Our Board

Kenneth Shipp

Executive Director

Kenneth Shipp serves as Director of the Ujima Blues Foundation.

Before learning partner dances like Lindy Hop or Blues, Kenneth spent the majority of his early dance career break-dancing or DJing for break/hip-hop comps around the southeast. In 2014, Kenneth took over as President of Blues Dance Nashville (BDN), the local blues scene in his hometown. He spent the next few years developing the organization with his team, focusing on a steady slate of classes and local events that emphasized and built upon Nashville’s rich live music history.

Throughout that time period, BDN took over running two local blues events, Mo’ Better Blues and Southbound Blues Exchange. Kenneth and his team were instrumental in turning those into well-respected, national-level events. Mo’ Better, in particular, would be the testing ground for concepts that would eventually turn into BluesGeek and is a testament to his creativity and desire for community.

Kenneth likes to stay busy, launching new projects like the Git Gud practice weekend or writing about his favorite movies on his website, Nerd Union.

Katrina Rogers

Throwdown Director

Moving, playing, running, and dancing are very ingrained in Katrina’s essence. She truly does not know how to be still, especially when music is playing! Music and dancing are food for Katrina’s soul. She feels the music on a very deep level and her body simply responds. Dancing has always been and will continue to be a place for Katrina to explore and express who she is, and she encourages everyone to do the same.

Katrina took her first Blues dance lesson in February 2013 and found a piece of herself she never knew was missing, her identity and connection to her heritage. She is dedicated to learning and promoting the rich culture and history of this beautiful black art form. As a dancer, with a strong connection to musicality, she brings joy, emotion, fun, tons of sass and plenty of ridiculousness into her dances (nothing is off limits). Katrina especially loves to play in her partnerships and wants to see what you’re bringin’-lets Riff!. She has a special love of Blues with that Funky vibe (it totally compliments her quirkiness) and anything with that deep groove with high energy. Katrina has been instructing various forms of movement; from personal fitness to track and field to dancing for over 13 years. While she is a technician; she wants her students to find how they can come alive through dancing. To learn how to make each movement their own and groove with confidence.

In addition to being a dancer and instructor, Katrina is ecstatically the Event Director of Throwdown, a blues dance competition weekend held in St. Louis.

Heather Adkins

BluesGeek Director

Heather hails from Huntsville, Alabama, but is originally from Nashville, Tennessee. She began dancing Lindy Hop in Cookeville in 2007, but found Blues shortly thereafter and hasn’t stopped since. She keeps herself busy throughout the Southeast between emceeing and dancing. But a large portion of her energy and time go to organizing, having served on too many local Swing and Blues dance boards to name here.

As Vice President of Blues Dance Nashville (2015 to 2018), Heather was one of the chief architects of Nashville’s BluesGeek event when it was still called Mo’ Better Blues, reaching back to 2015, and has continued that work to the present. She has also been proud to team up with her Nashville team to run three volumes of the Southbound Blues Exchange from 2016 to 2018. She’s no stranger to large events and coordinating downright huge teams to bring you some of the best Blues dance events in the country year after year, but her expertise doesn’t stop at national events. During her time as Vice President of Blues Dance Nashville, she, along with her team, also oversaw weekly lessons and live monthly dances.

She has a fervor for Blues and Soul music that drives her, and when she’s not busy organizing, emceeing, and dancing at events, you’ll find her grooving in her kitchen whipping up something amazing. The Foundation is proud to call her Assistant Director and have her vision continue to drive the Foundation and the BluesGeek event for some time to come.

Jen Delk

bluesshout director

Jen Delk resides in Austin, Texas. As a seasoned project manager she specializes in getting things done.

She got her start in dance organizing in college running Swing and Lindy hop lessons on campus and doing some event work for a local teaching group. She was on the planning team for a few Lindy exchanges then took a break in 2004.

She was summoned from organizer retirement in 2010 to take on volunteer coordination when bluesSHOUT! came to Austin. She was asked to join the team and handled financials and logistics from 2011-2013.

