Miami Valley Folk Dancers Logo
Dayton, Ohio

2011 Honor Roll Dancers

Leslie Hyll and Edmund Cordray


M.V.D.C. Honor Roll Dancer(s) Nomination for 2011

Nominating Club:  Miami Valley Folk Dancers (MVFD)

 

Name, Address, & Phone of Couple/Person(s):  Leslie Hyll & Edmund Cordray

 

Number of Years Dancing:  More than 70, combined

 

Club Elected Positions and Years Held (Pres., VP, Sec., etc.)

Elected positions Leslie and Eddie have held within MVFD are:

  • Program Committee (Chair 1986, 1987, 2000, 2004)
  • Club Chairperson (1989, 1996, 2007, 2008)
  • Vice Chair (1994)
  • Treasurer (1997)

 

Club Appointed Positions and Years Held (Kitchen Chairperson, etc.)

Appointed positions Leslie and Eddie have held within MVFD are:

  • Representative to Miami Valley Dance Council (1988)
  • Publicity Chair (1988-1991)
  • Archives (1996-present)
  • Webmaster (1996-present)
  • Newsletter Editor (1996-1999)
  • Recording/Equipment Engineer (1994-present)
  • Orientation Committee (2004-2008)
  • Workshop Chair (9 workshops over the years)

 

Service at Club Level (Kitchen, Greeters, Clean-up, Decorate, etc.)

The list of appointed and elected positions Leslie and Eddie have held – and hold – speaks for itself.  However, they contribute in many other ways as well.  For example, Eddie has arranged for a number of mini-workshops in addition to our regular workshops, while Leslie tracks not only all the dances taught each Thursday, but all the dance music played.  They take care of a lot of the loose ends, whether it’s laminating badges or mending curtains or finding beds for out-of-town visitors.  Please see the writeup for the major non-official responsibilities Eddie and Leslie have assumed within MVFD and the larger community.

 

Number of Raids and Retrievals

MVFD does not "raid"; this is not customary in folk dance. 

 

Special Activities (Organize or Assist with Demos, Weekend & Week long Workshops, Special

Dances, Parades, World A’Fair, State Fair, Festivals, etc.)

Leslie and Eddie have planned and danced in a wide range of demos for many years now.  They have performed at the Waynesville Sauerkraut Festival, MVDC Day in the Park demos, MVDC Holiday at Home demos, and myriad demos for nursing homes, schools, and all kinds of social organizations (including the Buckeye Dance Conventions) in a remarkable range of venues.  In addition, Leslie has chaired nine MVFD workshops over the years, and Eddie and she have been heavily involved in finding suitable teachers for MVFD’s workshops for at least the last 10 years. 

Leslie and Eddie have been involved with the Dayton International Festival Inc. (A World A'Fair) every year since 1982 (Leslie) or 1990 (Eddie).  In connection with AWAF, one or the other (or both) of them has:

-          performed with four different ethnic dance groups

-          choreographed and directed American, Croatian, Slovenian, Macedonian, and Pan-Slavic suites for the Živio South Slavic Dancers

-          directed and choreographed for the Bagatelle French Dancers for 10 years

-          directed the Italian dancers for 3 years

-          directed and choreographed for the Beseda Czech and Slovak dancers several times

And that doesn’t count the many performers’ costumes Leslie has sewn or embroidered over 20-plus years!

 

M.V.D.C Position and Years Held (Pres., VP, Treasurer, Trustee, etc.)

Michael Solomon Support Committee Chair (1998-2010)

 

State & National Positions and Years Held (State Corp, State & National Convention Positions, etc.)

None, but Leslie has organized folk dance sessions, demos, and costume shows when the convention has been in Dayton, and Eddie has served as the convention Treasurer.

State & National Positions and Years Held (State Corp, State & National Convention Positions, etc.)

