A Mini Bio

By Dick Killian, Las Vegas, Nevada

Dick and Donna Killian - 2005

I didn't dance at all until 1958 in Ridgecrest, California, when my sister Polly asked me to go to a Cha-Cha workshop. That was the rage, at least in Ridgecrest at that time. Well, that was a gas! The local folk dancers there are the China Lake Desert Dancers whose logo is dancing Joshua trees (Polly was the artist).

In 1960 I danced in Reno with the now-extinct Near and Far Folk Dancers. Folk dancing was non-existent at Lake Tahoe when I lived at Crystal By, Nevada, so I started a class at the Crpenters' Union Hall in Kings Beach, California.

Donna and I met in Reno on a double date to see Liberace at Harrah's Lake Tahoe. That night Liberace introduced a newcomer to the showroom circuit, Barbara Streisand. Anyhow, Donna was the other guy's date that night.

We married that year, bought a home in incline Village, had a daughter and a son, then moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1969. We've had many great years together with more to come!

The Ethnic Express International Folk Dancers started in 1978; but that's another story.