Meet Jaden Pfeiffer of Gilbert

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaden Pfeiffer

Hi Jaden, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was introduced to West Coast Swing extremely young. At the age of nine I was in Robert Campos’s class in Tempe, Arizona at Paragon Ballroom dance studio. My dad had been attending and learning several years before he introduced me. Before I took classes, I would sit in the corner and read a book as my dad participated in the classes and danced a bit during the social night.

The reason for my introduction to dance is because of my love of video games. I wanted the brand new Xbox One. I begged and pleaded with my dad to get it for me. At this point, I was doing terribly in school, and started to become a very shy kid. My dad thought dancing could help alleviate my shyness and make me a confident and mature young man. So we made a deal; if I attended our local Tuesday night class and social every time for a year, he would buy me the brand new Xbox One. Determined for the new Xbox I went every Tuesday for a year, in which I earned the Xbox. The funny part is because of how much dancing I was doing I ended up seldom playing with it.

Within six months of lessons, I began to take private instruction form my first coach. Laurie Schwimmer who adopted me into the “Schwimmer Kid” family. It was here when I started to learn from one of the most influential West Coast Swing families. Under Laurie, I grew in my dancing, competed four youth routines and won two youth world titles. After the age of fourteen, I began my coaching with Buddy Schwimmer where I completed another two youth routines and grew in multiple partner dance aspects.

At the age of sixteen, I began my training with Benji Schwimmer. In tandem with his parents I continued to blossom. Under Benji, I secured to West Coast Swing rank of All-Star and my first professional world title in the Rising Star division in 2023. My dance partner and I competed against twenty-seven other couples from around the world to secure fist place.

As of today, I travel around the Globe teaching, judging and competing in West Coast Swing. I have been to France, Finland, Germany, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles and so many more amazing places to do what I love. Currently, I placed sixth in the professional Showcase Routine division where overhead lifts and ariels are required in a couples West Coast Swing dance routine.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I have had two major struggles along the way to becoming a professional dancer: COVID-19 and University.

COVID-19 completely shut down the world. Dancing came to a screeching halt in all local, national and global levels. When the pandemic started, I was only fifteen. At this point I was just starting to take off with my dancing, I was obtaining more teaching opportunities and increasing my success with dance competitively. When COVID-19 closed the world, I was left to solo practice and zoom calls with my coaches for lessons. Mentally it was extremely difficult, as I could not see the results of all the work I was putting into my craft. Furthermore, I was limited on my interactions in the West Coast Swing community. It became exhausting to continue to dance and practice without any of the social or competitive benefits.

A separate struggle that I had was being both a full-time student and dancer. While my dancing was limited with the presence of COVID-19, I used the extra time to get ahead in school. By the time I graduated High School in 2022, I earned my Associates Degree from Chandler-Gilbert Community College. This enabled me to be an eighteen year-old Junior at Arizona State University. With the added opportunities for dance, I was swamped my Junior and Senior year’s at ASU. Not only did I have a large workload, I was involved with two on-campus organizations. Juggling school, social activities, and a dance professional was difficult to say the least. I was working dance events eleven weekends out of a sixteen week semester. Completing my homework at 3am after a full day of work became routine for me. Those two years pushed me insurmountably.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Specifically, I teach, judge and compete West Coast Swing around the United States and world! I teach workshops to individuals of all skill levels and backgrounds. On the weekends, I travel to conventions to judge and compete in West Coast Swing competitions. These events are also opportunities to learn from other instructors and interact more with the community.

I specialize in partner dance. I primarily focus on West Coast Swing and Country Swing dance. I have been involved with West Coast Swing for the past decade and Country Swing for the last two years. Both are improvisation partner dances with the ability to be danced to almost any current and past music.

I am known for being such a young up-and-comer in both communities. I started West Coast Swing when I was nine, won two youth world titles before the age of fifteen and became the young American to win the Rising Star routine division at the age of nineteen. Most recently, I was the youngest competitor in the professional Showcase routine division at the West Coast Swing World Championships. Additionally, I am heavily involved with college dance communities as I was the president for Sparky’s Westies, a West Coast Swing dance club at Arizona State. One of my main goals is to bring in more youth to the dance scene.

I am most proud of my unrelenting drive to improve when I face setbacks. I am not naturally gifted by any means. I have had to work extremely hard to achieve my goals and the level that I am at. It has taken hours of practice and sacrifice which is not always easy. My drive to improve in all areas of my work sets me apart from other individual’s. I can always be a better, teach, judge and coach. I am constantly looking to improve.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was born in Mesa, Arizona and raised in Gilbert. I grew up playing flag football at FreeStone park, wrestling around Arizona, swimming at Sun Splash and hiking CamelBack Mountain! I was a very active kid, my parents always made sure I was doing 100 different activities throughout the week.

I was a very loud and outgoing kid until my fifth grade year of school. My family was going through some changes and I became very quiet. This is where dancing came in to change that. However, I could ways be found reading books, playing video games, enjoying Star Wars and social studies. History was my favorite class, which led me to obtain my Bachelors in Political Science. I could always be found doing crazy history projects and going above and beyond is social studies compared to my other subjects.

Pricing:

• Private Lesson – $80/45 minutes
• Class Instruction – $100/hour
• Choreography – $600

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jadenpfeifferdance/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/jaden.pfeiffer
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@jadenpfeiffer
• Other: mailto:jadenpfeiffer@gmail.com

Image Credits
Bradford Whelan Photography
Kylee Patterson