California: 1978-1981

National: 1982

Ohio: 1984, 1988, 1991, 1995, 2001, 2006

In addition to State and National Square Dance Conventions, Eddie and Leslie have attended a great many folk dance and leadership workshops, festivals, and camps, among them the below:

  • Various MVFD Ethnic Folk Dance Workshops 1972-present (far too numerous to list!)
  • Planina Folk Dance Camp 1972-1976
  • Bannerman Family Folk Dance Camp 1974-1975
  • Kentucky Dance Institute 1975, 1977, 1980
  • Oregon State Folk Dance Camp 1979-1981
  • Lloyd Shaw Foundation Workshop 1981
  • Maine Folk Dance Camp 1983
  • Stockton Folk Dance Camp 1986, 2007
  • Christmas Country Dance School, Berea 1987
  • Scandinavian Week at Buffalo Gap 1989
  • Swedish-American Week in Sweden 1990
  • Telemark Experience, Norway 1990
  • Door County Folk Festival 2007-2010
  • Buffalo on the Danube 2010
  • Oglebay Folk Dance Camps, Old World Music and Dance Camps, San Francisco Kolo Festivals (various years)

 

Write Up

The Miami Valley Folk Dancers are very pleased to nominate Leslie Hyll and Edmund Cordray as our Honor Couple of 2010.  Both of them have contributed in many ways, both great and small, to the Miami Valley Folk Dancers, to the Miami Valley Dance Council, and to the Dayton community.  The positions they have held with MVFD (see above), their contributions to MVDC (see below), and their involvement in various recreational dance groups and events (not just in Dayton) all bear witness to the leading role they have played in international folk dance for more than 30 years. 

Leslie Hyll became a member of the Miami Valley Folk Dancers in 1972 at age 12.  With her parents Lou and Nancy Hyll, she attended dance workshops in Ohio, Virginia, and Kentucky.  As a teenager she performed with the Kettering Historical Dancers, and wrote a published paper on the history of American folk dance.  During and after her college years, Leslie broadened her knowledge by attending dance workshops from Maine to Norway, and even a Playford Ball in Manchester, England. 

Eddie Cordray had dancing parents as well, and was an accomplished folk dancer by age 12.  The list of his West Coast memberships at the end of this writeup shows that he was usually active in several clubs at a time, with an emphasis on Balkan dance.   In his twenties, he performed in the semiprofessional ensemble Westwind.  Eddie has attended dance camps all over the country; he was still in his teens when he partnered his sister as she taught Norwegian workshops across the U.S.

It is therefore no surprise that when Eddie found himself in Dayton for a training course and checked out the local dancing, he should have found a kindred spirit in Leslie.  Their commitment to folk dance was apparent even in their 1991 wedding, which was held in folk costume at the Michael Solomon Pavilion and attended by most of MVFD.  Eddie and Leslie continue to attend workshops together; in the past few years they have been in not only Columbus, Indiana, and Illinois, but also Wisconsin and California. 

Leslie and Eddie’s breadth of experience has made them a wonderful resource for MVFD, where all the regular teaching is done by members.  Leslie is perhaps the most knowledgeable of our dancer-instructors, and gladly teaches either beginners’ or intermediate-level dances.  Her repertory is wide, although she particularly enjoys English, German, French, and American dances.  (Eddie’s range is also wide, but emphasizes the Slavic dances.)  Leslie has also taught courses in dance at Wright State University, and always includes some teaching and audience participation in the demos she arranges. 

As can be seen from the list of Leslie and Eddie’s positions held within MVFD, Leslie has also put her leadership skills to good use within the club.  She has served in almost every elected position available at MVFD.  She has written a history of the club, and maintains both hard-copy and electronic archives of programs, letters, photographs, and other documents dating back to its beginning.  Leslie recently led a group in going through Grace Wolff’s many boxes of historical documents and dance material, sheet by sheet, and organizing them so that they could be added to the MVFD archives. 

Leslie established (and continues to maintain) a website for the Miami Valley Folk Dancers that provides not only information about our club, but links to ethnic and folk dance groups all over Ohio as well as to related organizations like MVDC and Culture Works.  In addition, she has set up and manages a group e-mail account (mvfolkdancers@yahoogroups.com) for members of MVFD and other interested folk dancers.  Last, Leslie maintains an Access database of present and past club members as well as dance contacts throughout the Midwest and even farther afield, which the club uses for mailings and publicity.

