We are currently working on the instructor lineup for 2018. Below are the fabulous instructors and staff we were priveledged to have in 2017.
 Barb Buys
Barb fell in love with dancing at the age of 9 and teaching at the age of 16. She began teaching folk dance at a local university and hasn’t stopped since. She has been dancing and teaching country-western since 1991 and West Coast Swing for the past 3 years. She was a performing member with Cascade Cloggers and was a founding member of Women Who Clog Too Much, where she performed in both Washington’s for over 8 years. She teaches skiing, tennis, mountaineering, and works as a life coach. She is passionate about facilitating fun and success in any medium but especially on the dance floor.
Barb will be teaching Beginning West Coast (Saturday) and Basic West Coast Whips (Sunday).
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 Jim Drew
Jim Drew has been dancing and teaching country-western for over 20 years. He has performed with and chroegraphed for several dance teams, including the Rain City Rhythm Riders. He has taught regular lesson series in San Francisco and Seattle, plus workshops each year at the Emerald City Hoedown, Sundance Stompede, and the IAGLCWDC annual convention hoedown. He competed in line dance at the World OutGames in Montreal and Copenhagen (where he won two gold medals).
Jim will be teaching 7 Deadly Sins of Dance (Friday) Intermediate+ Two-Step (Friday).
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 Terry Felts
Terry Felts has been dancing for going on ten years now, having started at Timberline Spirits. Once she started dancing, she was hooked! Terry loves both line and couples dancing. She has branched into teaching and DJing to share this fun and camaraderie with others. She has also performed with the Rain City Rhythm Riders. Mostly, she is proud to be a member and supporting cast of the Rain Country Dance Association.
Terry will be teachingTBD (TBD) and TBD (TBD).
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 Amy Glass
Amy competed in and won her first UCWDC competition in 2006 and began choreography competitions not long thereafter.∇ She won a few choreography competitions including being awarded the Dancer›s Choice Award for Team Choreographer in 2013. Amy has been afforded the opportunity to teach at events throughout the United States and internationally for the last 5 years.∇ When she isn›t dancing, Amy is a pharmacist in Washington state.∇ While she enjoys her career, she has discovered that her true passion is dance∇ Amy can no longer imagine her life without line dance and loves sharing this passion with dancers all over the world.
Amy will be teaching four dances on Saturday: Shady, Clap Clap Clap, Thumbs Up, and Look Good Again
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 Jeffrey Howard
Jeffrey was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and still lives there. He’s been dancing since he was 8. For most of the 90’s he was caught up in the swing revival but switched to country in the early aughts because he wanted to dance with men. He has led Stomptown, Portland’s LGBTQ Country Dance club, since 2012.
Jeffrey will be teaching TBD (TBD).
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 Troy Inman
Troy Inman (San Diego) has performed with Banevolks International, Dance Force, and DanceFx, and he is the co-founder and Artistic Director for Contact Dance Theatre — UNstrictly Ballroom. Troy is an aerialist specializing in the “silks” and also performs in the Theatre Arts/Cabaret style of dance. When not dancing, cross-fitting, or hanging upside-down, Troy directs a global education team for Salesforce.com.
Trpy will be teaching TBD (TBD).
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 Klint Kendrick
Klint Kendrick started country-western dancing over a decade ago ago when a man mistook his cowboy hat for dance ability and dragged him onto the floor for a spin. After taking several months to recover from that trauma, he found that others mistook the cowboy hat for dance ability and asked him to explain certain moves. The ever-present cowboy hat has lulled enough Cuff Country regulars into a false sense of security, and Klint now gets the chance to teach others that a cowboy hat and a smile can get them mistaken for experts, too.
Klint will be teaching a TBD (TBD) and TBD (TBD).
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 Ari Levitt
Ari has been teaching and performing social dance nationally and internationally for over 25 years, including numerous workshops throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, as special guest instructor to Stanford University, as director of “Waltz Week in Vienna”, and as the innovator and director of “New Zealand Dance Adventure”. As an instructor, he is well known for his clear, energetic, fun teaching style, for his detailed attention to connection and partnership, and for his ability to translate even the most complex dance moves into simple, understandable instructions. In addition, he is highly regarded for his innovation and pioneering in the world of “fusion” dance — a form which borrows elements from one style and blends them fluidly into another, as well as for his work as a physician in the field of “experiential” wellness and dance therapy — using dance movement, balance, body awareness, and connection as a modality for diagnosing and treating individuals and couples.
You can learn more about Ari and see examples of night club two-step, waltz, swing, blues, fusion, and other dances on his website at www.rolluptherug.com.
Ari is very excited to be returning to Emerald City Hoedown for his third year where he looks forward to sharing his joy and love of dance with you.
Ari will be teaching TBD (TBD) and TBD (TBD).
