Caller

She says she fell in love with dance in 4th grade when they "herded us into the school gymnasium and taught us how to do the Virginia Reel.  I was captivated." Her father, a gifted musician, brought the love of music into their home, and instructed and trained Lori from a young age.  From junior high school through college, she played handbells and participated in choir, band, and dance teams. When pressed, she will admit she was actually the drum major of her high school band but doesn't want anyone searching for those old pictures.

She and her husband, Ron, met at a ballroom dance studio. For inquiring minds, their first dance was a foxtrot, and they waltzed at their wedding. They made a conscious decision to interweave music and dance into their family’s life. "Start em little, and they never remember a time without dance," she says. In 2009, as an outworking of their faith, they helped to establish a "Scottish Ball" at their church, and those dances have spurred on other church dances, galas, and homeschool proms throughout the country.

What drives her? She says, "My approach to calling is to leave no dancer behind, and that you will soon forget what your feet are doing and just have fun. Nothing tickles me more than to hear people who didn't think they like to dance exclaim how much fun they had, and that they 'love dance now' as a result of one of our dances."

Those who are familiar with Lori’s distinctive and skilled calling have come to anticipate that the experience is going to be community oriented, fun, and easy. There’s no frustration, chaos, awkwardness, or embarrassment.  There's also no dizziness from constant spinning. No dancing before everyone "gets it." Nobody giving up and walking off the floor. Even the committed non-dancers find themselves having the time of their lives. When people hear that Lori is calling, they light up and start making plans to attend.