Rocky Mountain Swing Dance Club Board Members Page

Board of Directors / Meetings

The mission of the Rocky Mountain Swing Dance Club is to foster appreciation and education for swing dance as it was, as it is, and as it will be among the Rocky Mountain region, and among all generations, promoting the growth of all swing dance with professionals and the public at large.

A copy of the club bylaws can be found here.

Meeting Schedule

The Rocky Mountain Swing Dance Board of Directors usually meets on the first Sunday of every month. Contact a Board member for times and locations.

Board of Directors

President - Art Abington - Email - Art has been a member of RMSDC since 2006 and has served on the board as Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Publicity Chairperson. Art is also one of the club’s DJs. Art has also been active in supporting Swingtime in the Rockies and served on the Swingtime committees in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Before moving to Denver, Art was an active member of the Tulsa Swing Dance Club. Art is a computer infrastructure consultant with expertise in corporate email, collaborative communications, virtualization, storage systems, and network infrastructure with Ute Energy, LLC

Vice President - Cameo Zugschwert - Emai l -

Secretary - Karen Mackie - Email - Karen started dancing in 2000 and quickly discovered the joys and challenges of competitive dancing when she started competing in the Pro-Am and Line Dance divisions of the UCWDC (Country Western Dance). She now competes at the Advanced Pro-Am level with her instructor, Shawn Swaithes, from Orlando, in six different dance styles. Her most recent competition was at the 2009 U.S. Open with Manny Viarral in the Master's Division. Karen has previously been in charge of Dance & Entertainment, as well as Hospitality for the RMSDC. She worked as “Floor Mom” at the 2008 and 2009 Swingtime in the Rockies. Karen has enjoyed taking private lessons from many local instructors (including Kevin & Pat Whiteley, Manny Viarrial, Toby Munroe, Patti Mulholland, and Jo Szymanski). Her favorite dance style is West Coast Swing because of the great music and the creativity this dance style allows her to have on the dance floor. Off the dance floor, Karen is an elementary school librarian, and mother of 3, and grand-mother of 5.

Treasurer - Richard Parker - Email - I joined RMSDC in 1989 and I have served as the Treasurer in 1993, Vice president in 1994, 1999, 2000 and 2009. In 1994 I was the director for Swingtime in the Rockies. In 2000 as the Vice President I encouraged the introduction of guest DJ's at our weekly dances and became one of our guest DJ's. I am now Treasurer of RMSDC and continue to DJ on a rotating basis. I also met my wife Karen dancing and got to know her better at RMSDC. We married in 1996.

Tom Perlinger - Director - Music. Email -

Shirley Zugschwert - Director - Entertainment. Email -

Bram Morris - Director - Education Coordinator. Email
Bram has been dancing a mixture of disciplines for 34 years from Ballet through Folk Dancing. Bram has focused his teaching style on body mechanics, music and dance movement. Armed with this knowledge, Bram is able to raise everyone’s dance level and awareness to the subtleties of the music, movement and partnering. The student becomes aware of what’s not working and can self correct patterns that they have already have learned.

West Coast Swing Certified Judge
10 years of training through the Universal Unit System (Skippy Blair)
Dance teacher for 20 years
Teacher of WCS for the past 9 years
34 years of social and competition dancing
Other dances, Argentine Tango, Ballroom, Jazz, Tap, Modern, International Folk dancing and Ballet.
Past owner of the renowned Metronome Dance Center located in San Francisco with 75 teachers, 108 classes, 7 parties, plus workshops every week.
Producer of the Summer and Winter showcases. These exhibitions bring a very high level of dance to sold-out performances in San Francisco.
Black Belts in 5 different Martial Arts
Shiatsu masseuse and Intuitive Energy Worker

Jean Smith - Director - Instructor Coordinator. Email Jean is one of the most experienced dance instructors in Colorado. She started teaching in 1977 specializing in West Coast Swing, Disco, Cha Cha, Foxtrot and Waltz. Later she added East Coast Swing, Rumba, Bolero, Hustle, Tango, Samba, and Nightclub Two Step.

In 1997, she formed Dance Smith and Dance Troy of Colorado with Troy Reed. In 1998 she performed West Coast Swing with Troy as an opening act for Reba McEntire. Over the years she has won numerous dance awards. Jean is a founding member of the Rocky Mountain Swing Dance Club and won the 1995 "Member of the Year" award. She currently teaches at the Dance Collective in Arvada and at the American Legion in Denver.

Richard Huyser - Director - Hospitality.   Email Richard is a Colorado native, having been born in Stamboat Springs. Although he has lived in Spokane, WA, Billings, Montana, and Salt Lake City, he has spent most of his life in Colorado, especially int the Denver metro area. He went to Lakewood High School and attended Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado.
Richard has done Roller Skating Dance competitions for 17 years, and has been a member of the Rocky Mountain Swing Dance Club since it was located at the Arvada Elks Club.
His other interests include bowling (for over 20 years), skiing, and horseback riding.

Director - Membership. Vacant

Don Herzog - Director - Communications. Email   - Don began dancing at the Rocky Mountain Swing Dance Club back when the dances were held at the Elks Club in Arvada, but left the dancing scene after several years due to conflicting circumstances. He began dancing again recently and rejoined the Club in 2011 and has been enjoying the Sunday evening dances at the Turnverein. Don was born in Kentucky, grew up in Tampa, Florida and has lived in New York City, Los Angeles (grad school at UCLA), and Virginia (William & Mary) before moving to Colorado. He has worked as a Field Engineer for Hewlett-Packard, a Geophysicist for the U.S. Geological Survey, and most recently as a Research Associate at NOAA/CIRES in Boulder. He also has a graduate degree in philosophy from the University of Colorado in Boulder. His other interests include handball, skiing, bowling, reading, working out, dinner parties, volunteering at Swedish hospital, and stimulating conversations.

The Rocky Mountain Swing Dance Club is a 501(c)7 Non-Profit Organization
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