Workshop Instructors
Chris Jacques started in 2009 as a ballroom dancer, dancing socially and competitively. He trained for 6+ years with various professionals at studios across New England.
In 2015, while on a break from competition he discovered Line Dance. He began dedicating his time to social line dancing across all music genres and dance difficulties.
In 2018, he started teaching Line Dance. Since starting he's taught in a variety of settings: bars, function halls, local community classes, country music classes, non-country classes, local workshops, one-day events, and weekend long destination events; most notably having taught at the 2019 Windy City Line Dance Mania and 2021 Fun In the Sun.
Also in 2018, he began competing in Line Dance choreography as part of the United States Line Dance Choreography Competition. This involved dancing at events along the east coast.
His competitive choreography accomplishments include placing first in division at the Fun In the Sun and Florida Line Dance Classic events, finishing 2nd overall in the 2019-2020 United States Line Dance Choreography Competition, and winning the 2019 Windy City Line Dance Mania, amateur choreography competition.
Chris continues his choreography and continues to locally teach private lessons, group classes, and one-day workshops. He will also be on staff for several weekend events, in several US states during 2022 and 2023.
His hopes include: continuing to develop as an instructor, choreographer and dancer, eventually teach in as many states, countries and continents as possible and most importantly help convey a joy and passion for line dance to the soon to be next generation of line dancers.
In 2009, Donna and her friends started an intermediate/advanced class at the senior center in Agawam MA. In 2016, Donna and a friend added an improver/intermediate class at the senior center to reach more dancers. Many of these dancers join Donnaand her friends traveling to local workshops and major dance events and enjoy the love of dancing. Donna’s oldest daughter Melissa is also a line dancer and travels with her Mom to attend local workshops and major dance events.
Donna became an instructor at the Hayloft in 2018 and enjoys teaching the Friendly and Intermediate Workshopshosted by Forty Arroyo. Donna is a 33 year employee at Bank of America where she is a Vice President in the Workforce Management and Capabilities Department. She has 2 daughters and 2grandchildren. Donna and her husband Tom live in Chicopee MA and have two dogs.
Bradley Mather
Bradley, coming from a family of dancers, has been surrounded by dance his entire life. Starting at the age of 9, Bradley began contemporary line dancing, a form of solo dancing that is rapidly evolving to incorporate aspects of ballet, jazz, hip-hop, and many more styles of dance. At the age of 14, Bradley began teaching contemporary line dance and travelling across the globe to learn from the top choreographers.
After moving from Florida to Boston, he vastly expanded his dance repertoire by learning salsa, bachata, merengue, west coast swing, and all 19 ballroom dances. While earning his B.A. in marine science from Boston University, he joined Soñando Salsa (the Boston University salsa performance team), joined the Boston University Ballroom Dance Team, and founded the Boston University West Coast Swing Club. Bradley’s greatest accomplishments in dance are becoming a national overall champion in The United States Line Dance Choreography Championships and later becoming the 2020 World Champion in the Male Classic Open Advanced category of the United Country Western Dance Council.
Sarah Preston-Britto
I have been dancing since 1992. One Saturday night while out with my husband & friends at the Cactus Club in Manchester, CT, I saw people line and partner dancing. It looked like fun and the club was advertising free lessons every Sunday. We went back the next day to give it a try and I hated it - kept stepping on my own feet & anybody else’s feet that happened to be in close proximity. Because my husband really wanted to do it, I decided to give it 3 weeks. Well, that was 30 years ago. The husband is gone, but I am still dancing!
A few years later the line & partner instructor at Two Steps in Storrs where I was a regular dancer moved to Minnesota and convinced me to take over some of her classes. I started teaching line dance and patterned partner dances around 1995 at Two Steps & then adult education classes.
Dancing has been a family affair - my two children (they’re big kids now) also dance. My son Dan deejays on the side and my daughter Amanda also teaches. In addition to my teaching, I also hold social dances and workshops on a regular basis at the TKB club in Vernon, CT. I have instructed as well as worked behind the scenes at many other events and even done some choreography.
In 2019 Johanna Barnes and I hosted Irish Spring 2019, a line dance Workshop and Social featuring Gary O’Reilly from County Sligo, Ireland and Johanna as instructors. Unfortunately, Covid 19 came along and precluded us from holding the event in 2020, 2021 & 2022. We WILL be back in 2023!
Covid 19 and the drastic changes to life as we knew it brought home more than ever how important dancing is. It’s good for the mind, body and soul. In May 2020 I started Parking Lot Dancing and we are STILL going! Weather permitting, we dance weekly spring, summer & fall. During the cold weather months we still get out there – we have danced at least once a month since we started!
Dancing has opened up a great big world for me. I have been to many places I may not have otherwise gone to and met too many wonderful people along the way to try to count. The extended “Dance Family” that I am now part of is something I never envisioned when I first set foot on that dance floor so many years ago and is truly treasured! I can’t imagine what my life would be like had I not taken that first step onto the dance floor so many years ago!