VirginiaClog.com - Virginia is for Cloggers!

May/June 2010 Feature Instructor:
Lisa Johnson

Editors Note: As you can see and will read, Lisa and I have known each
other for quite a while. We have been through a lot together and I just
have to say that this lady is one in a million. She taught me everything I
know about Clogging and has been there for me through thick and thin.
VirginiaClog.com is starting an instructor's series for all of those
wonderful instructors out there who give their students the talent, the
skill, the love (and occasionally a kick in the butt) to follow their
dreams. Thanks to all the instructors out there! Here's to you for all the
hard work, dedication, and sleepless nights that you put into your team!
Love ya, Lisa!! -Dorothy Stephenson, VirginiaClog.com Editor

Lisa has always had a love of dance. She was introduced to flat footing
at a young age when she and her father used to attend dances every
Saturday night at the Pavilion of the North 340 Campground, where she
spent many summers. Lisa has been clogging for over 20 years. She
took her first clogging class from Ginny Guertler, (former Director of
Mountain Heritage Cloggers of Crimora, Virginia). Throughout her
clogging career she has traveled up and down the East Coast teaching,
performing and competing. She has won numerous Regional and State
titles. Lisa clogged with the Mountain Heritage Cloggers for 11 years
performing both locally and out of state at places such as: The West
Virginia State Fair, Opryland, Dollywood, Maryland State Fair. Shortly
after the birth of her first child Lisa then decided to try her hand at
directing and she served as the lead Instructor and Choreographer for
Little Switzerland Cloggers of Highland County, Virginia for 5 years. In
2001 Ginny Guertler, then Director of the Mountain Heritage Cloggers
was wishing to retire to spend time with her family and proposed the
offer of “Director” to Lisa. Those were some very big shoes to fill as
Ginny was a wonderful director, and Lisa already had her hands full
with a family, a full time job, and Little Switzerland. So Lisa took on
the role of Director for the Mountain Heritage Cloggers in addition to
her many other responsibilities. In 2003, she left the Little Switzerland
Cloggers to have more time on her hands for her family. She left the
Little Switzerland Cloggers in the hands of the assistant instructor,
Dorothy Stephenson. In 2007, Lisa began training her students to build
a competitive dance team through the Mountain Heritage Cloggers.
Today, the team has earned many awards. Lisa has also taught at
numerous clogging workshops including the Radford University
Clogging Workshop and Hickory Hoedown,

Lisa loves being able to help her students grow, and feels very proud to
be the director of such an extremely talented group of dancers. She
strives to make each dancer recognize that they are all special and each
dancer brings their own special qualities to clogging to be the best they
can be, individually, and as a team. Lisa and her husband Matt have
been married for 12 years and have two beautiful children, Justin and
Allison.