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Barbara Kohler

2009

Barbara was the owner of a dance school in Hollywood, Florida where she taught tap, ballet, Jazz, and clogging.  Eventually, clogging became her favorite form of dance.  When she sold her studio in Hollywood, she opened up her “Clogging Parlor” in Davie, Florida where she did all her own choreography from hoedowns to show numbers.  She eventually built to 7 performance / competition teams with over 70 cloggers, from tiny tot to adult teams.  These dancers were the Gold Coast Cloggers and were very active with performances at many community events.  They were featured in the 1983 Orange Bowl parade and she worked with NBC and the Orange Bowl committee to have a country style halftime show which featured her cloggers, as well.  In addition, she choreographed various shows for junior women's clubs in Hollywood, Plantation, and Fort Lauderdale for many years.

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When she and her husband moved to Asheville, North Carolina they became owners of Bill Stanley's BBQ & Bluegrass Restaurant.  Along with wonderful food, busloads of tourists were entertained nightly by Barbara, her cloggers, and Bluegrass bands.  When they sold the restaurant she went on to teach more clogging classes which included the startup of a clogging team in the school system.  Some additional projects included a stint as artistic director for the Bailey Mountain Cloggers.  She traveled with the Bailey Mountain Cloggers along with her home team of cloggers to Austria in 2000 and 2002 to promote the art form.  In addition, she also served on the production committee during the creation of Mountain Legacy.

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Throughout her years of teaching, her teams won over 50 First Place Awards and she herself was a national and World Champion.  In honor of her involvement in preserving the traditional style of clogging, Barbara was introduced into America's Hall of Fame in 2003. 

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Barbara passed away September 18, 2003.  She continued to teach the dance form she loved up until 6 weeks before she lost her battle with cancer.  She was loved by many and will be remembered for her zest and determination for the preservation of traditional Appalachian clog dance.

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