Tyro Baker-Underhill
Ty was first introduced to Modern Jive in Wellington by his then girlfriend – now wife, whilst a university student. However he wasn’t hooked on the style until moving to London for his O.E. some years later. After returning to Wellington in 2013, Ty joined the Wellington modern jive community and attended his first competition (Wellington Classic) in 2014. Since then he has attended numerous workshops (including multiple Simply weekends) and competitions all over NZ, Australia and Asia culminating in becoming a qualified teacher for iDance in 2018.
Always keen for a laugh, Tys dance philosophy is about having fun in dance through playing with lyrics and musicality.
Make sure you ask him for a dance over the weekend.
Emma Houltham
Born walking on her tiptoes, dancing is a natural part of life for Emma. Raised on the stage doing ballet, jazz, tap, hiphop and more than a few musicals her passion for dancing has never faulted. Dancing is her artistic expression, conveying emotion and passion from herself or that of the musician making every dance count. Emma discovered Modern Jive in 2009 and was hooked, she was quickly finding every opportunity to dance and making lifelong friends along the way. She loved the rush of not knowing what was coming next in a dance, anything could happen and each dance is the opportunity to create something new. Emma began teaching in 2012 and hasn’t stopped. She loves watching dance addictions grow and seeing dancers blossom and evolve with every discovery they make, unlocking for themselves what drives them to keep dancing.