TEACHERS

MEET THE FOUNDERS

Joel De Andrade & Karen Galsgaard

Joel De Andrade & Karen Galsgaard have roots and are pioneers in the Danish Hip Hop scene. Joel has been dancing since 1989 and Karen since 1998. They won the first Scandinavian Battle Of The Year – the biggest breaking title in Scandinavia at the time.

Their experience ranges from battles, shows and theatre to international judging and workshops as well as organising events, community outreach and charity projects.

They have mentored countless students at Hotstepper and overseas, many of whom have become world-class dancers including solo breaking world champion and dancing for some of the most famous international artists.
Joel and Karen have both been nominated for awards for their contribution to the Danish dance scene.

We are proud to have some of the freshest new talent as well as established world-class dancers

Adam Yaqoubi

Adam is the first male dancer from Denmark to study dancehall in-depth. He was introduced to Dancehall in DK, has previously been in the Jamaican Rifical Team and has trained intensively in both DK and Jamaica. He has travelled several times to Jamaica to learn and experience the authentic and rich dancehall culture. Adam founded Diversity Skankaz, a dancehall crew working for dancehall in Denmark. He has taught workshops and classes internationally and in DK. In class he aims to spread good energy and that students get the right knowledge. Adam has danced/warmed up for artists like IceKiid, Izzy, Okay Funky, Felicia Baby, Mr. Eazi, BRO and Madam Akothe from Kenya. He has performed in TV and events including ZULU AWARDS, Distortion, AfroBeat Madness and Dancehall Madness.

Anastasija Olescuka

One of DK’s leading female hip hop and urban dancers and a graduate from one of the first years of the Hotstepper Dance Education. She has credits like CLASH CPH artistic director, The Nutcracker, judge at World Of Dance (WOD) DK, danced for hip hop legend Big Daddy Kane, performed at Ladies of Hip Hop (USA) and her choreography piece ANTS was selected for the SubUrban Dance Festival. She has won several battles including SDK Baltic, Urban Dance Meeting and Prop Challenge for Hip Hop Games DK 2 years in a row.

Artit Chatthai

Artit has been dancing for 10 years and has completed the Hotstepper Dance Education. He has competed at several events and has won UDO, Kaufmann Cup, Hip Hop Unite, and 2nd place at Hip Hop international DK. Artit has also been dancing for Fazli, Top Gunn, OMEE and been assistant choreographer for We Loves The 90’s Tour. He has several years teaching experience and has taught in Denmark, Thailand, Belgium, Sweden and Germany. Artit also runs his own dance video project focusing on the dance environment – AC PROJECT.

Ayub Abdulkadir

is an experienced and respected dancer from Concrete Soul Crew and part of the CLASHcph team. He is known for his freestyle and battle skills and his unique style. He has been active in the hip hop scene for 10+ years and won several battles in Northern Europe including BFC kulturhavn, Soul Session Oslo, Battle For Hip Hop Göteborg, 2 time winner of Hip Hop Games CPH, Playground Street Dance Jam Malmö and more. Ayub has industry experience with shows and theatre including Nøddeknækkeren and Gadens Hårdeste Hævn by the world famous Steen Koerner. Ayub has also been teaching and choreographing previous years at Hotstepper and Hotstepper Dance Education.

Ciara Blankenship

Ciara is a strong is a strong, versatile dancer with star-quality. She has been dancing since a young age and has always had dance dreams. Ciara has learned from many leading dancers in and outside of Denmark, she has 2 dance educations including Hotstepper Dance Education and she has also trained in France and USA. She can freestyle and choreograph getting the essence and feeling of the styles and can deliver high-level performance on stage. Ciara has danced in music videos, TV, concerts, festivals, battles and is becoming a popular dancer in industry. She has credits like Christopher, Karen Mukupa, Boye & Sigvardt X MAGNÜS, Frederik Leopold, Grace Carter, J Wild, Amro, Yakuza, Nick Jones, Jimilian, Gio, Navid, Micheal Williams and Baby Bino as well as TV credits like Guldtuben and TV2 De Største Øjeblikke.

Colosal

Rash also known as Colosal Titan, grew up in Congo where dance was part of his culture. He is specialised in breaking and afro and with his dance company, La Folie Crew, he has toured with dance theatre. Colosal has organised competitions and battles in his home country and also entered battles with top results in Congo and Denmark. He has created a name for himself in the Afro scene with his teaching, projects and battles – for example he won the “Afia Presents” battle with afro dance in Sweden. Colosal has performed with artists from all over the world such as Singuila from France, Yemi Alade from Nigeria and Mims Beyana from USA. He has taught workshops in Denmark and Sweden and toured in Spain and Italy.

