Jakub Jakoubek & Emeline Rochefeuille
Natively from Czech Republic & Reunion Island, Jakub and Em took their first steps into the dance world at the age of 16 and 12, both starting with Ballroom Dancing (Latin, Standard & line-dancing).
After her arrival in France at the age of 18, as Em sought to start a new dance form, she bumped into a video of Jordan & Tatiana, and fell in love with WCS right away. She was trained by Maxence Martin who gave her a solid knowledge from which she developed her own dancing and teaching style. Today, she acts in the WCS Community not only as a teacher, but also as a DJ and photographer.
Jakub’s dance world consists of social dances such as Zouk, WCS or Salsa but there is also a part of solo or group Modern and Contemporary dances. He started to dance and compete in WCS in 2014, guided mainly by Maxence Martin and Mario Robau, while using a lot of his background knowledge in his approach. His philosophy in dance is focused on communication.
They were both hooked since they discovered WCS, and were especially drawn to the creativity, musicality, and freedom within the dance. Just by pure chance, they had to teach together in a styling workshop in June 2016, thanks to Rita and Adam. At the end of the week-end the students suggested that they should partner up, so they did. 🙂
They have been traveling the world ever since, flying from country to country to share their passion for WCS, and they love it…
Olivier & Virginie Massart
Olivier and Virginie Massart are based in Lyon (France).
Their love for WCS started in 2005 when WCS was new in Europe.
Olivier Massart has lived in Lyon since 2010 but has somehow retained his Belgian Humor!<br />A member of the dance troupe “Mov High” and the coordinator of the WCS French Open; he travels all over Europe to share his passion for WCS. Somehow, he is still able to teach each week in Lyon!
Virginie Massart lives in Lyon and works full time looking after her dance school. During the week, she still finds the time to be a part of Mov High and each weekend, she packs up her dance shoes and travels to West Coast all over. Her elegance and kindness is a perfect compliment to Olivier’s.
Olivier and Virginie are also competing at Champions level in the World WCS competition. Another dream they could accomplish was to create an International Flash Mob for WCS – making people around the world dance the same choreography on the same day.
Ludovic Pelegrin Pardou (FRA) & Karin Kakun (ISR)
Ludovic took his first dance steps at the age of 10 when he started to learn rock’n’roll. His dance background is as much innovative as diversified, as he has taken a quick interest into Lindy-Hop, Balboa, Charleston, Acrobatic rock’n’roll, Salsa, Boogie Woogie and Tap dancing as well. He has been a Rock and Roll-, Lindy Hop- and Charleston instructor since 2009.
His attraction towards Swing dancing enabled him to discover West Coast Swing in 2010. Quickly becoming very passionate, he went overseas from workshop to workshop, where he was able to learn from the best instructors. Ever since he’s been taking part in a lot of competitions and places regularly in the Top 3. He’s got excellent skills in both leading and following.
Driven by the desire to share his passion and help others to discover and learn West Coast Swing, he started to teach in 2011. After contributing to spreading WCS within his local area (in France), he is now giving workshops across France and Europe. Thanks to his knowledge and skills in a variety of dances, he is known for his amazing musical knowledge, his structured and concise teaching and his great generosity in sharing his love for the dance.
Karin Kakun has been dancing all her life. She holds a university dance degree and has now taught dance for more than 14 years. She teaches WCS, Hip-Hop, stretching. She also choreographs and performs. Before starting dancing WCS, she was the Israeli salsa champion.
Karin started her WCS career in 2014 and from the first moment she fell in love with it. She is now competing both in All Star and Champion divisions and teaching in Israel, where she directs a West Coast Swing school. She actively travels and teaches all around Europe.
László Tárkányi & Jula Palenga
László Tárkányi is an international West Coast Swing social dancer, instructor, coach, competition judge, event director and most of all, an enthusiast of the dance.
After beginning in ballroom dancing in 2003, having competition success for years in the boogie-woogie scene, László met West Coast Swing in 2008. In West Coast Swing he found what he has been unconsciously seeking, a dance that can be done for almost all genres of music. For him, this dance is the modeling of real life, where you have to obey some easy basic rules, and you can do, create anything, beyond imagination. Nothing is impossible!
László has been competing in the All-Star division since 2016, travelling actively around the West Coast Swing circuit. He is an enthusiast of teaching the dance to others. He has been teaching weekly regular classes, weekend workshops, private classes and coaching sessions since 2013.
Jula and László
This dynamic duo has been teaching together in various international events since 2019. Their classes are known for a fun and welcoming atmosphere, detailed technical tuition and their radiating enthusiasm to transfer all the knowledge and experience they have to their students.