| July/August Feature Team: Sundance Express |
Sundance Express formed in an old barn located in Hightown, Virginia
in October of 2006. Four dancers from Highland and Bath Counties
pulled together to form a team with the goal of competing and having
fun. Ashley Waggoner, Graham Kershner, Gussie Young and Dorothy
Stephenson made up the original Sundance Express team with Dorothy
leading as instructor and choreographer. Parke Kershner, Graham's
brother, also joined the team a short time later.
Two months after the team came together they performed their debut
song "Magic Carpet Ride" at the 2006 Radford University Clogging
Showcase on December 9.
Sundance Express began competing in February 2007 at the Southern
Virginia Clogging Classic in Chesapeake, Virginia. That year they also
completed at the Orange Clogging Competition, Dieter's Beach Jam in
Myrtle Beach and the ACHF World Championships in Maggie Valley.
Sundance members enjoy entertaining just as much as competing. In
between competitions, the team would wow crowds at local prestigious
resorts such as The Homestead and The Greenbrier as well as local
festivals and events.
May of 2007 brought a relocation for Sundance Express and The
Sundance Studio. We left our humble home on Meadowdale Road in
Hightown, Virginia and moved five miles north to the quiet town of
Monterey. The Sundance Studio had it's grand opening at it's new home
on May 12, 2007.
In October of 2007, the Sundance Express lost veteran member Gussie
Young and her sister Jessie as Jessie went back to school and back to
her Bailey Mountain team. Gussie left us for photography school in
Denver, Colorado but not before she helped us place at the 2007 ACHF
World Championships.
In January 2008, Sundance Express accepted new members Rebecca
Landrum, Emily Kimble, Ahna Colaw and Meyer Rexrode. The new team
made their debut at the 1st Annual Appalachian Pride Clogging
Challenge on May 31 in Greensboro, N.C.
Sundance Express does not have much of a past but we are confident
that we will have a long and happy future. Our members ages range
from eight to 23. We mostly compete under the American Clogging Hall
of Fame but enjoy catching other competitions too. We will be hosting
our own competition on September 27, 2008 in our hometown of
Monterey, Virginia. It is an ACHF sanctioned event and it promises to
be a day of fun filled clogging and good times. We hope you can plan to
attend.
If you ever see the Sundance Express at competition, please introduce
yourself. We love meeting other cloggers!
in October of 2006. Four dancers from Highland and Bath Counties
pulled together to form a team with the goal of competing and having
fun. Ashley Waggoner, Graham Kershner, Gussie Young and Dorothy
Stephenson made up the original Sundance Express team with Dorothy
leading as instructor and choreographer. Parke Kershner, Graham's
brother, also joined the team a short time later.
Two months after the team came together they performed their debut
song "Magic Carpet Ride" at the 2006 Radford University Clogging
Showcase on December 9.
Sundance Express began competing in February 2007 at the Southern
Virginia Clogging Classic in Chesapeake, Virginia. That year they also
completed at the Orange Clogging Competition, Dieter's Beach Jam in
Myrtle Beach and the ACHF World Championships in Maggie Valley.
Sundance members enjoy entertaining just as much as competing. In
between competitions, the team would wow crowds at local prestigious
resorts such as The Homestead and The Greenbrier as well as local
festivals and events.
May of 2007 brought a relocation for Sundance Express and The
Sundance Studio. We left our humble home on Meadowdale Road in
Hightown, Virginia and moved five miles north to the quiet town of
Monterey. The Sundance Studio had it's grand opening at it's new home
on May 12, 2007.
In October of 2007, the Sundance Express lost veteran member Gussie
Young and her sister Jessie as Jessie went back to school and back to
her Bailey Mountain team. Gussie left us for photography school in
Denver, Colorado but not before she helped us place at the 2007 ACHF
World Championships.
In January 2008, Sundance Express accepted new members Rebecca
Landrum, Emily Kimble, Ahna Colaw and Meyer Rexrode. The new team
made their debut at the 1st Annual Appalachian Pride Clogging
Challenge on May 31 in Greensboro, N.C.
Sundance Express does not have much of a past but we are confident
that we will have a long and happy future. Our members ages range
from eight to 23. We mostly compete under the American Clogging Hall
of Fame but enjoy catching other competitions too. We will be hosting
our own competition on September 27, 2008 in our hometown of
Monterey, Virginia. It is an ACHF sanctioned event and it promises to
be a day of fun filled clogging and good times. We hope you can plan to
attend.
If you ever see the Sundance Express at competition, please introduce
yourself. We love meeting other cloggers!