Emma Sundbergh

Emma is an experienced and highly trained dancer that has completed the Hotstepper Dance Education, Galen Hooks artist development, BASE VTP program and more. She has a huge passion for teaching and has been giving classes and workshops in Thailand, Austria, The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.

Her credits include IKEA, Porsche, Mr. Vegas, Patoranking, being handpicked by Anthony Lee (US) to perform his piece together with him in MATRIX the show, La Pulpa (COL) Yotetoho tour in Beijing, Lil Gemi, RnB out loud summer tour, choreographer and backup dancer for Angelica Mava.

Gavin Aquino

Gavin has been dancing since a young age starting with styles such as breaking and hip hop. He has completed Hotstepper Dance Education, participated in several workshops and is now also active in the Danish dance battle scene.

Gavin is a member of the dance group BEYOND BORDERS which is found in both Sweden and Denmark. He is the director of the Danish team, but also goes to Sweden to teach and share his experience. The group focuses on the Korean pop culture and the genres K-Pop, K-hip hop and K-RnB, with which they perform and compete in Sweden. At Hotstepper Dance Education, he has been a co-choreographer for a piece.

Isabel Lippert

Has been active and successful in the dance industry since a young age with experience ranging from fashion shows to music videos. She has artist credits such as Outlandish, Topgunn, Mund de Carlo, David Jay, Papito, Medina Flashmob, danced in the DR Concert Hall, Bakken, Tivoli, Legoland, for the Zulu Awards, P3 Gold, X-Factor DK, TV2, DR, Universal Music and more. Isabel has also competed in the Danish, European & World Championships, Hip Hop International, Hip Hop Unite and UDO.

Julie Marie Nissen

Julie Marie belongs to the best of a new generation of Danish urban dancers and choreographers. She choreographed the winning show at The Choreography Competition in DK, choreographed and danced for Djämes Braun, was co-choreographer of STOR – finalists at DK Got Talent. She toured with Infernal and danced for other top Danish artists like Medina, Nabiha, Mø, KNA Connected, Blak and Jimilian. She has also danced at The Voice ‘ 16 and X-Factor. Julie Marie has completed the Hotstepper Dance Education, attended other intensive courses, workshops and travelled to London and L.A. in connection with dance training.

Keiran Araza

Is a strong, versatile dancer who is active in both the underground and the dance industry and is in Diversity Skankaz Crew. He is in the music video for Mund De Carlo, RH, Christopher, The Joker and Szhirley – danced for the afrobeat artists Tekno and Felicia Baby and performed at events such as Copenhagen Pride, Nordic Break League and Dancehall Madness. With Christopher, he has also, among other things. danced to Guldtuben, TV2 and The Biggest Moments, TV2 Zulu. During his time at the Hotstepper training, Keiran began to be active in battles and is i.a. winner of RUST Battle, semifinalist for Xmas Jam 2017 and 2019 as well as top 8 for CPH CLASH Battle for Culture vol 1.

Loretta Owusu

Loretta is a versatile experienced and strong dancer within several styles from dancehall to hip hop and afro. She has been teaching since 2014 and has been active at Hotstepper for many years, where she has both been a teacher and completed the Hotstepper Dance Education. Her passion and commitment to the scene, art and culture has earned her recognition where she won activist of the year at Rainbow Awards, nominated for dancer of the year at Drop Dead Awards and dance crew of the year at African Awards.

Loretta has been active in both the underground and the commercial scene with artist credits like Kaka, IceKiid, FVN, Tobias Rahim and Kranium from Jamaica. Events and concerts like Roskilde Festival, Copenhagen Pride, Dancehall Madness, Afrobeat Madness, Black Distortion and Copenhagen Contemporary. She has performed at Bremen Theatre, Pumpehuset, Albertslund Theatre, Tunnelfabrikken, Amager Bio, University of Copenhagen and has done voluntary work for Clash Cph and Ballroom BIPOC session.

Maria Pihl

Maria has been dancing since a young age and has several years of dance teaching experience. She has completed the Hotstepper Dance Education and participated in several dance battles, events, talks etc.

She has previously competed at elite level within jitterburg and rock ‘n’ roll in both DK and international including Norway, Germany, Czech Republic and Austria where she has won several gold medals.

