Klompendansen

The Dutch folkdance group, “De Texas Klompendansers” has entered into its 28th year!
Hard to believe that a pair of wooden shoes would carry us this far…
But, all good things must come to an end after 28 fun filled years of folk dancing and traveling through Texas and all the way up to Iowa, we have taken off our Klompen for the last time.
It is a nice activity that has taken us as far North as the state of Iowa where we have performed three times in Tulip Festivals -Pella twice and once in Orange City.

Our roster had people that range in age from 5 to 75.
Our philosophy has been that this activity is one for the whole family.
It is something we could all do together, with the emphasis on TOGETHER.
Moms and dads dance with their children, grandmothers dance with their grandchildren and siblings dance together.

The following people have been members of our troop and are listed in random order:  Frank, Sharon and Monique Staats; Glenn and Frieda Stephens; Dan, Betsy, Charles and Marijke Elenbaas; Christina Lewis; Anneloes and Rory Jagdeo; Marja and Wesley Pate; Frans, Hanna, Angelique and Mitchel Pike; Marion, Joe, Natasha and Justin Pope; Danielle and Vera Ranneft; Jan en Hanneke van Onzen; Jaap, Irma, Saskia and Daan Veldkamp; Vera and Ed Slotboom; K and George Moriarty, Rob, Robin and Claire Loos, Trisha Carpenter, Kristen and Peyton Bratton, Aysa Turner, Sage and Ivy Casteren van Cattenburgh, Adam Bedford; Gerrit Wijnberg, Valina and Ross Witte; Karla, Chris, KC and Alex Auxier; Rudy and Jacoba Jorritsma; Jimmy and Maryanne Clay; Jean, Ashley and Adam Pirtle; Monique, Galen, Naomi, Kailey and Donovan Allgood; Diana Smentek; David, Sara and Michal Horn; Iwan, Ruby and Gerald van Benschop.
Wim Wijnberg became the director, after Frank stepped out, but the driving force has always been Bethel, his partner for half a century, who read the Dutch dance books and instructed the group, sewed Dutch costumes and studied many  of the different costumes that can (still) be found in Holland.  Thank you, Bethel!

Also thanks to all the people who decided to make the commitment to dance and practice every week and participate at the many festivals we have gone to.  Then there is Margreet Pike who helped announce for a while.
And Thank You -Heel hartelijk bedankt: 
To sponsors Jack and Toni Jansen and Cor and Helen Hoogendam who traveled with us when we went North. 
To the Holland House -Dick, Fiet and Willy Zandwijk.
To the Little Dutch Girl -Elsa and Tom Barrett.
Also, thank yous to former Netherlands Consul Theo vd Lugt and our current ex Honorary Consul Geert Viser for their tireless promotion and support of our dance group. 
      You see, it takes a lot of different people to make something happen.  They all have to work together.
If you look at the list of names, you will recognize a lot of former (and current) Holland Club board members.  They are the active people that make things work.  Without them, there would not be anything…

Now, Bethel and Wim still have their costumes and klompen and Dutch music and if they were to be approached by a school for a presentation about Holland …… They would listen and maybe not turn them down.

But the active Texas Klompendansers folk dance group has stopped dancing as of January 2014.