Ogden began studying movement with martial arts at age nine and began partnered dancing in 1997. Over the past 7 years he has studied East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, ballroom dancing, Argentine Tango, Lindy Hop, and Blues Dancing and has been teaching Lindy Hop, Blues, connection, and musicality classes in the Boston area for the past 4 years. In 2000 and 2001, Ogden co-chaired the organizing committee for Boston’s first and second Lindy Exchanges, the second of which included Frankie Manning’s 87th Birthday Celebration and attracted 600 dancers from all over the country and abroad. Having played the role of promoter and organizer in the Boston Lindy Hop community, Ogden continues to enthusiastically support the Boston Community at large through regular dance and workshop attendance. He is an instructor with the Its All Swing! dance studio in Boston, MA (www.itsallswing.com) where he and his partner, Amanda Gruhl, teach Lindy Hop and Blues dancing with a strong emphasis on partnering and connection.

Ogden has been dancing, choreographing and competing in Blues Dancing since 2000. With his partner, Amanda, he has created his own style of blues and has developed a national reputation for inspiring and emotional partnered Blues Dancing. To his classes Ogden brings humor, creativity, and enthusiasm, as well as his understanding of connected movement, musicality and Blues Dance. In class he encourages dancers of all levels to take chances and push their abilities while communicating his passion for close, connected, Blues Dancing.

During the spring of 2004, Amanda will be completing her PhD at MIT in Boston and has limited availability for travel. She regrets not being able to make it to the Cheap Thrills All Blues Weekend and hopes to resume traveling, teaching, and competing this summer.

For the St. Louis, Cheap Thrills All Blues Weekend, Ogden is very happy to have the opportunity to teach with Marilee Annereau, a very accomplished dancer and instructor, also from Boston, and also one of Ogden’s all-around favorite dancers.

Marilee is a lifelong student of music. She fell in love with Lindy Hop and blues dance forms in 1998 when she discovered it as another way to understand and express jazz and blues, and she has been an avid student of dance ever since. As a dancer, she is known for her partnering and musicality skills. Her Lindy Hop has always been flavored by her strong affinity for the blues.

Marilee primarily focuses on social dancing and on teaching, but has had some success in competition as well (ALHC 1999 Cabaret Division, 1st place; NADC 2001 Open Jack and Jill, 1st place).

Marilee’s teaching credits include both national and local classes, camps, and workshops. She has had the opportunity to teach workshops across North America (Texas, Florida, Toronto, New York, and Connecticut) with world-class instructor Bill Borgida. She was also his teaching partner at Swing Out New Hampshire 2001 and at a teaching residency in Austin, Texas in 2000. She was an associate faculty member at LindyU in Chicago, and taught with Don West at the Swing Riot in Austin, Texas in 2002 and workshops in Boston later that year. She has been a committed teacher of weekly partner and non-partner jazz/swing/lindy/blues classes in Boston for the past 4 years, currently teaching with Lindybaby. (www.lindybaby.com) She strives to support the dance community by regular attendance at social dances, sponsorship of "office hours" practice dances, and through hosting workshops with national instructors such as Paul and Sharon and Johnny and Becky. As a teacher, Marilee is appreciated for her understanding of technique, her warmth and humor, and her clarity and creative approach to helping dancers of all levels discover the essence of connection to their own bodies, to each other, and to the music.

Ogden and Marilee have a common philosophy about Blues Dancing expressed as deeply connected movement tied to the music. They are very excited to be collaborating and teaching together for the Cheap Thrills All Blues Weekend!