Today we’d like to introduce you to Cullen Ricks
Cullen, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I fell in love with dancing at Texas State University, when I saw my friends couples dancing and thought it was lots of fun. I obsessively studied dance under the “Dr. Of Honky Tonk” Peter Turner at Texas State. It was not until I got into performing German folk dances with my wife that I realized that Dr. Turner taught me moves that are only found in German dancing and performing was second nature to me. I moved to New Braunfels to raise my family in a German community only to find that their 47 year old German children’s Folk dancing program, Kinder Tänzer, was on the brink of failure. A Wurstfest Opa named Tommy Daum was aware of my passion for dance from my involvement in their adult German dance group. Tommy suggested that I take over the program. I was able to get the eager to retire instructor, Nancy Lacey, and her children to stay on for one more season to help my transition into leading the program. During this time I was able to obtain and create recordings of all of their historical dances. Doing this I feel I solidified the program into history. Since taking over the program I have upgraded the dated sound system and had the music that was manually recorded off of an old record player edited and cleaned up several times.
My goal as the director of Kinder Tänzer is to promote German dancing in the young people of New Braunfels and its surrounding areas. Our program has dance groups for kids PK-12th grade. I hope to grow the skills of my students so that they may perform the highest difficulty German dances. I also hope to inspire the creation of German dance groups in local high schools. There are regional German dancing competitions and the state competition is held in San Marcos at Texas State University.
I am also a huge promoter of our sister organization the Edelweiss Kinderchior headed up by the wonderful Mary Irwin.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
At the end of the transition year when Nancy Lacey and her children were about to leave I told the members of my plans to expand the program by teaching recreational Two Step, Waltz and Polka and a new German dance style called Schuhplattler. I mentioned that I would like to recruit boys to join our program so that we would be able to perform more difficult dances that require strong leads and follows. An influential father in the program shouted “My girls aren’t dancing with boys!” Not a single dancer in our oldest age group came back for the Spring or the next Oktoberfest season. Over the summer I taught recreational dance to almost 80 kids, singlehandedly, and I was able to recruit a highly functional amount of new recruits, including a few boys. From the parents I was able to recruit a few assistants, most notably Nadine Fink and Rhiannon Rosenberger to help me instruct the kids. My first Oktoberfest season running Kinder Tänzer with almost completely new dancers was deemed a success by several long lasting community leaders.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I have been a teacher and a coach since 2014. I have coached Football, Track, Powerlifting, Wrestling and Chess. My primary sport is Wrestling and I feel like my skills as a wrestler and my skills as a dancer go hand in hand. My knowledge of maneuvering the human body is vast, and my ability to instruct these skills is honed. My students know me as a highly energetic person that is passionate about teaching. I have had the pleasure of working under a few hall of fame coaches and my thirst for successfully coaching competitive sports has been quenched.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
I feel like I am still starting out. This path of running lots of dance groups is still new to me and I am excited to learn and grow and teach my students. Hopefully the responsibilities that we take in life can allow us to create something beautiful and help others in the process. Don’t be afraid to do odd things and have fun with it.
Pricing:
- Free!
- Yes it’s FREE.
- The only cost associated with the program is parents have to buy their boys a par of Lederhosen and their Girls a Dirndl. I don’t sell them.
Contact Info:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kindertanzernb
