1989 was drawing to a close and I was
dreading returning home to Brisbane after almost a year in the United
States as, apart from the fact that I was a little homesick, I had become
totally addicted to Country Dancing while I was living and working there,
and was depressed at the thought that I would not be able to dance six and
seven nights a week as I had been doing all these months.
I
was delighted to hear upon arrival home that Country dancing had started
in my absence at a club in Brisbane, so the very first Sunday I was home I
headed off to The Terminus, a gay club in Fortitude Valley, where I was
told it was all happening. I’m not sure what I expected but it certainly
wasn’t very similar to what I had been experiencing both in style and
atmosphere, and the dance floor was about 1/20th the size of
the one I was used to in San Francisco. Nevertheless I enjoyed the night
and meeting new people and decided to return the following week. Being a
small crowd (crowd being probably the wrong word as I guess there were
about 20 people), everyone knew that I had been dancing in the US and I
was asked to teach a dance that I knew. The reaction was positive and the
following week I taught another, and that’s how it started. Time is a
little fuzzy here, but it was only a few months later when I was
approached by the manager and asked to run the Sunday nights – both as
DJ and teacher. Gradually numbers increased, and we became a bunch of
hard-core dancers who thought we were clever when we could add a full turn
to a vine.
It shows how much the whole scene has
evolved when I remember how Bootscootin’ Boogie was considered to be one
of the harder dances, and one of my first attempts at choreography, the
dance Zig Zag, was such a hard dance that many of the dancers took three
weeks to get it, and people would have to sit down because they were
getting dizzy from the direction changes – these days what I called my
Upper beginners can do it with no problems!!
When I think back on those dances, they had very few turns, usually
just ¼ to face a new wall, very few steps, (none that I can think of had
more than 32 beats) and tags and restarts were unheard of, and yet we all
thought they were hard – how times have changed!!!!
Sunday nights continued and a group
of us started going to suburban pubs on nights that featured country bands
which were becoming popular at the time. We used to squeeze onto the dance
floors whenever room allowed and a song that was suitable for dancing came
on and invariably an interested crowd would be watching and inquiries came
as to where lessons were held. Sunday numbers grew to an uncomfortable
size for our little dance floor until one of the students, Yvonne Hampson,
also a rock and roll teacher, informed me that she had approached
Chardon’s Hotel and they were keen for me to start classes there. This
was a totally unexpected step, to move away from teaching a small circle
of friends and I was more than a little nervous about the whole thing, but
the night proved to be fun and the small crowd not too intimidating at
all. Each week numbers grew, and as this was all happening at the end of 1992
and coincided with the phenomenon that was Achy Breaky heart, suddenly
there were over 100 people at this little class.
For those students who have come into
the scene in the last 5 years or so, I should try to describe the
situation because it is vastly different to the one we have in Australia
almost everywhere these days. In those early days of line dancing, almost
every class that I can think of, was taught in a pub or club and I thought
that a hotel or bar was the only place to learn, that being where I had
learned in the US, so the small crowded dance floors, many vinyl or tiled
were part of most classes.
Try to imagine this; my class at
Chardon’s, once numbers grew, was split into two parts, one on ‘my’
floor, about 12 feet square with a wall immediately behind it, and the
other a little larger but able to spill onto the carpet on either side and
behind it. I hired one of my students to stand in front of the other floor
for the dancers on that floor to follow, because this floor was at the
other end of the room and also faced me. I did all the talking and
teaching for both floors and relied on signals from my assistant to tell
me if there were problems on her floor, as I couldn’t really see those
dancers very well. My assistant and I both taught on portable platforms,
mine about 8 feet long and 4 feet wide, hers three times that size (I got
stuck with the small one because I had to be close to the DJ booth to
operate the music). The platform was only about a foot high so the
students at the back had no chance at all of seeing my feet, and many
informed me that they were greatful I always wore my hat!!. Dancers today
complain if they don’t have at least a metre of space on either side at
class - in those days they
were greatful if they had a foot!!
