Featured Caller

Celebrate in 2008

57th WASHINGTON STATE SQUARE & FOLK DANCE FESTIVAL

Cowlitz County Convention Center - Longview, WA - June 20&21 2008

Featured Artists

Caller - Tom Miller

My Parents were dancers and we would go on camping trips and I was the only one not dancing. When classes started I wanted to take lessons and it has become my all time favorite hobby. Tom started calling in 1973 and then full time in 1976 after high school. Tom and his wife Sharon, and their two daughters Candace 14 who is dancing at this time and Lindsay 11 live in a small community Chest Springs located in western Pennsylvania.

Tom is a full time modern square dance caller who has turned his favorite hobby into a full-time occupation. Tom calls the Callerlab list, Mainstream through C-1. He has traveled throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe averaging 75-100 thousand miles per year calling for festivals and conventions.

Tom works locally calling for the Killbuck Squares of Patton, a C-1 club of State College and also T Squares in his own home town of Chest Springs. Tom is one of those special callers giving his talents to call for a mentally handicapped group called the Hill Top Squares.

His Hobbies are: hunting, fishing and camping.

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Cuer – Peter Gomez and Chama Lee

Peter Gomez began round dancing in 1995 and teaching in 2000. It was then that Chama Lee joined him on the dance floor and they began their journey into the world of Round Dancing. They teach phase levels I thru V at their weekly beginner & intermediate classes in San Marcos, CA, year round. In addition to teaching & cueing for their club, the Happy Feet Round Dance Club, Peter routinely cues for numerous local Square Dance clubs in the greater San Diego area, including the Circulators, Sandpipers, Wranglers, Canyon Lake Twirlers and San Diego, Back Country & Palomar Square Dance Associations.

They enjoy supporting & promoting the Round Dance activity by attending & cueing at as many local, regional, and national square dance festivals as possible, and are featured instructors at round dance weekends throughout the western United States.

Peter and Chama are members of Roundalab and the San Diego Round Dance Instructors Association. They are serving their fourth consecutive term as SDRDI Vice-Presidents & as Festival Chaircouple for the SDRDI Annual Round Dance Festival. They are serving their third term as the RAL Phase 2 Standardization Committee Chaircouple. Peter & Chama volunteer their time serving as the Round Dance Program Directors for the annual PSDA Jamboree by the Sea Square & Round Dance Festival located in Del Mar, CA.

In addition to their family & careers, Peter & Chama attend as many Ballroom Dance clinics, educational seminars, and Round Dance weekends as possible to learn new dance styling & teaching techniques. Their education includes classes with Bill and Carol Goss (San Diego), Dave & Dorothy Draper (La Jolla), and completing the West Coast Round Dance Leader College with Wayne & Barbara Blackford and Ralph & Joan Collipi. They are attending Ballroom Dance instruction from International Latin Ballroom Champion, Robert Kacprzak, in Encinitas, CA.

Their dance choreography includes: Boot Scoot Boogie (TS), Little Deuce Coupe (JV), Knock Three Times (CH), My Heart Will Go On (STS), Run for the Roses (WZ), Something to Talk About (CH), Stayin’ Alive (CH), and, You’ll Be In My Heart (CH).

As Peter & Chama continue on their dance journey, they look forward to when they will be able to retire and dedicate more of their time to teaching & choreography. Until then, they will continue to cherish all the new experiences & friendships they make along the way, and impart on all dancers that:

"It isn’t how you LOOK on the dance floor; it’s how you FEEL on the dance floor.”

Enjoy the romance of the dance with your favorite dance partner"…& remember to live, love, learn...& dance, dance, dance!

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Clogging Instructor - Eric Bice

My name is Eric Bice. I am a native of Los Angeles. I was born in Lakewood, California, a suburb located near Long Beach, home of the Queen Mary. I've been clogging since 1980, when I learned from Lucy Johnson - who brought it to us from North Carolina.

I started clogging as a family activity with my two sisters, mom and dad. I am happy to say that my mom and younger sister are still active cloggers as well. I began teaching in 1986 to a local group at the YMCA and have since enjoyed teaching public classes locally and nationally. I was mentored by Marilyn Hansen, a dear, dear friend whom we recently lost to cancer.

I have been a certified CCI instructor since the CCI program began and have been honored to teach at the National CLOG convention on 10 occasions. My teaching has taken me to such places as Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Iowa, Texas, Tennessee and many other cities where I've made wonderful friendships with the nicest people in the world: fellow cloggers!

I began choreographing workshop and class routines back in 1986 and have been the co‑director of Buckshot TNG (The Next Generation), a successful competition and exhibition team for the last 10 years.

Being from Los Angeles and near the movie industry has allowed me to participate as a clogger in two feature movies, "Wild Bill" and "Hunter's Moon" which you've probably never heard of because it went straight to video.

My other hobbies include playing and watching soccer, rollerblading and snow skiing. I'm also a newlywed. Michelle is my dance partner, and now my life partner.

I look forward to all my new clogging adventures and relationships and welcome all personal introductions. See you on the dance floor.