Ballroom Blitz SF

About

Jeff Chandler has been a ballroom dance instructor, coach, professional competitor & choreographer since 1979. He is best known in the ballroom dance world for his mastery of technique in his teaching & his unique choreographic style. In 1991, Jeff opened the Metronome Ballroom in SF, the largest ballroom dance studio on the West Coast at the time. Jeff is also the producer & director of the Ballroom Blitz events since 2010Alise Halbert has been teaching, competing, choreographing & performing ballroom dance in the Bay Area since 1996. She loves performance & bringing dance talent together. Her dance productions include the Main Event, Decades of Dance, Dance Noir & the Journey to Wonderland. She is also very proud to have joined Jeff Chandler in co-organizing the Ballroom Blitz.“Photon” is a dance partnership formed in 2005 by Photis Pishiaras & Ron Jenkins. Photis performed Cypriot folk dancing in his youth and began ballroom dancing in college. He taught at Gene Kelly in Athens & Arthur Murray in SF. In 2005, he opened Vima Dance Studio in SF, which he operated for 10 years. Ron has been a country western dancer for 30+ years & teaches lessons at Sundance Saloon in SF. Together, Photon competed in same-sex ballroom for over 16 years, winning numerous CA, US & international titles, including gold medals at the 2013 World OutGames (Antwerp), 2018 Gay Games (Paris) & 2023 Gay Games (Guadalajara). Frequent performers throughout the SF Bay Area & US, they have been instrumental in advancing the acceptance of same-sex dancing and role-switching. Together, they founded, directed & dance in Vima Vice Squad, an all-male formation dance group known for their creative & entertaining routines. The group won 7 gold medals in international competitions. Together, Photis & Ron have directed several shows, including the annual Vima Ball (10 years) and April Follies shows “My Rainbow Jungle” (2015) and “Platforms” (2023).