I
also regularly taught partner dancers at these classes and we would move
all the tables and chairs and dance right around the perimeter of the room
across carpet or whatever. Despite these cramped, very unsuitable
conditions we had a lot of fun and numbers continued to grow so the owners
of the hotel offered me another night in another of their hotels followed
very soon by another on the other side of town,
so that before I really knew what I was doing I was teaching four nights a
week as well as holding down a job and trying to do all the demonstrations
that were being offered.
It
was a big decision to throw in the ‘real’ job I had at the time to teach
line dancing especially when I believed that it wouldn’t last, but financially
and emotionally it was very rewarding and I couldn’t continue to do both,
so I made the jump and became the first full time instructor in
Australia.
That year during the Christmas break,
I decided to attend an International competition in South Carolina, the
first of many as it turned out. Extremely apprehensive, and feeling like a
very small fish in a very big pond I was surprised to be treated very
kindly by everyone - I think most were fascinated to meet an Australian
and discover that we knew what line dancing was!! During the three day
event, I attended every possible workshop and tried to see everything that
was happening to the point of exhaustion, and got to meet famous names
like Jo Thompson, Michele Perron, Bill Bader & Scott Blevins, some who
were not known in Australia at that time. Introducing dances by these
choreographers back home, and more importantly seeing their teaching
techniques and styles helped me greatly, and when I was invited to come
back the following year as one of these featured instructors I was more
than a little overwhelmed, but I was there, and proud to be the first
Australian Instructor to be invited to teach at a large International
event. At that second event I also had 45 Australians in tow on my Country
Dance Tour of the United States which was also the very first Australian
country dance tour. I made another ‘first list’ at the event when I
entered one of my dances in the choreography section and took first place.
This
was my introduction to the American dancers, choreographers and
Instructors, some who have become very close friends and have continued to
treat me so well and share their experience during the years I was
teaching. I have always looked forward to attending these events in the US
to catch up with these friends as well as learn new dances and skills, and
the Golden Gate Classic run by my good buddy Charlotte Skeeters has become
a very important part of my dancing year, and it gives me much
satisfaction to know that I have enticed so many other Australians to
venture to these events.
As the line dance craze started to
take over here in Australia and so many of my former students started
their own classes, and almost every city having it’s own group, the
‘Workshop Experience’ began. Tracie & Mark of Southern Cross
Linedancers in Sydney, invited me to teach special weekend classes several
times and then, again totally surprisingly, offers began coming from so
many places that in one three month period I was only home for one
weekend! I am not exaggerating when I report that quite often I would fly
in to a city - be collected from the airport and taken to a hall - do a
workshop for however many hours (sometimes 6!) - have a brief meal and
shower break before back to the hall for the evening social where I would
revise the dances during the evening – to the motel to sleep –
collected at 9 or 10am and taken to the airport. This was of course not
always the case, but it was more often than not, and sometimes only by
recognizing the airport would I know
where I was! Although most people think that all this traveling is fun,
and I have to admit for a while it was, it didn’t take long before I
found I was totally exhausted, and felt it was affecting my classes in
Brisbane, so I decided to cut back on these weekends away and limit the
number of bookings I accepted so I could lead some semblance of a normal
home life.
This past 13 years has been a full
and interesting period in my life and I have gotten to make videos, teach
on a cruise ship and in countries and cities I’m sure I would never
otherwise have seen. I’ve done radio, television and newspaper
interviews, published a newsletter magazine and written countless articles
for others. I’ve judged and taught at events worldwide and run 4 very
successful Sunshine State Classics of my own. I’ve been able to express
my creativity by choreographing over 120 dances and watch young dancers
mature and many gain confidence with my help. I have even been directly
responsible through classes for a few romances and weddings, and even with
all that I’m sure there are many other experiences that don’t
immediately come to mind. I could also use much space listing the reasons
that made me decide to stop teaching, but in brief I can say that I felt
after such an exhausting and interesting 13 years it was time!
