Dance teachers

Technique: Varying (external) teachers

Ballroom

Aclo course/Sprint beginners: Varying teachers

Beginners A: Daniël Lourens and Ruby Dijk

Beginners B: Rick Nijboer and Florélie Rogier

Advanced 1: Tim de Groot and Ylse Wierda

Advanced 2: Matthijs Spaan and Lisette Stam

Guided Practice and Competition training: Etiënne Hoogstraten and Anna Wijngaard

Demoteam Training: Ilona Schooneveld

Salsa

Sprint beginners: Varying teachers

Beginners A Hedwig van der Poel and Loes Holleboom

Beginners B: Marleen Franken and Klodia Saado

Demoteam Training and Advanced: Marloes van der Ark

Ballroom

Internal teachers

Daniël Lourens

Hi! My name is Daniël and I’ve been dancing since 2014. I’ve been teaching ballroom dance for a long time now, and I enjoy it tremendously! I’ve also been dancing competitions for some time and danced in the demoteam for a few years. I’ve also been on the music committee. I like to teach with a focus on technique with lots of positive affirmation and occasional bitter work. I completed a master’s degree in psychology and I enjoy playing games and fooling around.

Lisette Stam

Hi everyone. My name is Lisette. I am dancing since 2016 at our lovely society. I started here as a salsa dancer, after the introduction in the ACLO course. I liked dancing so much that after half a year I’ve started ballroom as well. A few years later, I’m a teacher for both disciplines and actively dancing competitions with Chakir. Next to teaching, I’m in both demoteams as well. I’ve followed more than one class as a follower as well as a leader, which helps me a lot with teaching. You will also find me, if faith allows it, at every XTDS possible. I’ve organized this event twice now and it’s the perfect place to do millions of dances with as many different people as possible. Maybe also with you?

Matthijs Spaan

Hello, I'm Matthijs Spaan, 31 years old. I've been dancing for roughly 6 years (with a year break in between) and from the first couple of lessons I knew that this would be my new favourite hobby. This year I'm teaching Advanced 1 on Wednesday and you can regularly see me jump and dance through the hall. During my lessons I tend to have a focus on letting people enjoy themselves in dance and I like to keep it light. Technique is important of course, but that will come as long as you're enjoying yourself!

Ylse Wierda

I'm Ylse Wierda, teacher and project leader and a huge dance fanatic. In 2017 I took a salsa course at the ACLO, after which many salsa parties followed. However, I had no idea that there was an entire association behind these salsa classes. During a salsa class, I had accidentally signed up for a running dinner by The Blue Toes. I didn't know anyone at all of all the people who were at the running dinner. But as The Blue Toes people are known everyone will be warmly welcomed and you will quickly feel at home. I liked those people at the running dinner. Since then I started ballroom dancing and did all kinds of committees. In 2020 I was given the honor of joining the dance leadership, here I hope to have a great time dedicating myself to providing fun and educational classes to members. See you soon in classes or at activities!

Florélie Rogier

Hi everyone, When I started studying (back in 2017) I also started ballroom dancing. Since then I’ve become more and more passionate about dancing. I especially completely fell in love with standard ballroom dancing and I love going to dance party’s (such as those at the big student tournaments). You can often find me at dance evenings and parties :) I started competition dancing in 2022 and I’ve been teaching at the Toes since 2023. Since 2024 you can also find me teaching at Pendulum. Dancing is my big passion and I love passing this on to new dancers!

King Wong

Hello! My name is King and I have been ballroom dancing with The Blue Toes since 2018. As a child I always enjoyed sports and I thought it would be fun to practice a sport alongside my studies. After trying out various sports that the Aclo offered, I chose ballroom dancing. When I first started, I was already very enthusiastic and motivated to be able to do more and become better. I took as many lessons as possible, went to as many dance evenings as possible and after only six months I took part in a student competition. In addition, I started salsa dancing at the same time. Ballroom dancing is my biggest passion and I would like to do that for a very long time. Every year I follow the technique lessons and participate in competitions. Besides the fact that I like ballroom dancing, I like making others enthusiastic about starting ballroom dancing. Every year I offer myself as a helping lead in different/multiple groups, I was in the ballroom dancing demoteam for a few years and since 2024 I started teaching at The Blue Toes.

Ruby Dijk

Hey there! I'm Ruby, and I've been dancing with the Blue Toes since 2019. The start of your university years is an exciting and uncertain time, but when I began studying, I knew one thing for sure: I wanted to learn ballroom dancing! As a child, I watched shows like Dancing with the Stars with wide eyes while sitting on the couch next to my grandmother, and I think I secretly dreamed of being able to dance like that one day. Fast forward about 15 years, and I marched confidently towards the Blue Toes booth at the KEI week information market to sign up for the beginner's class on the spot.