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Dorothy Stephenson Director, Instructor and Choreographer Scroll down for bio |
Welcome
Cloggers!
Cloggers!
| Left: The original Sundance Express poses at Myrtle Beach after competing at Dieter's Beach Jam in 2007. Right: Sundance Express today! (Emily, Dorothy, Becca, Chelsey, and Ashley) |
Dorothy’s clogging career started when she was five
years old with the Little Switzerland Cloggers in
Bath County, Virginia performing at local festivals
and events. She has been with her Little
Switzerland Cloggers family ever since.
At 15 years old, she got her first taste of
competitive clogging in when Sherri West of the
Tennessee Hoedowners held a workshop to teach
the Little Switzerland Cloggers an Exhibition
routine to compete at the 1999 Spring Fling in
Pigeon Forge, TN. She was amazed by the groups and
individuals at the competition and knew that one
day she wanted to do that too.
In 2001, Dorothy met somebody who was a staple in
preparing her for her clogging future. Lisa Johnson,
a clogging instructor from Augusta County, found a
teaching position with the Little Switzerland
Cloggers. Lisa led the LSC to compete in 2001 at the
Virginia Clog Attack. The LSC, including Dorothy,
competed and won first place in the Line Dance and
Hoedown Category and took the title of Grand
Champion Novice Team.
Lisa brought another level of clogging to the LSC
and to Dorothy. Lisa and Dorothy became friends
but joke about how they butted heads in the
beginning. When Lisa made the hard decision to
leave LSC in 2003, Dorothy stepped up in her place
to lead her long time group.
By 2005, Dorothy had attended college and gotten
married. At that time, she was working at the Blue
Grass Valley Bank in her hometown of Monterey,
years old with the Little Switzerland Cloggers in
Bath County, Virginia performing at local festivals
and events. She has been with her Little
Switzerland Cloggers family ever since.
At 15 years old, she got her first taste of
competitive clogging in when Sherri West of the
Tennessee Hoedowners held a workshop to teach
the Little Switzerland Cloggers an Exhibition
routine to compete at the 1999 Spring Fling in
Pigeon Forge, TN. She was amazed by the groups and
individuals at the competition and knew that one
day she wanted to do that too.
In 2001, Dorothy met somebody who was a staple in
preparing her for her clogging future. Lisa Johnson,
a clogging instructor from Augusta County, found a
teaching position with the Little Switzerland
Cloggers. Lisa led the LSC to compete in 2001 at the
Virginia Clog Attack. The LSC, including Dorothy,
competed and won first place in the Line Dance and
Hoedown Category and took the title of Grand
Champion Novice Team.
Lisa brought another level of clogging to the LSC
and to Dorothy. Lisa and Dorothy became friends
but joke about how they butted heads in the
beginning. When Lisa made the hard decision to
leave LSC in 2003, Dorothy stepped up in her place
to lead her long time group.
By 2005, Dorothy had attended college and gotten
married. At that time, she was working at the Blue
Grass Valley Bank in her hometown of Monterey,
| Dorothy Stephenson Instructor & Choreographer |
Virginia. She decided one day that the 9-5 schedule of her present job just wasn’t going to do
it for her. So in January 2006, Dorothy started making plans to open a studio. By April, she
said good-bye to her job at the bank and made plans to open the doors to The Sundance
Studio in an old barn. The space was perfect…. almost. The pros: a huge barn with plenty of
room and an old dance floor and studio mirrors donated by a friend. The cons: no bathroom,
no running water, thin walls, only a few electric heaters and a tiny wood stove in the corner
to keep warm. She worked through the summer to clean the years of dirt from the old barn.
In September 7, 2006, she held her first class at the studio. Two private lessons with two
boys, her newly found cousins, named Graham and Parke Kershner. A few weeks later she
picked up another student, Gussie Young. Combining these new students and long-time
friend and team member, Ashley Waggoner, the five new found friends pulled together to
form Sundance Express in October 2006 with Dorothy as the instructor and choreographer.
The team debuted with “Magic Carpet Ride” at the 2006 Radford University Clogging
Showcase. The team competes in the American Clogging Hall of Fame (ACHF) competitive
circuit and attended and placed at the 2007 ACHF World Championships in Maggie Valley, N.
C. After Maggie Valley, the group said good bye to original member Gussie Young as she left
for Colorado to attend college. In January 2008, Sundance Express welcomed new members
Becca Landrum, Emily Kimble, Ahna Colaw and Meyer Rexrode.
