List of Dancers - S

S

• Adam G. Sevani (born on June 29, 1992) is an actor as well as a dancer. Known as Moose from Step Up 2: The Streets and it's new sequel, Step Up 3D. Adam and director of Step Up 2, Jon Chu and their dance group, ACDC or Adam/Chu Dance Crew, had challenged pop star Miley Cyrus to a highly publicized dance battle. Adam is set to star in the new sitcom "LOL" with Miley in 2011.
• Ruth St. Denis (January 20, 1879 – July 21, 1968) was an early modern dance pioneer.Ruth St. Denis founded Adelphi University's dance program in 1938 which was one of the first dance departments in an American university. It has since become a cornerstone of Adelphi's Department of Performing Arts .Her early works are indicative of her interests in exotic mysticism and spirituality. Many companies currently include a collection of her signature solos in their repertoires, including the programme, "The Art of the Solo", a showcase of famous solos of modern dance pioneers. Several early St. Denis solos (including "Incense" and "The Legend of the Peacock") were presented on September 29, 2006, at the Baltimore Museum of Art. A centennial salute was scheduled with the revival premiere of St. Denis’ "Radha", commissioned by Countess Anastasia Thamakis of Greece. The program's director, Mino Nicolas, has been instrumental in the revival of these key solos.

• Benjiman "Benji" Daniel Schwimmer (born on January 18, 1984) is an American professional swing dancer. On August 16, 2006 he was crowned "America's Favorite Dancer", as the winner of the second season of So You Think You Can Dance. Benji Schwimmer and his older cousin, Heidi Groskreutz (herself a top-4 finalist on the same season of So You Think You Can Dance), are also U.S. Open Showcase Swing champions in West Coast Swing style. Schwimmer left the dancing scene at the top of his game to serve a two-year mission for the LDS Church in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. He has subsequently founded the non-profit charity organization "Dancers Everywhere Making a Needed Difference" (D.E.M.A.N.D.) for helping orphans in southern Mexico and Africa and providing healthcare for dancers with HIV/AIDS, and is a co-owner of 5678 Dance Studio in Redlands, California.

• Lloyd Shaw (born 1890 – died 1958), also known as Dr. Lloyd "Pappy" Shaw, was an educator, and is generally credited with bringing about the broad revival of square dancing in America. He was superintendent/principal/teacher/coach for Cheyenne Mountain Schools, Colorado Springs, Colorado from 1916–1951, and taught folk dancing .Shaw traveled the country, and compiled instructions for traditional square dances from different callers all over the country. He documented them, and tried them out on the students he taught. He formed the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers, a high-school exhibition team, which toured the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, appearing in more than 50 major cities .As the popularity of square dancing grew, square dance callers began extracting individual calls from these dances, and attempts at standardised lists were developed. These lists were later adopted by callers, and organizations such as Callerlab and later the American Callers Association formed to manage and promote a universal list and the type of dance leadership that Shaw envisioned.

• Jimmy Slyde (born 1927), who is known as the King of Slides, is a world-renowned tap dancer, especially famous for his innovative tap style mixed with jazz. Slyde's profile in the United States revived noticeably in the 1980s. He danced in the films The Cotton Club, Tap and Round Midnight, as well as a number of television specials. He collaborated with Steve Condos on a program of jazz tap improvisation at the Smithsonian Institution and performed across the United States and in South America. In 1989, Slyde received a Tony Award nomination for his Broadway debut in the musical Black and Blue.In recent years, Slyde has received a number of significant honors, including the NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award (1999), the Charles "Honi" Coles Award (2001), a Guggenheim Fellowship for Choreography (2003), and an honorary Doctorate of Performing Arts from Oklahoma City University. Slyde is still performing and teaching today throughout the United States. He continues to stress the importance of mastering the basics and using sliding cascades of taps close to the floor.

• "Shorty" George Snowden was an African American dancer in Harlem during the 1920s and 1930s. He is popularly credited with coining the name "Lindy Hop" for a popular partner swing dance of the day. He is also often credited with inventing the dance, though this is unsubstantiated and unlikely. Snowden was a popular dancer at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York, in the United States and appears in the film After Seben (1929), in which he performs the breakaway, a variation on the Charleston, which later developed into the Lindy Hop. He can also be seen in the film Ask Uncle Sol (1937), dancing with his most famous partner Big Bea.

• Britney Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Apart from being famous for her hit singles "...Baby One More Time" and "Oops!...I Did It Again", she is also internationally renowned for her unique outfits and her entertaining and freestyle dancing. Her debut single, "...Baby One More Time", features Spears dancing in a formal yet somewhat revealing catholic school girl uniform, which brought both success and extreme controversy to her iconic career. Britney Spears is often compared to fellow singers and dancers Madonna and Christina Aguilera.

• John William Sublett (February 19, 1902 – May 18, 1986), known by his stage name John W. Bubbles, was an American vaudeville performer, singer and entertainer .Sublett is known as the father of "rhythm tap", a form of tap dance. As opposed to the tap dancing of Bill Robinson (Bojangles) who emphasized clean phrases and toe taps, Sublett brought in percussive heel stomps and played with the traditional eight-bar phrase, slowing it down to allow for more rhythmic freedom. He thus merged the art of tap dancing with the new improvisitory style of jazz, reinventing the tap artform.

• Sylvia Sykes is a swing dance instructor, judge and choreographer. In particular she is considered by most to be the leading authority on the dance Balboa. She also represented the U.S. in the World Boogie Woogie Championships in Grenoble, France with her original partner Jonathan Bixby. She is best known for reviving Balboa, which is rapidly gaining popularity around the world, and is a regular guest at the balboa dance camps.