At
the time of writing I still have a couple of workshops to do that had been booked
before I decided to stop teaching, and I am not dismissing the chance that I may
do another one or two if the offer comes along, so all is not totally finished
as yet! But, in the meantime I have great memories, good friends and
a long list of interesting people and places to look back on, and I am happy to
know that in many ways I was a pioneer of line dancing in Australia, certainly
in Queensland, and the first to do so many of the things now common in the line
dance industry – and almost all of it unplanned !!! 08/02 ~ Terry Hogan
Terry Hogan's choreography by year ... steps are w/Dancin'
Down Under and/or LineDanceFun.com
1992
Backtrack
- Big Big Love (Molly & The Heymakers)
- Last Chance
- Honky Tonk Attitude (Joe Diffie) - New
Western Waltz - The Dance (Ann Kirkpatrick)
1993
Drovers
Sidestep - Son Of A Drover (Shane Hogan) - Sidewinder
- Mountain Of Love (Molly & The Heymakers) - Zig Zag - Love's Got
A Hold On You (Alan Jackson) - Tornado (Dec.) - I'm Ready If You're Willing
(Chris Le Doux)
1994
Twister
- Doin' Hard Time In The Dog House (Tim Ryan) - The Wrangler - Be My Baby
Tonight (John MIchael Montgomery) - Girls
Night Out - Girls Night Out (Gina Jeffries) - Badlands
Boogie (Dec.) Boogie Till The Cows Come Home (Clay Walker) - Tanglefoot
(Dec.) Live A Little (Mark Chesnutt)
1995
Santa Fe Swing - Dance In Circles
(Tim Ryan) - Tulsa
Slide (June) Don't Make Me Come To Tulsa (Wade Hayes) -
Cimmaron W altz (Aug.) Walkin' Away (Clint Black) - Cowboys
(Sept.) Cowboys Are My Weakness (Holly Dunn) - Roughrider
(Sept.) I Can Do That (Woody Lee) - Rockabilly
(Sept.) Rock A Billy (Holly Dunn) - Kicking
Up Dust (Nov.) In The Middle Of A Little Love (Wesley Dennis)
1996
Walkabout
(Jan.) Even If I Tried (Emilio) - Black
& White Stomp (May) - Black & White Rag (Asleep At The Wheel) - Smooth
Talker (May) Female Bonding (Brett James) - Going
Strait (June) Overnight Male (George Strait) - Nightmare
(June) On A Good Night (Wade Hayes) - Blue
Moves (July) Blue (Leann Rimes) - Who
Needs It (July) Who Needs You Baby (Clay Walker) - Check
Please (Aug.) Check Please (Paul Jefferson) - About
Face (Nov.) In Your Face (Ty Herndon)
1997
New
Mexico Cha Cha (Feb.) Land Of Enchantment (Michael
Martin Murphy) - Along
For The Ride (Mar.) Ants On A Log (Randy Travis) - Too
Easy Shuffle (May) Bad Day For The Blues (David Ball) -
Divine Inspiration (June) Divine Intervention (Greg Holland) - Alligator
Shoes (July) Baton Rouge (Lee Roy Parnell) - Black
& White Cha Cha (July) Livin' In Black & White (Tracy Lawrence) -
Me Too (Dec.)
