Richard Powers is one of the world's foremost experts in American social dance.  He has been researching and teaching social dance for 35 years and is currently a full-time instructor at Stanford's Dance Division.  Selected by the Centennial Issue of Stanford Magazine as one of Stanford University's most notable graduates of its first century, he was also awarded the Lloyd Dinkelspiel Award for exceptional contributions to education at Stanford.  In addition to his Stanford responsibilities, Richard is busy teaching workshops across the country, in Europe, and is a popular teacher in Japan where he has returned twenty times to teach workshops.

Mirage Marrou was a Stanford psychology major and Dance Minor who has been assisting Richard in his social dance classes for the past six years.  She has graduated but has chosen to stay in the Bay Area for the social dance scene.  Mirage has been dancing since the age of three, and her dance experience has included social ballroom, tap, ballet, jazz, ballet folklorico, Irish, hip hop and Broadway.  Mirage has also partnered Richard's workshops in Paris, Geneva and Moscow.