Mary Jacolbe

Mary is an extraordinary dancer and choreographer with industry experience ranging from music videos and concerts to theatre and TV. Her credits include Marques Housten, Medina, Ida Corr, Christopher, Wafande, Nabiha, Djämes Braun, Wolfgang Gartner, Sys Bjerre, Eurovision, Detours and the Danish royal family. Alongside her personal dance career she also has Merrydance – workshops and camps for the dance community, and has been nominated by Detour Dance Festival for Initiative of the year. She belonged to the first class of the Hotstepper Dance Education graduating in 2010 and always kept learning since – taking workshops and international travel to keep growing as a professional dancer.

Rai Del Valle

Rai is a popular dancer that started his career at Hotstepper. Since finishing his dance education at Hotstepper he has become a leading industry dancer with international experience ranging from working with top artists and touring to performing in theatre and TV. Rai has a long list of credits including Mohombi, Medina, Xander, Christopher, Skinz, Ciscilia, West Side Story, Eurovision and Swan Lake Reloaded Europe Tour.

Rico Coker

Ryan Jacolbe

Ryan is a versatile dancer that has taught at Hotstepper since 2015. He belongs to the best of a new generation of Danish urban dancers. He has danced in music videos, TV shows, award shows, festivals and has danced for top Danish artists like Medina, Nabiha, Yepha and Anella. In addition to Hotstepper Dance Education, he has attended many workshops by world-famous dancers.

Sandra Carstensen

Sandra is a versatile dancer with many years of experience – previously with latin dance on a high level and later hip hop and commercial styles and recently she completed the Hotstepper Dance Education. At the graduation show she also co-choreographed a dance piece. Sandra has participated in dance battles and competitions such as Skvulp Festival Battle, Clash Women’s Battle and European Championships Hip Hop Formation IDO in Holland.

Sitthichai Phuanphimai

Sitthichai has been a teacher at Hotstepper since 2015. His credits include Cicilia, Toy Box, Electrick Village, Club Awards, TV2 Live – Smid Tøjet Gala in Tivoli, JD Sports Grand Opening in Fields, WAUW Models Final Awards, cultural events for Rødovre and Nørrebro Municipality. Sitthichai has completed the Hotstepper Dance Education and subsequently other courses and workshops. He is part of the TREE’O group with 2 other dancers from Hotstepper. Together they perform, choreograph, give workshops and participate at competitions.

Switch

Francis “SWITCH” Brako is one of the top versatile dancers in Sweden. He has traveled worldwide giving workshops, judging battles, performing and has been choreographing, directing and working with schools and artists. Switch is the owner of Streetground Dance Academy and co-owner of the project I’m The New Me. He has won many prizes for his work including from Landstinget in Jönköping giving him a scholarship for bringing and making dance scene worldwide and Jönköping as a dancing city. 

In SWITCH’s own words: “dancing for me is about the feeling, passion and expression, no matter how you dance, you will always be your own star. Follow your heart and never stop dancing.”

Switch is the winner of Juste Debut Scandinavia 2013, Baltic Session 2012 and many more. He has been working with artists like Allywaan (Sweden), Guru (Ghana), Hermanos Bernal (Chile), Oceana (Germany), Play back (Spain) and many more. 

Thomas K. Rasmussen

Is a strong and versatile professional dancer who has completed Hotstepper Dance Education and DA REBELS International Dance Program in Slovenia. He has teaching experience since 2012 at several schools including Hotstepper. Thomas has choreographed for Albina S and in the Faroe Islands for the artist Marius Ziska and the acclaimed event Dansieksperimentið. He has other credits such as music video for TopGunn & City Bois, Vocalicious, X-Factor, TV2’s “Grandmaster” program, Denmark’s Got Talent, IBM, hip hop dance theater with Freestyle Phanatix, events such as Pride and Faceoff as well as fashion shows in DK and abroad for Kansas including brand collabs with BASE, Craftsman and Samsøe Samsøe. Thomas has also participated in battles including at Juste Debout Nordic, ClashCPH and Detours as well as competitions within DDD (4x DK champion) and IDO – top 20 Europe and top 40 World.

Uyen Nguyen

Uyen is a versatile professional dancer with a background in Hip Hop. Over time, she has found her passion in Heels, Waacking and Bachata Sensual. She loves to combine her natural femininity and versatility in dance.

Uyen has danced 18 years and had 13 years of teaching experience in DK and Vietnam. She has cultivated both the underground and the commercial dance scene and has credits such as Eurovision, Infernal DK tour, street version of the Nutcracker, choreographed for Scarlet Pleasure, World Pride as a representative of Australia, countless commercials, various Danish awards and live TV shows as well as been active in dance battles.

As a dancer, her charismatic trait is to display high self-confidence and a strong and unique expression on stage. She loves to play with and combine the contrast between soft and hard expression.