American Footworks Festival Team

06/13/2026

Overall we had a very successful rehearsal! We can’t wait to share the dances we’ve been working on!

06/10/2026

Let’s introduce Rylee and Kimbree!

Rylee loves Reese’s, the show The Office, and hiking. She also loves the mountains, especially the mountains in Switzerland. She started dancing when she was three and immediately fell in love with it. Rylee’s favorite tour memory is dancing in the pouring rain during a parade in Switzerland.

Kimbree also loves Reese’s, but her favorite show is Dance Moms and she enjoys playing in orchestra. She was born into a dancing family and loves clogging. Kimbree is excited for the clogging dances in our repertoire. Kimbree’s stupid human trick is that she can take a nap every single day. That is a skill that will come in handy on tour!

06/07/2026

Please welcome Craig and Oshyn!

Craig is on the American Footworks team for the first time this year and so far, his favorite team dance is “Hoedown”, our polka dance. He loves chocolate, the TV show Psych, and baking. Craig started dancing because his brother thought it was cool. In Craig’s own words “then [his brother] chickened out, but I didn’t chicken out.” We are very glad Craig kept dancing!

Oshyn is also joining us for the first time this year! She loves Swig, thrifting, and doing nails. Oshyn started dancing when she was only four years old because her whole family did it. She grew up ballroom dancing, which she continues to do in college.

Oshyn said, “One of my favorite dancing experiences was this past year at BYU when we went to perform for a special needs group and we ended up having a dance party and making forever memories! I love being able to share the spirit through dancing!
Dance has blessed me with a way to express myself and so many wonderful friends. I can’t wait to continue to build new friendships!”

06/03/2026

Let’s introduce you to Gabe and Maggie!

Gabe got into dance because of theater in high school. He loves the book Way of Kings and his favorite place to visit is Japan, where he served a two year service mission. When it comes to dancing, Gabe loves clogging, especially the Canadian style. Gabe’s favorite tour memory is meeting the kids from a Ukrainian dance team last year in Bulgaria.

Dancing is in Maggie’s genetics. She’s been dancing since she was very young and we don’t think she’ll ever stop! Maggie loves Twix and Lord of the Rings. When she’s not dancing, two of her hobbies are reading and napping. Maggie’s favorite part of festival life is dancing and cheering with the other teams.

Maggie and Gabe met on the tour team last year and got married this April! They both said that their stupid human trick is to stand on their curled toes. Looks like a perfect match to us!

06/02/2026

Do you know where clogging comes from?

Clogging is uniquely American, but has been impacted by many different dance styles! In the beginning, those dance styles included dances from European immigrants, Native Americans, and African Slave percussive dance forms. While it began as an improvisational social dance in the Appalachian Mountains, clogging has grown into something much larger. Aspects of other dance styles, such as tap dance, Irish hard shoe, Canadian step dance, and jazz began to influence clogging as it grew. Today clogging is one of the most exciting, competitive genres in America and entertains international audiences.

05/24/2026

Macie loves clogging and working with animals! She started dancing because her parents wanted to get her involved in something. When she started clogging, it became a life long love. Macie loves clogging with the team as well as in school. Something unique about Macie is that she can drive draft horse teams.

Brinley loves the beach and will gladly watch Dance Moms, Legally Blonde, or Psych. She also would rather eat fruit than candy. Brinley was born into a dancing family and has clogged for a long time. Brinley also says she can do a dolphin impression (we hear that it’s really good)!

Macie and Brinley are both on the team for the first time this year and we couldn’t be more excited to dance with them!

05/21/2026

Time to introduce this year’s American Footworks team!

Sophie is touring with American Footworks for the fifth time this year and her favorite dance in our repertoire is Big Apple Swing. She started dancing because of her parents and hasn’t stopped since. Sophie explained how music and dance bring people together.

“In Aviano we were singing in a stairwell and we were singing ‘I am a child of God’ and the New Zealand team came down and listened and sing along. Turns out they had shared a church building with our religion and theirs. Sometimes they would join congregations. While we were singing, they were crying because they just found out their chief had died and hearing a familiar song brought comfort.”

Peter is our incredible bass player this year! His favorite song to play is “Shoot the Moon”. At the end of this school year, Peter is retiring after being a teacher for 42 years. He loves singing for his students and they love it when he sings Baby Beluga. Every year Peter sings at the end-of-the year talent show and all the kids have so much fun singing along when he plays Baby Beluga. Swipe to the last slide to see a video of Peter singing!

05/10/2026

Working hard to make this happen again this summer!

04/30/2026

02/23/2026

This collaboration with our Mexican friends at in England was so magical 🇲🇽🇺🇸😍