Lee Otterholt

... is a freelance international folk dance master teacher based in Laguna Beach, California. Lee teaches locally in Southern California and at festivals and workshops in the United States and Europe and leads folk dance tours all over the world.

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TEACHING:

 

Northeast U.S. tour, Sept. 15-24:


   Sept 12-14 Pittsburgh/Enon Valley , see http://www.hornig.net/dave/dance/folkdnc.htm


   Sept 15 Brooklyn Heights, see http://4dls.net/bhifd/index2.htm
   Sept 16 Red Bank/Monmouth  NJ, see http://home.earthlink.net/~illuminage/MonmouthFolkDancers.htm
   Sept 17 Columbia MD, see http://www.columbiafolkdancers.org/
   Sept 18 Lancaster PA, see http://www.sfmsfolk.org/dances/Otterholt.html


   Sept 19-20 Ottawa, see http://ifdo.pugmarks.com/  IFDO Camp in Ottowa, Canada September 19-20, 2008. Contact Susan Barker smbarker@magma.ca

 

 

Richland, WA International Folk Dance Festival, October 3-5, 2008.  Contact Barb Puigh, blp509@aol.com  509 Surrey Ct., Richland, WA 99354-1735, tel.: 509 375-4079


Folk Dance Tour of Greece (Mainland ands Islands)with Lee Otterholt and Jim Gold.  Oct 21-Nov 2, 2008.  Contact Jim Gold jimgold@jimgold.com  or see www.jimgold.com/

 

Folk Dance Cruise on the Irrawaddi River in Burma November 8 - 26, 2008.  Contact Lise  Shearer 604 926-0293 or e-mail: lises@telus.net

 

Teaching Tour of Northern California:

 

   Feb. 19 - TBA

   Feb. 20 - TBA

   Feb. 21 - Festival of the Oaks, Berkeley, CA, Contact Mel Mann, MelDancing@aol.com

   Feb. 22 - TBA

   Feb. 23 - TBA

   Feb. 24 - TBA

 

San Antonio Camp, March 13-15, 2009.  Contact Jimmy Drury, james.drury@att.net

 

Folk Dance Tour of Greece (Mainland ands Islands)with Lee Otterholt and Jim Gold.  April 9-24.  GREEK ORTHODOX EASTER ON MYKONOS!  Contact Jim Gold jimgold@jimgold.com  or see www.jimgold.com/

 

Salt Spring Island Festival (Canada), May 1-3, 2009  Hilde Otterholt teaching Hawaiian Hula together with Cristian Florescu and Sonia Dion.  Contact Pat & Rosemarie Keough Rosemarie@keough-art.com
http://www.keough-art.com    Tel: 250-653-4993

 

Folk Dance Tour of Norway, June 13-23, 2009, Contact Jim Gold jimgold@jimgold.com  or see www.jimgold.com/

 

Folk Dance Cruise on the Black Sea, June 6-22, 2009, with Lee Otterholt and Mel Mann.  Contact Mel Mann, MelDancing@aol.com or see www.folkdanceonthewater.org/

 

Stockton Folk Dance Camp, July 26-August 1, 2009 and August 2-August 8, 2009. See www.folkdancecamp.org/


Oktoberfest, New Hampshire, October 9-12, 2009

 

Folk Dance Tour of Turkey, October 17-31, 2009 with Lee Otterholt and Jim Gold.   Contact Jim Gold jimgold@jimgold.com  or see www.jimgold.com/

 

 

In addition, when he is not traveling, Lee teaches a weekly folk dance class every Wednesday evening 5-7 PM at Laguna Woods.   (You must call Miram Kahn at 949 770-7026 or 949 680-9946 (mobile phone) to get information about whether or not Lee is teaching that week and to gain access to the gated community where the class is held.)

 

 

       Lee Otterholt, born in the US of Norwegian-American parents, has lived and worked most of his life in Norway as a professional dancer, dance teacher and choreographer.  In Norway he founded and led the Center for International Folk Dance in Oslo, Norway.  He was a professor of folkloristic dance at the Norwegian National College of Ballet and at the University College of Oslo.  He was responsible for the establishment of 4 still-active folk dance clubs and 3 performing groups in Norway.  He led these groups to festivals all over Europe.   He also produced teaching materials (videos, books and CDs) on folk dance for use in the Norwegian school system.

  

      For the last 10 years he has been active on the international scene, teaching various Balkan dances at international folk dance festivals in Europe, the USA, and East Asia, for example: Laguna Beach Folk Dance Festival (1999, 2001, 2007), Pan-Asian Folk Dance Festival – Taiwan (2002), DoeDans – Holland (1995), Festival of the Oaks – Berkeley (1999, 2001), Stockton Folk Dance Camp (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007), Tapestry –Minneapolis (2003), Florida Folk Dance Camp (2003, 2004), San Antonio Camp (2004), Mainewoods (2004, 2005, 2007). Lee has led folk dance tours and cruises to Norway, Greece, the Upper Danube, Alaska, the Lower Danube, Vietnam/Cambodia, Russia, Myanmar and the Adriatic Coast of Croatia.

 

     Lee has a professional education in choreography and was one of the choreographers of the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway in 1994. 

 

     Lee’s teaching emphasizes style: dancing well, not just “getting the steps.”  Whenever he can, he also tries to bring improvisation, self-expression and spontaneity back into the folk-dancing traditions where these elements are a central part of the tradition.  And he never loses sight of the fact that we recreational folk dancers dance because it is fun, and because these dances mean something to us – just as they were fun and meant something to the village dancers before us!