Carla Crowen (FKA Carla Heiney) has been teaching Lindy Hop and other forms of Vintage swing dancing for over 15 years. She lays claim to some of the most prestigious competition titles including American Lindy Hop Champion, US Open Lindy Hop Champion, World Lindy Hop Champion, and International Lindy Hop Champion. She has also choreographed for the well-known and well-loved hit dance show, “So You Think You Can Dance.” In 2011 Carla was creative director for a new hit dance show featuring several full-sized orchestras and professional dancers entitled “Let’s Dance” which toured parts of the US and Canada. She has traveled all over the world teaching dance including numerous times at the infamous Herrang Dance Camp in Sweden. She has performed on the prestigious stages of Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Social dancing and teaching are passions for Carla and she thinks that learning to dance is something everyone is capable of doing. She has an amazing ability to communicate movement and partnering in her teaching. Her dancing is grounded in technique and improvisation which coincides with the jazz music she loves to dance to. Carla is an avid fan of having fun while learning and not taking yourself too seriously. Carla relocated to Pennsylvania and has been working hard on creating a new, up and coming swing dance community there. Carla has won multiple championship titles consistently from 1998 current day. Here are only a few prestigious titles earned.
- 2005 World Lindy Hop Championships – Freestyle Division – 1st place
- 2005 American Lindy Hop Championships – Champions Jack & Jill – 1st place
- 2005 Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown – Champions Jack & Jill – 1st Place
- 2004 US Open Swing Dance Championships – Lindy Showcase – 1st place
- 2004 US Open Swing Dance Championships – Strictly Swing Team Battle – 1st place
- 2004 Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown – Team Division – 1st Place
Dance history:Carla has danced repeatedly for artists such as “The Queen of Soul, “Miss Aretha Franklin, and for “National Concert Maestro,” Erich Kunzel. She has performed for the National PBS Memorial DayCelebration (1999, 2000) and for The Capital Fourth Celebration (1999) where she danced alongside celebrated greats such as Rita Moreno, James Naughton, and Nell Carter.
She has been featured in several national publications such as 5-6-7-8 Dance Magazine, Time Life – Year in Review, and Bombshell 2001 (Miss September). She has also appeared on The Today Show (November 2000) where she performed with the award winning Hop Swing and a Jump team. Carla is a 2010 Rising Star Inductee in the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame
Carla teaches and performs regularly all over North America, Europe, Korea and Australia.