Valerie Salstrom

Valerie Salstrom has adored swing dancing since she first saw it as a little girl watching old black and white movies at her grandparents’ home. In the early 1990s, while living in the Los Angeles area, she discovered that swing dancing existed in REAL life and she has been smitten ever since. Valerie loves exploring all of the forms of swing dancing and feels very honored to have studied with some of the original swing dancers.

She co-founded the Cleveland based swing dance company Get Hep Swing in 1998. She has taught weekly swing dance classes and has hosted two monthly dances in her home town for over 15 years. She frequently travels all over Ohio, the United States and the world teaching and spreading her love of swing dance. She has been a teaching artists for the Ohio Arts Council for over 10 years and has done numerous in-school swing dance residencies with them. Her first loves are Lindy and Balboa and she has won numerous National and International titles in both dance forms.

Her most recent achievements are winning the Balboa title in the Pro-Division at the 2011 National Jitterbug Championships at Camp Hollywood and winning the International Balboa Championships at the 2011 Balboa Rendezvous. Her partner for both of these wins was Jacob Wigger.

Valerie is the co-founder and organizer of the All Balboa Weekend in Cleveland, Ohio. The All Balboa Weekend is the largest Balboa camp in the world and is the best place to go for amazing instruction, inspiring competitions and fulfilling social dancing.

Valerie loves being in the class room sharing her ideas and she is eager to teach beginner through advanced dancers. Valerie has a very playful, fun and friendly attitude when it comes to teaching dance, social dancing, performing and competing.

Her proudest achievement to date happened at the International Lindy Hop Championships in 2011 when some of the members of her elementary school aged swing dance troupe, The Cleveland Junior Jitterbugs, took 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the Junior Lindy Hop Division. She is hopeful that her work with the Cleveland Junior Jitterbugs will inspire more people to become involved in teaching swing dancing to young people.