Film Credits:

• Jive choreography and featured dancer for George Michael's music video Round here
• Dancer in Forthcoming Mike Leigh movie
• Choreographer and featured dancer of the ITV film
  Back Home.
• Choreographer and featured dancer of the film War Brides.
• Choreographer and featured dancer of the film Swing,
  a romantic comedy starring Hugo Speer and Lisa Stansfield.
• Dancer for ITV's Foyles War
• Dancer for the BBC's Take A Girl Like You.
• Dancer, B Monkey
• Lead Jitterbug dancer, Memphis Belle
• Dancer, Chicago Joe and the Show Girl
• Dancer, Tom & Viv

TV appearances:

• Featured dancer in forthcoming Channel 4 documentary, Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to all Creation.
• William & Mary starring Martin Clunes
• BBC's The Generation Game.
• Deborah Bull in Travels with my Tutu - a dancing documentary for BBC2.
• Choreographer and featured dancer in the BBC's documentary String of Pearls.
• She's Gotta Have It, Channel 4's top fashion and style series.
• Blue Peter
• This Morning with Richard and Judy.
• 5's Company.
• Gloria Hunniford.

Simon & Taina
Photo by Steve Lippitt

Simon Selmon & Kate Keller
Photo by Tim Flach

Theatre, Festivals, Performances:

• West End at War, Leicester Square, June 2004
• Lawrence Dallaglio Benefit Ball, Grosvenor House, Park Lane, March 2004
• Theatre show, Swing with the Big Bands at The Capitol, Horsham, February 2004
• Performance at Swing & The City by Corporation of London, Leadenhall Market
• Workshops and performances at The Royal Festival Hall Ballroom, various
• Workshops and performances at Cabinet War Rooms for the 1940s Dance Nights, various.
• 1920s workshops and performances for the Flappers and Follies Summer Party at the Victoria & Albert Museum, July 2003
• Performance at The 6th Circus Space Festival, June 2003
• Stompin' in Brighton workshops and performance for charity event, February 2003
• Theatre show with Kit Packam's One Jump Ahead at the Brook Theatre, Chatham, November 2002
• Performance and outdoor workshop at the Golden Jubilee street party organised by the Museum of London, Smithfield Market, 4 June 2002
• Choreographer & dancer with sell out show Ignite at the Purcell Room, South Bank Centre, April 2002
• Featured dancer with The Legend of Sinatra featuring Gary Williams and David Jacobs
• Choreographer & dancer with own sell out show Journey Through Jazz at the Lillian Baylis Theatre, Saddler's Wells.
• Choreographer and dancer for Swing! Swing! Swing! A swing song and dance show with the Ray Gelato Giants.
• Choreographer for the West End show The Cotton Club, a 40's style revue which played at The Talk Of London.
• Imperial War Museum as part of 1940's week - demos and workshops
• Guest performer in 2001 Tap Odyssey Bloomsbury Theatre
• Performances with many of the UK's top swing orchestras including The BBC Big Band, The Herb Miller Orchestra, Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, Graham Dalby and the Grahamophones, Palm Court Theatre Orchestra, The Ray Gelato Giants, Gary Williams Big Band, King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys, Sugar Ray's Flying Fortress, Kit Packham's One Jump Ahead, Blue Harlem
• We have performed at the Hurlingham Club, London SW6, Roof Gardens, Kensington, Bexley Hall, Kent, Park Lane Hotel, Landsdowne Club, Mayfair W1, Cobden Club, London W10, Chesterfield Hotel, Mayfair W1, Grafton Hotel, Wimbledon Tennis Club, Theatre Museum, De Montfort Hall, Leicester, the Hippodrome, Leicester Square, London

Taina Kortelainen & Simon Selmon

Competitions:

• DJ Snohetta cup 2004, Norway
• Organiser, United Kingdom Open Lindy Hop Championships
• MC, World Lindy Hop Championships 2002
• UK Open Jive Championships 2001 - Lindy Hop division winner
• UK Open Lindy Hop Champion 2000.
• American Swing Dance Champion 1999 - Blues Division
• Judge, World Lindy Hop Championships 1997
• Judge, American Lindy Hop Championships

Teaching:

• London Balboa Festival, 2003
• Herrang Dance Camp, Sweden (over 10 years).
  
• London Lindy Hop Festival, UK (7 years).
• Ragtime weekend, Toronto, Canada 2002.
• Osaka & Tokyo Swing Societies, Japan 2002.
• American Lindy Hop Championships, US.
• Buffalo Gap, US.
• Augusta Heritage Festival, US.
• Swing Camp Catalina, US.
• Dallas Swing Camp, US.
• Barcelona International Festival of Swing, Spain.
• Boogie Barens, Germany.
• Crazy Shakers, Switzerland, and many more

Publications:

Author of Swing dancing. For beginners through to teachers, this instructional book features appoximately 50 different swing moves for all levels plus history, music section and general advice for the cool hep cats of today.

Author of Let's Lindy, first book of its kind that teaches you how to lindy and gives you an insight into its history.

