Al and Teddy Walterbeek

Honored March 14, 2010

The Sacramento Folk Dance and Arts Council is proud and happy to acknowledge the lifelong contributions and dedication to Folk Dance and Arts by Al and Teddy Walterbeek.

Al & Teddy Wolterbeek have been folk dancing since they met in their teen years. They have performed for years with Madeline Green’s well known dance group in San Francisco and have been teaching folk dancing for at least 30 years. They have been responsible for the development of a number of teachers in El Dorado County, resulting in the establishment of 5 different dance clubs. Out of a high school teacher’s request for a dance performance for her German class sprung a teen dance club. Through Tance El Dorado Al & Teddy are training the dance teachers of tomorrow. All of us in the Sacramento area have had our lives changed because of these two wonderful, charismatic people.
Ashley Havicon at presentation of book.

Here is my appreciation for Al and Teddy and all they've meant to us through the years.
Thanks, Flossy

The Placerville Folk Dance community owes a great deal to Al and Teddy Wolterbeek for their creative, energetic teaching all these past 30 years.  Their classes became a folk dance family because of their warm, caring, and humorous natures.  I was a single parent when I first met them and my life was changed because I felt so connected to their folk dance family.  I met Al when he was a Russian Bottle dancer in Fiddler on the Roof and I was a singer and dancer in the chorus in 1980.  We got to talking and we both knew the Spanish Folk dance Jota, so we talked, danced, and I invited him to come to our beginning folk dance group that had just started in Placerville.  He was quiet about the fact that he and Teddy had performed for years in Madeline Green's group in San Francisco, so I thought he and Teddy were beginning dancers like I was.  Little did we know our teacher we had arranged would become pregnant within a month of starting our group and here were two wonderful people to take over.  To keep the fun going, Teddy would try to get a cake from you if you fell, but always have cards for everyone if they fell on hard times or sickness.  For many years we'd have an anniversary party at my house, and if I'd get tired and want to go to bed, they would all climb up in my stilt bed and drag me back to the party.  Teddy is a night owl and the party and dancing must go on, and it did.  

Al was always a character, he'd keep the folk dance family going by constantly thinking of new ways to bring people into the group.  One of his ideas changed my life, they offered Vintage folk dancing at the local Sports Club and I didn't have a partner so I went into the club hallway and snagged a tall, cute, young thing and told him I didn't have a partner and did he want to learn how to dance, and he became my dancing and life partner these last 20 years, so there you go, the rest is history. Al has always been a tease and has made dancing fun and a joy for everyone who is around him.   

Joan Stouffer and I took over their Tuesday night class when they needed us to take it over,  we now have in El Dorado County 5 separate classes because of their teaching, Bonnie in Garden Valley, Marida teaching Scandinavian, Sandra teaching Scottish, and Joan and I teaching International.  In the last few years what they have done to spur young people to dance is nothing short of amazing.  They work tirelessly encouraging teenagers to dance, work hard in school, be polite and learn dancing manners, and again be part of a caring folk dance family.  All of us have had our lives changed because of these two wonderful, charismatic people.  I would like to honor, appreciate, and thank them from all of us.
Flossy Duchardt

Wow. I second all that Flossy said. I'll be ever grateful for their persistence and energy in promoting folk dancing in Northern California. I have always admired Al's graceful and athletic dancing and Teddy's precise footwork and attention to detail. As dancers, all eyes are on them, whether in a group or solo. They're just enchanting dancers.

I applaud them for giving teenagers a new niche in which to settle. A place where they can grow as people as well as dancers. Hats off to Teddy and Al Wolterbeek. They are, have always been, and always will be APPRECIATED!!!

Al and Teddy are training our folk dance teachers of tomorrow

Joan Stouffer