Door County Folk Festival
Patti Cohen
(
Winnipeg, MB, Canada)
(Dance Instructor/Leader, Virtual Dance Room Team)

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Patti Cohen Cohen is a teacher at Manitoba International Folk Dance Association (MIFDA) in Winnipeg, Canada. Patti danced for many years in Chicago and is a former member of International Dancers.

She began international in 1973 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign folk dance group. She taught a folkdance group for children at her school who performed for their annual Multicultural event and for other schools. Patti also taught dances to the Romanian dance group in Winnipeg for their annual Folklorama Festival each August. She has also taught workshops at SNOPA, the Winnipeg Folk Arts Council, and elementary teacher conferences on Folkdance Is Social Studies.

Patti has come to love Greek dance, attending seminars in Prespes, Greece, Klironomia in Toronto as well as with Dunav in Jerusalem. Patti is a regular attendee at local Pontian and Gala dance parties at the local Greek Orthodox church in Winnipeg. A retired Kindergarten and Reading Recovery teacher for the Winnipeg School Division, she has participated in and learned powwow dancing with the students in her school.

In retirement (before Covid 19) Patti once again returned to travelling the world on folkdance tours to Koprivshtitsa, Bulgaria with Nina Kavardjikova, Albania with Yves Moreau, and Greece, Turkey/Pontos with Ahmed Luleci and Kyriakos Moisidis.

The best part of Zoom folk dancing is getting to dance with friends from coast to coast. Patti also takes classes at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in jazz, tap, and, for a retirement challenge, hip hop. Patti is thrilled to be returning to the Door County Folk Festival and be part of Virtual Dance Room.