I Don't Understand My Girlfriend (Toby Keith) - Cuban
Heels (Jan.) Cuba (K.T. Oslin) - Step
By Step (Jan.) Early Hours (Felicity) - Sweet
Temptation (Jan.) Lead Me Not (Lari White) - On
Your Toes (Feb.) I'm Finding Out (Rhett Akins) - Looking
Good (Apr.) The Way She's Looking (Raybon Brothers) - Easy Going (June)
Of All The Hearts (Gary Allan)
1998
Heatin' Things Up (July) Burnin' The Roadhouse Down (Steve Wariner & Garth
Brooks) - Kissing You Goodbye (Aug. w/Michael Barr) Basic Goodbye (Neal
Mccoy) - Tequila
Blues (Nov.) Straight Tequila (Trini Triggs) Too
Much Fun (Nov.) Wine Women & Song (Patty Loveless)
1999
Just Do It (Mar.) That's What You Do (Lari
White) - Straighten
Up & Fly Right (Apr.) Straighten Up & Fly Right (Neal Mccoy) - Texas
Polka (May) Texas Polka (Riders In The Sky) - Alright
Already (May) That's Okay (Dwight Yoakum) - All
Nighter (May) Rosie (Darren Coggan) - Completely
(July w/Thomas O'dwyer) Completely (Neal Mccoy) - It
Ain't You (July) It Ain't You (Tamika Kellehear) - Slowing
Down (July) Slow Poke (Tom Morrell & The Timewarp Tophands) - Wrapped Up
(July) Me & Maxine (Sammy Kershaw) - Wrapped Up (partner) (July) Me &
Maxine (Sammy Kershaw) - Ready
For Anything (Aug.) Bring It On (Rosie
Flores) - Them's
The Rules (Sept.) Swing (Joni Harms) - Dancin' As Fast As I Can (Jan.) Dance
All Our Troubles Away (Becky Hobbs) - Messin' Round (Jan.) Red Lips Blue Eyes
Little White Lies (w/Justine Shuttleworth) (Gary Allan) - Okie
Boogie (Jan.) Okie Boogie (Tom Morrell & The Timewarp Tophands) - Out
There Swingin' (Jan.) Emmett (Tom Morrell & The Timewarp Tophands) - Border
Crossing (Jan.) Horse To Mexico (Trini Triggs) - Bandera
Waltz (Oct.) Bandera Waltz (Tom Morrell & The Timewarp Tophands) - Riding
The Rails (Nov.) Tattoos Of Life (Steve Wariner) - Think
Quick (Nov.) Who Did You Cal Darlin; (Heather Myles) - Too
Good To Be True (Dec.) I Didn't Know (Shane Stockton) - Second
Time 'Round (Dec.) I'm Gonna Change Everything (Mandy Barnett)
2000
Direct
Hit (Jan.) Hit By Love (Lila Mccann) - Don't
Need A Reason (Jan.) I'll Think Of A Reason Later (Lee Ann Womack) - Look
Me Up (Jan.) If You're Ever Down In Dallas (Lee Ann Womack) - Time
Warp Two Step (Jan.) Sioux City Sue (Tom Morrell & The Timewarp Tophands)
- Believe It
(Feb.) You Better Believe It (w/Justine Shuttleworth) (Jason Sellers)
- Fatal
Attraction (Feb.) I'm Gonna Love You Anyway (Trace Adkins) - Monkey
Business (Feb.) Monkey Around (Ddelbert Mcclinton) - Thursday's
Cha Cha (Feb.) Choo Choo Cha Cha (The Rinky Dinks) - Caught
In The Act - (Feb.) All Hat No Cattle (Trace Adkins) - Change
Of Heart (Feb.) I Keep Forgetting (Lee Ann Womack) -
Going Crazy (Apr.) I Love Him I Think (Helen Darling) - Black & White
& Blue (June) Black & White Blue (Helen Darling) - Choo
Choo Cha (June) Choo Choo Cha Cha (The Rinky Dinks) - Live
It Up (June) Let's Live It Up (w/Simon Ward) (Paul Brandt) - Flying
Leap (July) Leap Of Faith (Delbert Mcclinton) - Kick The Habit (July)
I Can Dig It (Trace Adkins) - Last
Laugh (Aug.) Who's Laughing Now (Ricky Van Shelton) - One
More Time (Aug.) One More Time (Adam Brand) - Dance
With Me (Sept.) You With Me (Anita Cochran) - Me
Neither (Sept.) Me Neither (Brad Paisley) - Don't
Ask (Oct.) Lonely Too (Lee Ann Womack) - Friendship (Oct.) Friendship
(Ray Charles & Ricky Scaggs) - Here's
Hoping (Dec.) I Hope You Dance (Lee Ann Womack)
2001
Cool
Change (Jan.) When Hell Freezes Over ( Rich Mccready)
- Easy Huh? (Jan.)
