TOM KOERNER
President, Director
DEBRA STERNBERG
Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Director
Mr. Koerner, a practicing attorney, started dancing while at the University of Virginia in 1976. Mr. Koerner teaches swing dance with Debra Sternberg, is heavily involved in the swing music and dance community, and has a deep appreciation for swing music and dance.
Debra Sternberg has been teaching Jitterbug and Lindy Hop with Tom Koerner since 1987. Their style is based on the Lindy danced at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, with a strong emphasis on Charleston. Their instruction combines both socially useable lead-and-follow materials with flashier showstoppers. Tom and Debra are dedicated to keeping alive both the music and dance of the swing era with an emphasis on the history and background that makes it so unique.
Tom and Debra are the 1994 United Kingdom Lindy Hop–Air Steps Division champions, and 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2002 and 2003 Virginia State Open Lindy Hop champions, as well as Jitterbug champs for many of those same years.
Tom and Debra were honored to have been chosen by the Smithsonian Institute as their swing dance instructors and performers at the National World War II Memorial Celebration on the National Mall in Washington, DC, May 2004.