Dani Canziani’s swing dance journey began in 1989; after having danced and competed in the country western dance circuit. In a southern California country bar, she saw a dance she hadn’t seen before and fell in love with it. The leader, Tom Maddox from northern California, explained that it was West Coast swing. As of the next weekend, she literally began traveling to southern California every weekend to immerse herself in West Coast Swing dancing. After moving to Sacramento, she discovered, and joined, their West Coast Swing dance club, quickly becoming an active member!

Besides actively competing in Jack and Jill contests, she has competed in both Couples and Teams division (placing twice at the US Open with the west coast swing team, River City Rhythm, 1996-1998).

In 2018, she was recognized by the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame with a Special Achievement award.

Her involvements in the dance community are many; beginning with administering / running scoring systems for country/swing events for over 10 years, starting in the mid-1980’s.

She is well-known for having been the Convention Chair for the Sacramento Swing Dance Club’s ‘Capital Swing Dancer’s President’s Day Convention’ for 23 years (!) (1995-2018) and was their representative to the National Association of Swing Dance Events (NASDE). Working with Jim Rabins, she created the now well-known ‘All-Star’ competition division, which started at the President’s Day Convention in 2003; and under her direction, the event supported Newcomers and Masters Jack and Jill division since its inception. The event was also the first to host a Juniors Jack and Jill (in 1998), with Dani working closely with the Nordquist School of Dance in Sonoma to bring over 30-40 juniors each year; which made Capital the biggest Juniors division for decades. Juniors were also supported with hosted pizza parties, scholarships, etc. and in bringing in professional staff to conduct ‘Juniors Only’ workshops. The first Jack and Annie Scholarship Award was given at the Capital event.

Dani is well-known as a national swing dance judge, working events across the country and Canada, and is proud of being a Primary Judge at the US Open for many years.

In addition, she served the swing dance community as an Executive Board Member of the World Swing Dance Council (WSDC) from 2000 to 2023. Her active involvement included serving as president from 2015 until her retirement from the Board.

Besides judging, she current teaches locally on a regular basis for the two west coast swing clubs in northern Nevada, as well as Sacramento; and coordinates local weekly dances at ‘The Little Waldorf” (bar), scheduling DJ’s and weekly emails supporting any local dances / classes.