Claudette (Dwight Yoakum) - Move It Or Lose It (Jan.) Turn Me Loose & Let Me
Swing (Willie Nelson) - Too
Late Now (Jan.) They Always Look Better When They're Leavin' (Becky Hobbs)
- Two Shades Of Blue
(Mar.) Two Shades Of Blue (Suzy Bogguss & Chet Atkins) - Cash
On The Barrelhead (Apr.) Cash On The Barrelhead (Dolly Parton) - Sometimes
(May) Comes From The Heart (Kathy Mattea) - Who
I Am (May) Meat & Potato Man (Alan Jackson) - Wasting Time (May) Time Spent
Missing You (Dwight Yoakum) - More Blues (June) A World Of Blue (Dwight Yoakum)
- Pucker Up (June)
Kiss This (Aaron Tippin) - Bad
Girls Boogie (July) Good Girls Got To Heaven (Brooks & Dunn) - Promises
(July) Stars Over Texas (Tracy Lawrence) - Ten
Rounds (Aug.) Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo (Tracy Byrd) - Dance
(Sept.) She Came To Dance (Asleep At The Wheel) - Gone
Squirrelly (Sept.) Missippi Squirrel Revival (Ray Stevens) - Moonstruck
(Sept.) You Have That Effect On Me (Brad Paisley) - Stepping
Out (Oct.) So In Love With You (Doug Supernaw) - Soft
Lights & Music (Oct.) One Of Those Nights (Rich Mccready) - Don't
Stop (Oct.) Cease & Desist (Delbert Mcclinton) - One More Last Chance (Oct.)
One More Last Chance (Cleve Francis) - Chasing
My Tail ( Dec.) Going Nowhere (Wynonna) - Ready
To Fly (Dec.) New Day ( Wynonna)
2002
Pink
Toenails (Jan.) - Pink Toenails (Dixie Chicks) - Head
Over Heels (Jan.) Hallelujah I Love Him So (Dixie Chicks) - Simply
Samba ( Mar.) Manana (is good enough for me) (Peggy Lee) - Blame
It On Mexico (Apr.) Blame It On Mexico (Tyler England) - One
Song (May) One Song ( John Berry) - West
Texas Waltz (June) West Texas Waltz (Joni Harms) - Zydeco
Rhythm (July) New Orleans Is A Mighty Good Town (Eddy Raven w/Buckwheat
Zydeco) - Your Love
Amazes Me (July) Your Love Amazes Me (Andy Childs or Tanya Tucker) - New
Western Waltz (July) - Some Fools (Skip Ewing) - Latin
Rhythms (Nov.) Today (Raul Malo)
2003
Bye Bye Baby
(Oct.) Lawdy Miss Clawdy (Travis Tritt) - Come
And Get It (w/Roxanne Kumre) (Aug) Who's Your Daddy? (Toby Keith) - Fiddling
Around (Apr.) Old Time Fiddle (Vince Gill) - Honky
Tonk (Aug.) Honk If You Honky Tonk (George Strait) - Losing
The Blues (May) Back In The Swing Of Things (Rich McCready) - One
Good Love (May) One Good Love (Rich McCready) - One
Horse Town (Apr.) Nobody Gets Off In This Town (Garth Brooks) - Playing
With Fire (Mar.) Fighting Fire With Fire (Davis Daniel) - Stumblin'
and Fallin' I Said I Love You (Raul Malo) - Thrill
Me (Or Else!) (w/Roxanne Kumre) (Aug.) Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me (Gloria
Estefan) - Winter
Waltz (June) My Hat's Off To Him (Doug Stone) - When
I Close My Eyes (Aug.) When I Close My Eyes (Rhonda Vincent)
2004
Rescue Me (Apr.)