Dorothy is a regular instructor at the annual Radford University Clogging Workshop held by
Christina Hall. She has competed up and down the east coast earning honors in Ohio,
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. She was the 2007 Amatuer Grand
Champion Female at Dieter’s Beach Jam in Myrtle. Standing next to her with the Male Grand
Champion title was her student, Graham.
Dorothy will attend the ACHF judges training in June at the Stompin’ Grounds in Maggie
Valley. She is also the founder of VirginiaClog.com, a website devoted to spreading the word
of clogging and to bring Virginia cloggers together. Dorothy’s goal is to play a part in
promoting clogging in Virginia and to encourage other cloggers to continue to spur the
growth of clogging in Virginia.
Cloggers Take Charge is another goal of Dorothy’s. CTC is a group of clogging volunteers
that pull together to help others in time of tragedy and need. While the group is still a work
in progress she wants to get it off the ground in the future.
“I love clogging and I just hope that I can do as much for the dance as it has done for me. I
tell everyone that being a clogger means that you are part of a huge, caring and loving
family. Cloggers stick together and are there for each other no matter what. I love my
clogging family, I love my students and I thank God everyday that I am able to do what I am
doing and for the wonderful people I am blessed to know. My message to everyone: Follow
your dreams! They just might come true. Mine did!”
Dorothy now leads her two teams Sundance Express and the Little Switzerland Cloggers and
also competes with the Mountain Heritage Cloggers lead by her friend, Lisa Johnson. She
owns and operates The Sundance Studio in Monterey, Virginia where she teaches…. what
else…. clogging! She says that she would not be where she is today without her wonderful
family, her always supportive mother, Crystal, and her loving and supportive husband,
Robby.
it for her. So in January 2006, Dorothy started making plans to open a studio. By April, she
said good-bye to her job at the bank and made plans to open the doors to The Sundance
Studio in an old barn. The space was perfect…. almost. The pros: a huge barn with plenty of
room and an old dance floor and studio mirrors donated by a friend. The cons: no bathroom,
no running water, thin walls, only a few electric heaters and a tiny wood stove in the corner
to keep warm. She worked through the summer to clean the years of dirt from the old barn.
In September 7, 2006, she held her first class at the studio. Two private lessons with two
boys, her newly found cousins, named Graham and Parke Kershner. A few weeks later she
picked up another student, Gussie Young. Combining these new students and long-time
friend and team member, Ashley Waggoner, the five new found friends pulled together to
form Sundance Express in October 2006 with Dorothy as the instructor and choreographer.
The team debuted with “Magic Carpet Ride” at the 2006 Radford University Clogging
Showcase. The team competes in the American Clogging Hall of Fame (ACHF) competitive
circuit and attended and placed at the 2007 ACHF World Championships in Maggie Valley, N.
C. After Maggie Valley, the group said good bye to original member Gussie Young as she left
for Colorado to attend college. In January 2008, Sundance Express welcomed new members
Becca Landrum, Emily Kimble, Ahna Colaw and Meyer Rexrode.
Dorothy is a regular instructor at the annual Radford University Clogging Workshop held by
Christina Hall. She has competed up and down the east coast earning honors in Ohio,
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. She was the 2007 Amatuer Grand
Champion Female at Dieter’s Beach Jam in Myrtle. Standing next to her with the Male Grand
Champion title was her student, Graham.
Dorothy will attend the ACHF judges training in June at the Stompin’ Grounds in Maggie
Valley. She is also the founder of VirginiaClog.com, a website devoted to spreading the word
of clogging and to bring Virginia cloggers together. Dorothy’s goal is to play a part in
promoting clogging in Virginia and to encourage other cloggers to continue to spur the
growth of clogging in Virginia.
Cloggers Take Charge is another goal of Dorothy’s. CTC is a group of clogging volunteers
that pull together to help others in time of tragedy and need. While the group is still a work
in progress she wants to get it off the ground in the future.
“I love clogging and I just hope that I can do as much for the dance as it has done for me. I
tell everyone that being a clogger means that you are part of a huge, caring and loving
family. Cloggers stick together and are there for each other no matter what. I love my
clogging family, I love my students and I thank God everyday that I am able to do what I am
doing and for the wonderful people I am blessed to know. My message to everyone: Follow
your dreams! They just might come true. Mine did!”
Dorothy now leads her two teams Sundance Express and the Little Switzerland Cloggers and
also competes with the Mountain Heritage Cloggers lead by her friend, Lisa Johnson. She
owns and operates The Sundance Studio in Monterey, Virginia where she teaches…. what
else…. clogging! She says that she would not be where she is today without her wonderful
family, her always supportive mother, Crystal, and her loving and supportive husband,
Robby.
