Your BC Swing Dance 2024 Board of Directors is proud to serve you and help make BC West Coast Swing the best it can be. Find out a little bit more about us below.
These are your board of directors, elected on February 3rd, 2024:
- President – Chris Mullin
- Vice-President – Tori Koelewyn
- Treasurer – Hillary Langston
- Secretary – Georgina Daniels
- Director – Aliya Millson
- Director – Arya Najian
- Director – Lauren Wright
- Director – Rick Gillespie
- Director – Vince Preap
Chris Mullin (President)
Chris began learning West Coast Swing in 2017. He was an athlete in his younger years and always had a competitive spirit. When he discovered West Coast Swing, he was immediately drawn to the challenging nature of the dance and the creative expression it allowed.
As Chris has learned and grown in dance, he has become more confident and expressive on the dance floor. He has taken numerous workshops and private lessons with renowned WCS instructors, and he constantly seeks out new opportunities to improve his dancing. For him, the real joy of dance comes from the connections he makes with his dance partners.
Chris lives on the North Shore with his wife and teenage daughter. He is grateful for the support they have given him throughout his dance journey. His wife has been his dance partner on the occasional kitchen dance party, and his daughter has learned WCS and has grown in her own right.
Chris is excited to help guide the board through 2024 and hopes to bring his enthusiasm and dedication to the club’s continued success.
Tori Koelewyn (Vice President)
Bio Pending
Hillary Langston (Treasurer)
Hillary started dancing West Coast Swing with Zoltan and Yuka at the UBC Swing Kids in 2019 and subsequently got hooked on social dancing after experiencing her first field trip to RX. She discovered the BC Swing Dance Club last fall and is looking forward to learning the ropes of organizing events and volunteering for her community.
Nature connection is a big part of Hillary’s life; she loves to spend time outdoors geeking out over bird ID or getting excited about finding wild edible plants.
Hillary has had a varied education including unschooling, distance learning, and finally studying math at McGill University for a couple years before dropping out to recover her passion for life and learning.
Georgina Daniels (Secretary)
Georgina lives and plays in East Vancouver, on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam Nations.
The last time Georgina was on a dance floor was in March of 2020. Little did she know that would be the last dance at Urban Beat, or the last social dance for two years. And now, as our community returns to dancing, there will be new terrain to navigate, new challenges and opportunities. Georgina has danced in this community for 20+ years and sees volunteering on this board as her turn to give back.
Georgina believes in the magic of dance. Her parents met on a dance floor in London at the end of the second world war, and Georgina met her husband at a dance at Robson Square. She loves movement and moving in nature. She teaches and studies bellydance and performed for 15 years with a troupe. She has done different styles of partner dancing, but the one that keeps calling her back is west coast swing.
Aliya Millson (Director)
Beginning with ballet at a young age, Aliya’s love of dance has transferred wholeheartedly to partner dance over the last 10 years – dabbling in Salsa, East Coast Swing, Bachata, Fusion and then diving deeply into West Coast Swing (WCS). Her love-affair with WCS began in April 2023 after a friend encouraged her to join classes with Michael and Amy. She seeks out opportunities to connect, learn and play within the form.
Her passion for meaningful connection extends past the dance floor and she cherishes sincere, friendly moments with people in the WCS community. Learning to dance takes a kind of bravery and Aliya strives to create inclusive, safer spaces for that process to unfold and develop. She is so grateful to those who have already encouraged her learning and wants to offer the same for others.
One of her non-dance passions is plants, particularly those in our native ecosystems. She’s often looking at our green-growing friends and is happy to talk about plants anytime.
Aliya is excited to help the Board in continuing to knit the community together through dance and communication – feel free to approach her at any time with questions or concerns, especially if you are new to the space!
Arya Najian (Director)
Bio Pending
Lauren Wright (Director)
Lauren started West Coast Swing dancing in March of 2022 because of books – two books, by Catherine Price. The first was entitled How to Break Up with Your Phone. Breaking up with her phone left Lauren with less “time confetti” and more “time intact-sheets-of-paper.” The Power of Fun explained to Lauren what she should do with this paper. The answer was dance! (Well, first it was “Do a ‘fun audit,’” …and then it was dance!) Dance has music, movement, social interaction and teamwork, expression, creativity, and silliness. Lauren likes those things.
In life, Lauren has done many things. She grew up playing soccer and softball, taking swimming and diving lessons, running in track and cross-country races, and playing “Ultimate” with those she liked to call her “ultimate friends.” She also loves music and has sung in various choirs, including Capilano University’s Cecelia Ensemble, The University of British Columbia’s Choral Union, and her current Rain Coast Choir, for which she volunteers as a section lead. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology as well as a Post-Degree Diploma in City Planning. She works as a Proposal Specialist for an architecture firm. She also draws pictures and paints sometimes. Occasionally, she carries half her body weight for 75 kilometres through rugged coastal forests because her friend thought it would be fun.
But most importantly, Lauren is so very thankful to have found this wonderful and welcoming community of special people. She tears up sometimes thinking about that.
Rick Gillespie (Director)
Rick has been a regular member of the Vancouver West Coast Swing community since moving to BC from Colorado in 2012. After starting dancing in 2005, Rick served on the Board of Directors of the Rocky Mountain Swing Dance Club in Denver for 5 years.
This will be Rick’s seventh year on the BCSDC Board of Directors; the first 3 years as a Director at Large, one year as Vice President, and two years as President. His past duties have been varied but primarily Rick has run the social media side of the Club (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), but he has also scheduled monthly instructors for the monthly Club dances, planned the downtown summer dances, helped organize the BAMEO weekend intensive in 2018, and organized Vancouver’s participation in the International Flashmob/Rally for 4 years. Late in 2019, Rick added DJing to his bag of tricks, and has been a regular member of the DJ rotation ever since.
His goal for this year is to help guide the community to a safe return to the dance floor now that the Health Authorities have approved indoor dancing once again.
Vince Preap (Director)
Bio Pending