As soon as I took my first steps, I was hooked, and since then, I’ve become more active in this wonderful association. I was secretary on the board in 2020 and am/was a part of the Board of Advisors, the ballroom and latin demo team, the competition team, and the RedakCie. Since 2023, I’ve also been a member of the ballroom dance teachers, and I get to pass on my passion for dancing to the new generation of Blue Toes. When I teach, I find it especially important that everyone has fun and feels part of the group. This way, we can learn and laugh together!

External Teachers

Anneke Poort

I have danced with Etienne since 2009. I have latin experience with previous dance partners, but with Etienne I have focused on the Standard dances. We started at the dance federation NADB and in 2011 we were promoted to the ‘Hoofdklasse”, highest class of the NADB. In 2012 we also started dancing at the WDC (Dutch AL). Here we danced in the highest class “Masterclass” and always ended up at the top 3. In January 2018 we have switched to the Professionals. Since 2017 we have been teaching Advanced 3 and Far-Advanced. Super enthusiastic dancers and eager to learn. With a combination of choreo and technique we want and hope to improve our group. My dance slogan is “Just do it”. Sounds easy, but sometimes it's pretty difficult. My favorite dance is the Tango. Compact and tight movement with also moments of “breathing” I find very nice and nice to dance.

Etiënne Hoogstraten

As a young kid of 9 years old I started dancing and immediatly, I went into the competitions in the class of 9 to 12 year olds by the national member NADB. Not knowing that 22 years later I would be teaching here in Groningen as an active Professional Ballroom dancer dancing at World and European Championships representing the Netherlands. My opinion about competitions is about the 2 things you need: Technique and Performance. The technique you train with your brains and the performance you train with your heart. You will need both to have the ultimate Dance sensation.

Salsa

Internal Teachers

Chakir Bouziane

Hi! I am Chakir. I have been working as an IT specialist in a hospital for a few years now. After being dragged along for a salsa course by a sparring partner in 2013, I stayed because of the fun atmosphere. I started the sprint ballroom course in 2014, joined the demo team 2 years later and joined the salsa demo team when it was founded. During those years I became more and more active, starting with 2 years of AC, Wegcie, Advisory Board until 2023 and on the board of the ETDS 2019 and NTDS 2023 in Groningen. I am currently chairman of the salsa dance teachers. A few years ago I started giving salsa and bachata workshops for the Blue Toes, which I really enjoyed and was increasingly in demand. It is very nice to see people back at the parties after the lessons and workshops and to see them dancing with pleasure. I hope that I have contributed to that enthusiasm for (salsa) dancing. I have been teaching salsa for a few years now and hope to continue doing so for a while!

Klodia Saado

Hello everyone, I'm klodia and I've been teaching salsa beginners since this year. My dance career has started in high school. There I learned my first salsa steps from Marloes. During college, I started an ACLO salsa course with a friend after which I stayed at the Toes. From that moment on I never stopped dancing. After having danced several years myself, I became an assistant in John's lessons and later in the lessons from Omri. In addition to assisting, I also gave workshops inside and outside the association. This made me realize that I really enjoy teaching. Now I'm a teacher (never thought this would to happen). I enjoy it very much and hope that people in the class like it as much. See you in class and on the dance floor!

Lisette Stam

Hi everyone. My name is Lisette. I am dancing since 2016 at our lovely society. I started here as a salsa dancer, after the introduction in the ACLO course. I liked dancing so much that after half a year I’ve started ballroom as well. A few years later, I’m a teacher for both disciplines and actively dancing competitions with Chakir. Next to teaching I’m in both demoteams as well. I’ve followed more than one class as a follower as well as a leader, which helps me a lot with teaching. The most important thing of salsa is the company and the many parties. Luckily, with only one lesson you can join the parties, and boy there are a lot around here. So, I’ll see you there.

Loes Holleboom

Hi, I'm Loes and I started at the association in 2018 with salsa and ballroom dancing. When I was younger I danced jazz ballet/street dance and then started zumba at a dance school that also taught ballroom dancing. It wasn't until 3 years after the start of my studies that I decided to really start with ballroom dancing and salsa and I haven't stopped since. The last few years I assisted and taught the beginners courses and I'm now teaching the salsa beginners A class on Wednesday together with Hedwig. I was in the salsa demo team and the coordinator for multiple years. But now next to teaching I am in the board of advisors and dance the competition training with my dance partner. I also dance a lot of hours at TUDC in Groningen, but those classes are not salsa/ballroom related. I hope to see you at a salsa party, a Blue Toes activity or in my beginners class.

External teachers