Hamfats

social dance culture & scene building

Bios

Randy Panté

All Randy wants to do is dance with you. He currently lives in Toronto, Canada and dances lindy hop, new york mambo on2, funk, soul and blues. Most recently, Randy has started teaching regular classes and mini dance workshops in the Toronto area.

Randy is also building a blues scene in Toronto! This year, Randy help co-found the what is already known as the best all-blues night in the city, “Yonge & Bloor Blues”, which runs on the first friday night of the month. Okay, so it’s the only all-blues dance night in the city but the community of dancers are already super friendly, eager, and hungry for dance knowledge. Did you know that we hold weekly classes at our studio, right above Starbucks on Yonge station?

When Randy is not in Toronto, he is usually out competing in dance in other cities. He is still really new to the swing/jass/blues competition circuit, but has placed in some local and not so local competitions. Lastly, Randy is an avid jazz music lover and can be best described by this song:

I like pie, I like cake,
I like everything you bake,
And I like some crackers, too,
Crumbled up in a stew.
When I see a jelly roll,
I lose all my self-control.
But of all these things I like you best of all.

Tien Le

A dancer hailing from Vancouver/Surrey, BC, Tien is an avid social dancer of Lindy Hop, Blues, and a bit of West Coast Swing. While in Toronto, ON for the last two years, he has worked to improve his partnered dance abilities; taking part in small local competitions, performances, events, and workshops which he could attend.

Here are some events you may have seen him at:

2009:
Steven and Virginie Workshops - Toronto, ON
Northstar Blues Exchange – Minnesota, MN – Partnered Blues (3rd), Blues Team Cutting (2nd)
Kingston Lindy Exchange – Kingston, ON
Swing Niagara – Buffalo, NY – Newcomer Jack and Jill (Finalist), Pro-Am Novice WCS (5th with Julie Epplett), Team Comp. & Newcomer Strictly Swing
Lindy Bomb 2009 – Ottawa, ON
Lindystock – Toronto, ON – performance with The Hot 6

Pre-2009
Swing Explosion III 2008 – Ottawa, ON
MezzJelly 2008 – Waterloo, ON
Stompology 2008 – Rochester, NY
Seattle Lindy Exchange 2007 – Seattle, WA

With boundless energy, when Tien is not out socially dancing, he can be found taking part in a variety of performance/dance groups:

Toronto, ON
Bees’ Knees Dance – Former assistant instructor for founder Mandi Gould and instructor Erin Nazario
Hogtown Swing – member
~theCollective – public relations and organizing member
The Hot 6 – performer
Toronto Cuttin’ Crew – team member
That’s What I’m Talking About – Toronto WCS team

Vancouver/Surrey, BC
V3 – Via Vietnamese Vogue – Amateur Cultural Vietnamese Performance troupe – organizer & performer

A question often asked—”Does Tien dance hip hop?”
He has been known to spontaneously take classes in jazz, hip hop, and Salsa/Mambo to add variations to his unique dance style—but no, he does not dance hip hop…yet.