Jen joined the bluesSHOUT! board in 2014 and has been handling website, registration, finance, staffing/logistics and whatever else needs doing.

Jen has been more involved in creating new content on race and culture.

Outside of being a SHOUT! organizer she enjoys mentoring new organizers, attending niche dance events, reading, long walks, sunsets, and night swimming. Back in school Teaching local drop in blues lessons League of Women Voters Austin Area Civic Engagement Alliance Chair

Clara Maguire

Secretary

Clara has been organizing and teaching in various capacities since she first started dancing in 2012. Before dance, she trained in and taught martial arts, which gave her a strong sense of connection and balance to bring to her dancing. In her dancing, she jams primarily on connection and musicality, especially playing with stretch and counterbalance.

As someone who works with complex data sets in her tax accounting job, Clara is most comfortable as support staff. She has run front desks for weekly dances, as well as coordinated housing and transport for multiple regional events. Her spreadsheets and willingness to jump in and help in any capacity necessary are the primary strengths that she looks forward to lending to the Ujima Blues Foundation in her role as Secretary.

Julie Brown

Research Director

A UX & design researcher by day and Blues dancer by night, Julie brings skills from both sides of her life into this role with the Ujima Blues Foundation. In her day job, she coordinates and strategizes research in a fast-moving software design context. As part of her own Blues dance education and research, Julie has done many personal reading and small research projects, as well as some archival research, oral history, learning, and participation in modern Black partner dance communities.

As Research Director for the Foundation, Julie coordinates our team of research analysts—assigning, tracking, and supporting work for projects received by or initiated by the Ujima Blues Foundation—and helps active researchers in the scene connect and share information.

Erin Boeke Burke

Marketing Director

Erin Boeke Burke has been dancing, and volunteering for things, since she can remember. She started with performance dance - from jazz to ballet, modern to Haitian, Hula to ballroom - she’s done it on a stage. She got into swing in college, and after a missed connection in 2005, rediscovered blues and Lindy Hop 2011 and the rest is history. She teaches in her local scenes (first Washington, D.C., now New York City) and loves helping people discover their joy in dancing.

Erin is always looking for new challenges, which is reflected in her professional and volunteer life. She is currently a Director at S&P Global, where she assesses environmental, social and governance considerations in investment, and previously worked for the White House budget office. She has also worked in public and media relations at the U.S. Institute of Peace and was a volunteer organizer and field director for political campaigns. In her remaining free time, she has been Board Chair and Finance Director for the nonprofit White House Athletic Center; Board Secretary for All Souls Church in Washington, D.C.; and co-founded Citizens for Local and State Service while pursuing her Masters in Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin.

She has two cats - Gin and Gary - and they both wear bow ties.

Adam Wilkerson

Chair, Advisory Board

Adam is proud to call Huntsville, Alabama, home, but he's originally from Mississippi. He’s been partner dancing since 2004, starting in Ballroom, Latin street dances, and Lindy Hop, but he followed Krystal into Blues in 2010, and it’s been his primary focus ever since. He’s passionate about social dancing and Blues music, and has been traveling the country teaching Blues dance with his wife and partner, Krystal, since 2016. He has also served on local swing dance organizing boards at Indiana University and in Huntsville, and has served on the BluesGeek Event Board since 2017. He also co-runs Huntsville’s All-Ballroomin’ event, Backwater Blues, with Krystal (and Briana McIntire for 2016 and 2017). When he’s not busy organizing and teaching, he travels the southeast, searching for new Blues information and history to share with the scene.

Adam’s passion for competition is less about competing and more about judging and directing. His background in mathematics and data analysis drives him toward finding new ways to approach competitions, and gives him the opportunity to nerd out over judging and score aggregation methods. Combine that with his love of hip-hop and watching competitive street dance, and a member of the advisory committee who brings years worth of skills to our pool of collective knowledge.