Officers: 2026-27

Sunny Vuong '27

Co-Captain

Sunny is a pre-med senior in Saybrook from San Antonio, Texas, majoring in MCDB and gratefully dragging herself up the Sisyphean mountain that is med school applications. This is her second year captaining the team and she’s so excited to meet anyone starting out in ballroom for the first time – just like she did as a freshman! Outside of ballroom, you can find Sunny teaching fun dances to pediatric patients with Yale Peristalsis at the Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, or researching retinal diseases in the Hafler Lab. In her free time, Sunny enjoys zombie apocalypse movies, writing poetry, playing soccer, and designing scavenger hunts. Ask her about any of these, or anything else at all, really!Favorite dance: Tango

Audrey Tsai '28

Co-Newbie Captain

Audrey is one of your co-Newbie Captains this year. She’s a junior in Branford, originally from the Bay Area, studying neuroscience and applied math. Audrey likes to talk and is excited to have a captive audience (newbie class) obligated to listen! If you have an emergency dance question — why do you have an emergency dance question? — you can usually find her in lab, reading instead of submitting her PSET, or getting her second coffee of the day.Favorite dance: Tango

Greer Kennedy '28

Co-Captain

Hi, it’s Greer! I’m a junior in Jonathan Edwards studying linguistics, French, and translation. As co-captain of YBDT this year, one of my hopes is to see the team expand in number and grow closer in community – the love and support for and within this team have been awe-inspiring, and I so honored to have the opportunity to continue this tradition. I’m from Louisiana (yay food, boo humidity), though I now live in Vermont (yay snow, boo snow), and I joined ballroom because through it, I met some of the most genuine and kind people – my closest friends to this day.Click here to see Greer's full written biography.

Nathan Lange '27

Co-Newbie Captain

Hi! My name is Nathan, one of your co-newbie captains this year! Outside of teaching you how to dance, I’m an MB&B major, I play trombone in the Yale Wind Ensemble, and conduct research at the medical school. As the captain emeritus, YBDT has a very special place in my heart and has been one of the defining parts of my Yale experience. Feel free to talk to me about dance (duh), growing up rural, being pre-med, or nerd out about music!Favorite dance: Waltz

Abigail Hu '27

Advanced Seminar Director

Hi everyone! My name is Abigail and I’m a senior Political Science major in Pauli Murray College. I’ve competed and taught for Yale Ballroom for three years now and am so excited to return as the Advanced Seminar Instructor. I teach all international Latin styles, with a specific focus on technique and showcase choreo. A fun fact about me is that I used to be a pageant queen!Favorite dance: Rumba

Darren Kao '28

Co-Treasurer

Darren is a junior in Ezra Stiles College, double majoring in CS and linguistics. He joined the team as a freshman with no ballroom experience, and YBDT has grown to be one of his favorite college communities. Besides partner dancing, Darren’s hobbies/obsessions include singing a cappella with Cadence of Yale and performing on the Harkness Tower bells (bro likes music). Darren also likes money, and he is ready to serve his second year as YBDT co-treasurer, ensuring that YBDT supports ballroom dance in all settings, whether it be social or competitive. Ask him about funding for team events! Darren is 6’1″.Favorite dance: Foxtrot

Santi Andrews '29

Co-Treasurer

Santi is a sophomore in Jonathan Edwards college, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. His home state is Colorado. He runs a woodworking company in his spare time.Favorite dance: Foxtrot??

Kaiya Sharp '29

Co-Events Coordinator

Hello, my name is Kaiya Sharp! I’m a sophomore in Morse college, double majoring in physics and art history. As one of this year’s co-events coordinators, I want to bring every bit of glamour, beauty, elegance, and audience I can to the amazing sport of ballroom! This is only my second year with the team, but it has had a profound impact on my life and I seriously love ballroom! When I’m not dancing, you can find me in the library with a London fog, singing with the Slavic choir, or frolicking in a field listening to Hozier.Favorite dance: Quickstep

Elisea Jackson '29

Co-Events Coordinator

My name is Elisea Jackson, a physics major in Pauli Murray. This year, my focus will be on helping prepare and cook up our social events and shows! I’m from New Mexico, and while I miss home, the collaborative and creative is why I choose Yale. I choose YBDT for this same reason (in addition to a need to satiate my insatiable desire to dance, which has historically led me into some questionable situations.) My other great love besides dance is purple, and yes, I will buy something solely because it comes in purple.Favorite dance: Merengue

Lauren Thelwell '27

Coach Liaison

Hi, my name is Lauren Thelwell. I’m a senior in Trumbull College majoring in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB), and I’m the Coach Liaison for the Yale Ballroom Dance Team! This year, I’ll help the team by setting up opportunities for coaching lessons so we can learn from really knowledgeable dancers! I’ve had an amazing time joining this team and got to know equally amazing people. Joining this team was one of the best decisions I’ve made here in my time at Yale. A fun fact about me: One of my favorite restaurants is Chili’s.Favorite dance: Jive

Sebastian Martinez '29

Publicity Director

Hi I’m Sebastian! I’m in Morse college, and I haven’t decided on a major yet. I’m from Seymour, CT, so feel free to ask me about cool places in the state. I joined with no dancing experience whatsoever, yet now ballroom has become one of my favorite parts of my time at Yale! This year, I’ll be running all of YBDT’s publicity and marketing. (How are you enjoying the website?) When not dancing, you can find me singing acapella, translating Egyptian hieroglyphs, or coding a new video game.Favorite dance: Paso Doble

Leonna Wang '29

Social Chair

Leonna is a sophomore in Saybrook, majoring in Math. She’s from Queens, the best borough in New York City. Outside of dancing, you’ll find her running, playing Texas Hold’em or Chinese Poker, making matcha and other food/drinks, or taking a quick power nap.Favorite dance: Samba

Officer Accountability

The Yale Ballroom Dance Team has always valued and will continue to fight for inclusion, community, and equality. Within our team, we have never tolerated discriminatory or disrespectful behavior — but as our nation and indeed our world witness widespread and necessary calls for racial justice, it is especially important now that we hold ourselves and each other accountable. It is imperative that we do more than call ourselves an inclusive and accessible organization: we must follow through on our words, and take actively anti-racist actions today and every day. While difficult, this includes taking appropriate disciplinary action against team members who have not upheld our values. You may read more about our team values here.

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