. As a DJ, she loves to showcase the wide range of swing era music, from the epitome of early Count Basie swing to the boogie baseline of jump blues, and the slow, “gushy” flow of drag blues.