About me

Hi, my name is Daan Geelen. I was born on the 22nd of February 1969 in The Hague in The Netherlands. I grew up in Amsterdam here I started with dancing Rock&Roll, Boogie Woogie and Disco. When I moved to Almere I started dancing at Big Apple Dance Studio where I did Jazz, Show/Musical and Tap, I also danced in some theatre productions from Alide de Koning.

In 1996 I came in contact with Linedance at a western weekend, where I was horseback riding with my horse. I saw people linedancing and I really liked it. It was so much fun that I started looking for a danceschool and I found The North Hill Country Dancers. After 1 year I took over the club and gave classes every evening. I kept on taking technique classes from Alide de Koning.

Because I was teaching a lot of non country linedances I changed the name of my danceschool into Stars & Strips. I started to give competition training in Linedance, Couple Dance, Teams, Duo's, Cabaret and Choreography. I became several times Dutch, European and World Champion in UCWDC, World Dance Masters, WorldCDF and GOLD. For 16 years I was eventdirector of the Dutch Championships "The Tulip Challenge" from the UCWDC. Since 2025 I am the eventdirector of the Golden Tulip from GOLD.

Over the years I gave workshops in Europe, Turkey, Japan, Korea and USA. I also got nominated for a Crystal Boot Award. Danced in The Country Linedance Machine from Bob de Jong and theatre show Boys & Girls from the Southern Stars Theatre Company.

Nowadays I still teach social, competition and private classes. I'm also still competing in the Star Division and Couple Division.