Swingdance article, Dancing Times Ltd. (February 2003).

Press:

featured in Mirror, Times, Independent, Evening Standard, Daily Mail, Sunday Express, Elle Magazine, Livewire, Der Spiegel, Marie Claire, Dance Today and on radio's Jazz FM, LBC, BBC.

Taina dances Lindy Hop, Boogie Woogie, Rock’n’Roll, Blues and many other styles.

Her achievements include:
Boogie-Woogie: -Two times Finnish Champion (1998 & 1999)
- 10th in European Championships (1996)
- 7th in World Championships (1999)
- 8th In Boogie Dancing World Cup (1999)
Lindy Hop: 7th in World Championships (1998)
- UK Open Jive Championships 2001 - Lindy Hop division winner
- UK Open Lindy Hop Champion (together with Simon) (2000)
Rock'n'Roll: 3rd in D-class in Finland (1998)
Blues: American Champion (together with Simon) (1999)

*West End at War, Leicester Square, June 2004
*Lawrence Dallaglio Benefit Ball, Grosvenor House, Park Lane, March 2004
*Workshops and performances at Cabinet War Rooms for the 1940s Dance Nights
*London Balboa Festival, November 2003
*1920s workshops and performances for the Flappers and Follies Summer Party at the Victoria & Albert Museum, July 2003
* Performance at The 6th Circus Space Festival, June 2003
*Teacher in Herrang Dance Camp, Sweden July 2003
* Teacher in Santa Susana, Spain May 2003
* Featured dancer in BBC 2 Glenn Miller Documentary in January 2003
* Organiser, adjudicator, music selection: United Kingdom Open Lindy Hop Championships. (2000-2003)
* Teacher at Dance Manhattan and Swing 46, New York, USA 2002.
* Teacher at Ragtime weekend, Toronto, Canada 2002.
* 50's-dance specialist in the musical Grease in Finland in May 2002.
* Choreographer for the show "Ignite” in April 2002.
* Featured dancer at Argentine Tango show with Trio Corazon in January 2002.
* Featured dancer in the show "Legend of Sinatra" through spring and autumn 2001 featuring Gary Williams and David Jacobs.
* Teaching children at the Imperial War Museum at the 1940's week in autumn 2001
* Dancer in the Generation Game in July 2001.
* Featured dancer in the show "At the Hop" - part of the Festival of Britain in May 2001.
* Teaching children in Harca Youth Centre, London in May 2001
* Teacher in Barcelona, Spain in April 2001.
* Featured dancer in the show "Journey through Jazz" in March 2001.
* Dancer in Blue Peter in March 2001
* President of a non-profit dance organization Rock'n'Roll Dance Club Comets in 1999 in Finland. Member of the board of directors in Rock'n'Roll Dance Club Comets 1996-1999. Editor of the Comets magazine in 1996.
* Teaching at an international dance camp in Bergen Norway since 1997. Teaching children 5-10 year olds in 1998.
* Teacher and writer of the material for the "new teachers course" in Boogie-Woogie on four separate occasions in 1998 and 1999 in Finland.

Taina has been teaching Boogie-Woogie, Lindy Hop and Finnish social dances all over Scandanavia for many years and has also been competing in modern and Latin dance for five years. On top of this extensive repertoire she does some Street Dance, Tap and Argentine Tango. She runs her own Boogie-Woogie workshops and enjoys performing in the Sugarfoot Stompers. To top it all she is UK, USA and Finnish Champion!

Her website is: http://www.tkortela.150m.com

The Sugarfoot Stompers
Jazz Dance Company

The Sugarfoot Stompers (founded in 1991 under the artistic direction of Simon Selmon) have built up an excellent reputation for both teaching and performing authentic jazz dance. They specialise in many of the popular dances from the 1920's through to the 1960's, such as the Charleston, Shim Sham, Big Apple, Rock'n'Roll, Madison and, of course, the famous Lindy Hop.

The Stompers can offer anything from one dance number to a complete show. At parties they include dance tuition and help create a fun and friendly atmosphere at a wide range of events.

The dancers have appeared in films, such as War Brides, Back Home, Take a Girl Like You, Swing, Memphis Belle, Chicago Joe and the Showgirl, Tom and Viv, B Monkey, on TV: The Generation Game, Secret History, String of Pearls, London Bridge, Rock with Laughter, Blue Peter, Capital Woman, Big City, Strictly Dancing, in Festivals: HMS Belfast, West end at the war, Coin Street Festival - Capital Age Day, and in concert in the BBC Big Band's Forces Sweethearts and The Joint is Jumpin' .

More recently the Sugarfoot Stompers were seen at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre in the show Ignite and they completed a tour of the UK and Ireland with the Ray Gelato Giants - one of Britain's leading modern swing bands - in a show called Swing Swing Swing.


To find out more about booking Simon, Taina and the Sugarfoot Stompers, go to Book Us.

Nina Burghiner, Keith Harrison,
Richard Dixon, Rachel Glasspool