One of the largest of Leslie’s undertakings has been the creation of a CD containing scanned syllabuses from every single one of the workshops sponsored by MVFD from 1953 to 2004.  Its alphabetical index of all the dances runs to 22 pages of small type.  In 2000 she organized a massive scanning and proofreading effort; with the help of numerous MVFD members (and Eddie), the CD was completed and published in the fall of 2005. This syllabus CD has been enthusiastically reviewed in various dance newsletters, and orders have come in from all over the country as well as abroad.  Leslie and Eddie are contributing all profits from this labor of love to the club.

For his part, Eddie has taken charge of preserving the wealth of music that MVFD has acquired over its 56-year history, from records to .wav files.  After transferring all of the club's records and tapes to a CD format (some 350-400 hours of work), he categorized all the music by name, nationality, type, and CD number to yield a book-size listing.  As technology progressed, he put all the CD music onto a computer that offers our programmers and teachers speedy retrieval and considerable flexibility in handling the music.  (No more record boxes!!)  As members bring back music and dances from new workshops, and as software evolves, Eddie continues to update our collection and add new capabilities. 

All the groups that dance at the Pavilion have benefited from Eddie’s willingness to take responsibility.  His chairing of MVDC’s Michael Solomon Support Committee for 12 years (1998-2010) has contributed greatly to its current status as possibly THE best dance hall in Dayton.  He has overseen the refinishing of the floor as well as several other major improvements, like the restrooms.  In addition to serving as the committee’s treasurer, Eddie has personally taken care of most of the ongoing repairs and maintenance to the Pavilion, from installing new locks or gutters to replacing the hot-water heater – and much more.  Somehow the wall panels are magically in place come winter, the light bulbs replace themselves….

Before Eddie moved to Dayton, he had provided sound for bands at various West Coast dance camps and festivals.  He continues to provide or manage sound at various local dances, such as most of the Cityfolk contra nights, as well as at dance camps like the Door County Folk Festival in Wisconsin.  (His choice of car is dictated by the need to transport an entire sound system at the drop of a hat.)  Eddie has put his skills at the disposal of a number of local dance groups as well as visiting teachers. 

Both Eddie and Leslie have created and nurtured relationships with other cultural organizations, such as Cityfolk, Culture Works, and Dayton Dance Partners.  These partnerships have introduced folk dance to a larger audience than just MVFD, while bringing to Dayton some teachers or bands that the club could not have afforded on its own.  Eddie and Leslie started out by contributing their time and knowledge; when the first National Folk Festival was held in Dayton, they recruited and organized volunteer workers for the event and presented a style show of ethnic costumes.  Over the years, however, they have quietly increased their financial support to these institutions, and have been instrumental in helping them continue despite Dayton’s economic challenges.

For their many combined years of contributions to recreational dance in Dayton, and their continued commitment to keeping folk dance available to the greater Dayton community, MVFD is proud to nominate Leslie Hyll and Edmund Cordray as our Honor Couple of the year.  Together, they have truly helped to shape the face of international folk dance in this city for the past 20 years.

 

PRESENT AND PAST CLUB MEMBERSHIPS:  

Leslie and Eddie are currently active in five dance organizations:

  • Miami Valley Folk Dancers 1971-present
  • Živio South Slavic Dancers 1981-present
  • Lloyd Shaw Foundation 1984-present (American dance)
  • Society of Folk Dance Historians 1987-present
  • Country Dance and Song Society of America 1991-present (American and English dance)

Over the years they have been members of a considerable number of other dance groups, including:

  • Kolo San Francisco 1969-1973
  • Menlo Park Balkan Dancers 1972-1978
  • Sierra Singles 1974-1978
  • Palo Alto Scottish Country Dancers 1975-1978
  • Kettering Historical Dancers 1975-1982
  • Stanford Friday Night Folk Dancers 1975-1978, 1983-1987
  • Oregon State University Folk Dancers 1980-1982
  • Westwind Folk Ensemble 1985-1987
  • Berkeley Folk Dancers 1987-1990
  • Bagatelle French Dancers 1990-1998 

In addition to the dance-oriented organizations listed above, Eddie and Leslie belong to:

  • South Slavic Club
  • Liederkranz-Turner German Club
  • American Czechoslovakian Club
  • Dayton Dance Partners
  • Cityfolk

 

 


Back to Honor Dancer Index

Copyright © Miami Valley Folk Dancers 2011