Rescue Me (Wynonna) - Rough
Diamond (Apr.) Old Chunk Of Coal (Jason McCoy) - Waltzing
& Waiting (Mar.) I'll Never Say Goodbye (Dolly Parton) - Rain
Dance (May) Songs About Rain (Gary Allan) - One
Night (Mar) One Night (Eric Heatherley) - Hot
Flushes (June) Louisiana Hot Sauce (Joni Harms) - True
Love (June) You Still Do It For Me (Jason McCoy) - Groovin'
(Apr.) When The Sun Goes Down (Kenny Chesney & Uncle Cracker) - Mambo
Mambo (Sept.) Papa Loves Mambo (Perry Como) - First
Love (Sept.) I've Never Gone This Far Before (Sammy Kershaw) Falling Down
(Sept.) All Fall
Down (Bekka Bramlett) - Buena
Sera (Oct.) Buena Sera (Michael Buble) - Nobody
Like You (Oct.) I Ain't Never (Rosie Flores & The Jordanaires)
2005
Bluegrass
Waltz (May) The Grass Is Blue (Dolly Parton) - The
Last Dance (May) Save The Last Dance For Me (Michael Buble) - Michael's
Two-Step (Sept.) Dance With The One That Brought You (Shania Twain) - Somebody
Help Me! (Oct.) Jump In The Line
(The Cherry Poppin' Daddies) -
2006
2007
Thirsty
Work (Feb) My Best Drinkin' (Mark Chestnut) - Can't
Let Go (Feb) I Can't Let Go (Vince Gill w/Allison Krauss & Dan Tyminski)
No. 171 (May) Love (Michael Buble) - Foolish
(Sept) Now and Then There's A Fool Such As I (Raul
Malo) - Crying Time (Sept) It Only Hurts Me
When I Cry (Raul Maol) - I Won't Dance (Sept)
I Won't Dance (Jane Monheit & Michael Buble) - Old
Fashioned Waltz (Sept) Honky Tonk Saturday Night (George Strait); Just
Pretend (Sept) Don't Pretend With Me (Vince Gill); - Cuban
Hips (Dec) Cuban Pete (Tito Puente) - Perfidia
(Dec) Perfidia (Linda Ronstadt) - All
I Want (Dec) I Don't Want To Say Goodbye (Teddy Thompson)
Terry Hogan was busy end
of September 2007 in Australia coming out of RETIREMENT ...
Getting over the fence at the retirement village was the tough part - after
that everything just seemed to fall into place!!!
The reality was actually a little different, and I have to admit to some nervousness
for my first workshop in over a year. Just trying to remember 5 new dances is
enough at the best of times I think, but being a bit out of practice and not
having tried any of them out on a floor larger than my living room made it a
bit more daunting. Seeing lots of 'old' faces' and ex-students did help to relieve
the anxiety however, and make it an enjoyable experience.
The event in question was a Masquerade themed social and workshops were I was
co-instructor for two workshops arranged by instructor, choreographer (and ex-student)
Brett Jenkins, who now runs classes
in many parts of Brisbane. The workshops (classed as Easy & Advanced Intermediate)
were both well attended, although there were certainly more at the advanced
workshop and although there were mainly different faces at each, I have to compliment
those who managed to survive both and learn a total of 10 dances during the
day - that's dedication (or obsession) for you!
Easy workshop: Terry taught
Foolish
to Raul Maol and Old
Fashion Waltz to George Strait.
Advanced workshop: He got "to inflict" I
Won't Dance (his favourite),
Crying
Time to Raul Maol and
Just
Pretend to Vince Gill. Brett taught: I
Told You So and Learning
From You.
*** Terry sent his files to me early
September with my promise of no release until after his workshop ...IF you learned
the dance No. 172 from Mel ...you now have the files you need!!!
***My email says instructors are teaching theses dances with good response.
Terry will be teaching a workshop w/Brett come January 2008 ...his students
ARE SO LUCKY!!!
2008
On
the Corner (Jan) Down on the Corner (Dwight Yoakum) - Lost
& Found (Jan) Let's Get Lost (Ray Benson) - Skip
A Beat (Feb) My Heart Skips A Beat (Dwight Yoakum) - Looking
Back (Apr) It Was Me (George Strait) Sand and
Sea (Apr) Laid Back 'n Low Key (Alan Jackson) Lonesome
(June) The Lonesomes (Dolly Parton)
USA