Julie Talbot

Bootscooters International

Started teaching in 1989

Email: gjtalbot@bigpond.net.au

Now retired.

I was teaching contemporary dancing to pre-school children in 1989 when I came across this thing called line dancing.

We were at the Domain in Sydney for the Australian Country Music Festival which was a part of the Festival of Sydney. There was a group called ALD doing a public demonstration. They bought their own dance floor and were dancing up on the hill. I was mesmerised by these dancers, they were fantastic. There were all different shapes, sizes and ages.

I just fell in love with it all wondering where I could find classes and then a few months later I heard that there were free line dance lessons being offered at the Wentworthville Leagues Club in Western Sydney. Needless to say, I was there in a heartbeat and the instructor was David Dickson a navy seaman. A short time later, David moved his class to the Marrickville Community Centre in Sydney's Inner West. I was his only student.

With just one student however, it wasn't going to be sustainable and I didn't want to lose this opportunity. So I persuaded my husband and kids to come along as well as all my in-laws, my mother and my sister and her boyfriend. It was just enough to cover the cost of the venue and save the class.

David soon moved the class a great little cowboy bar in the city and we all followed - we were well and truly hooked. It was the Arizona Cowboy Bar and it was just the coolest place at the time, we danced there regularly every Wednesday night. Check out the videos on the Line Dance Origins page.

We received regular bookings for private functions and demonstrations and performed under the name Sydney Bootscooters. After some time, David had to urgently move to Queensland and I thought that this was the end! Fortunately, David saw the potential in me and offered me his classes. The year was 1989 and I have never looked back.

In those early days I changed our name to Bootscooters International. And with the experiences we learnt from David, we put together a cabaret show called the Village Boys and The Silver Studs. Made up of Noel Bradey, Michael Vera Lobos, Allan Edwards, Gary Talbot, John Sookee, David ? and Justin? They line danced in g-strings at parties, socials, clubs, festivals and cruises. It was a wild time. But we were young!

Aboard the Fairstar back in the very early 90's

I held classes throughout Sydney, produced a country music and dance magazine - Country Goss', an instructional video - Hottest Line Dances, numerous dance CD's for kids, movies including Doing Time For Patsy Cline and Race The Sun with John Belushi as well as line dance cruises. Travelling the world line dancing with the family, we were very fortunate.

35 years later, I have retired from teaching but I still enjoy attending my son Josh's dance classes and socialising with all of the wonderful people I have met over the years.

My passion now is playing saxaphone and celebrating the 30th anniversary of our line dance magazine Country Goss' with Marcia Ferris through this fabulous new website - Line Dance History Australia.

Thank you for viewing my history page.