I was raised in Hermosa Beach, California by my theatrical parents. Both my parents were respected Pasadena Playhouse Alumni; and in addition, my father was an actor/director/film editor and my mother was an actress cum model cum director. Growing up with greasepaint and stagelights, it's no wonder I chose theatre arts as my major and dance as my minor in college. I was trained at the Film Industry Workshops, utilising CBS Studios, and was privileged to be trained by many respected actor director's including Jerry Lewis, Mark Sandborn (Mary Tyler Moore Show, etc) and Chuck Heston to name a few. Because the Workshops were in the valley, I used to go early after college classes and hang out on the "Gunsmoke" set with my friend Jim Arness, until it was time for my workshop. I watched and listened intently, learning much from these wonderful actors/directors and crew members. This is probably when I developed a love of westerns.

The 70's were pretty much of a blur (as for a lot of us), but I do remember doing a LOT of disco dancing and working in the secretarial field at variety of companies. This was my work hard - play hard period.

In the 80's, still recovering from the 70's, I settled down and began my employment with The Aerospace Corporation. I married, as usual someone who couldn't dance, and therefore, put my dancing on hold to lavish in motherhood with my new son.

Unfortunately in the early 90's, I became another California statistic as a divorcee. During this time, my mother passed away from leukaemia and with nothing to do at that time, a friend took to me to my first country western class taught by Denny Hengen. It was totally different from my previous training in modern dance and jazz, so I felt very clumsy. However, it was a lot of fun and in a few weeks caught on quite well. I became a regular dance fanatic dancing 5-6 days a week. I have never done any thing in moderation in my life. I go for the gusto!

I became a member of The Wild, Wild West Dancers dance team which had the privilege to perform one of my exhibition routines for TNN's Wild Horse Saloon Line Dance Contest, in September of 1996. I devote a lot of time rehearsing, teaching or choreographing for the dance team. I jumped even further into choreography and to date have choreographed 20 dances and 2 dance routines. (Remember, I said I don't do anything in moderation!) All of my dances have been published in the leading country dance magazines, both in the US and internationally. One of my dances Country Walkin' has been featured on one of Jo Thompson's DanceLink videos, and another South Side of Dixie was featured in the dance booklet that accompanied MCA's "Toe The Line 2" CD. I have been participating in the dance community as a dance instructor for the last four years. At one "Chilli Cook Off" that I was instructing at, I had two full rows of "little buckaroos", none of them older than age 6. It was so rewarding to see their little faces light up when they learned the "Bartender's Stomp" or "The Western Express". Even my 93 year old student had a "mean" Tush Push. That's what it's all about - having FUN! And that's what I try to incorporate into my lessons. A common motto among many instructors is that there are no mistakes when it come to line dancing - only step variations!

In March of '96, I became a Dance Editor for Step By Step Magazine and have enjoyed inputting a lot of your dances submitted to the magazine. I have learned a lot from my publisher and mentor, Denny Hengen and while I in no way claim to be an "expert" in the art of Country Western dancing, I do consider myself an ambassador for promoting having fun with Country Western dancing. When not dancing, this busy redheads' free time is totally occupied by her son, Michael, who is now just starting to dance! (Yeah! Finally, a man in my life who can dance!)