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 Michael Metzger
Michael Metzger has been a passionate country-western dancer for ten years. He has been a featured instructor in Berlin, at many IAGLCWDC events, in San Francisco at Sundance Saloon and Stompede, and most recently as a featured instructor at Windy City Line Dance Mania in Chicago. He has choreographed several line dances. His dance “C’mon C’mon” won second place in the choreography competition at the 2014 Line Dance Explosion in Las Vegas, and his dance “Counting Stars” has been selected by IAGLCWDC as one of its competition dances for 2017.
Michael will be teaching the line dances TBD (TBD) and TBD (TBD).
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 Rob Ollander-Krane
Rob grew up hating country music until one day a few years ago, he walked into a gay bar and saw a group of men doing the two-step. Country music and two-stepping have been his obsession ever since… and he has the cowboy drag to prove it. Rob joins us from San Francisco where he has been dancing at the Sundance Saloon every Sunday evening for the last eight years. Unlike some of our other instructors, Rob is not a professional dance instructor but he does teach adults in his work at the Gap.
Rob will be teaching TBD (TBD) and TBD(TBD).
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 Scott Schrank
Scott has been line dancing since 1998. What started off as something to fill time turned into a true passion. After being hit by the “Dance Bug”, Scott set out to learn any and all line dances he could find. He entered numerous competitions in both IAGLCWDC and in the “Mainstream” dance world, winning top awards along with Over-All championships. Scott’s teaching experience comes from previously being both a member and choreographer of Southern Line Atlanta. He has written over 90 line dances to date, several of which have been used for IAGLCWDC competitions, with popular ones including “Georgia Winder”, “Global Warming”, “Someday-Someway”, “More Than Life”, “Hello Stranger”, and “Somewhere With You”. One of Scott’s most recent achievements has been to enter and win several Original Choreography Competitions. Scott’s biggest joy is in teaching and seeing fellow dancers getting excited about a dance they just conquered. If you ever find yourself in need of someone who cares and has a true passion for teaching, Scott is the person.
Scott will be teaching the line dances TBD (TBD) and TBD (TBD).
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 Dave Serfling
Dave is a well known Country Dance Instructor. His students are amazed at how patient he is and devoted to teaching “anyone’”how to dance. He has been teaching dance classes all over the Puget Sound since 1988. He enjoys teaching many types of dance besides Country, including Swing, Latin, Ballroom, Night Club, and Line Dancing. He owns and operates The Rockin’ Horse Dance Barn, where he teaches and is the regular DJ on Fridays . Dave will be assisted by his wife, Jimmi Serfling.
Dave & Jimmi will be teaching TBD (TBD) and TBD(TBD).
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 Bootblacks: Paul and Kian
TBD
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 Kate Bovitch
Kate Bovitch has been two-stepping for a a couple years. Her interest in partner dancing started with East Coast Swing in a western-themed Irish pub on the island of Okinawa when she was in high school. She DJs line dances for Rain Country a couple times a month.
Kate will be DJing TBD (TBD) and TBD (TBD).
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Jim Drew
Jim DJs for Rain Country at the Cuff Complex in Seattle, and has DJ’ed country at the Seattle Eagle, Swank (Kent), and Neighbours Nightclub as well. Outside of Seattle, Jim has DJ’ed for Club Bolo and at the 1st World OutGames in Montréal, and at hoedowns in Virginia Beach, Tampa, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.
Jim will be DJing Country Couples (Sunday).
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Terry Felts
Terry Felts has been dancing for going on ten years now, having started at Timberline Spirits. Once she started dancing, she was hooked! Terry loves both line and couples dancing. She has branched into teaching and DJing to share this fun and camaraderie with others. She has also performed with the Rain City Rhythm Riders. Mostly, she is proud to be a member and supporting cast of the Rain Country Dance Association.
Terry will be DJing TBD (TBD) and TBD (TBD).
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 Keith Gehrig
Keith Gehrig began two-stepping and line dancing in Long Beach at Floyd’s in 1985. He moved to the Northwest in 1987 and began dancing with DJ Jim Detwiler and teacher Maxcy Moon. He helped open the original Timberline and started square dancing that same year. During the ’90s, he got distracted by other things but returned when Timberline Spirits opened. He started attending Cuff Country regularly to pick up the line dances he’d missed, he hasn’t left, and now he’s in the DJ booth, too.
Keith will be DJing TBD (TBD).
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Klint Kendrick
Klint has been DJing during Cuff Country Fridays for the past three years. His goal is an evening of fun music with a bias toward tracks you might hear on the radio today, with a few solid classics mixed in.
Klint will be DJing TBD (TBD).
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 Ray Nutter
Ray Nutter started country dancing in San Diego (at the straight bars), but quickly landed at the Timberline when coming up (and coming out) to Seattle in the mid-90s. He’s also a regular at Cuff Country on Friday nights. Ray is the newest member of our DJ team, taking to it like a cowboy to his saddle!
Ray will be DJing TBD (TBD).
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Pete Winowitch
lipsky
Lee Kus