Bobby and his three partners kept ballroom dancing alive on television before the days of Dancing with the Stars. Elaine brought her love of Latin dancing to Bobby. Cissy was the best at doing acrobatic lifts. She was special because she and Bobby learned to ballroom dance together, so their movements matched perfectly. Each partner had a different special talent. He dances with Elaine still, performing live on tour and making new Lawrence Welk television specials. His next partner, Elaine Balden, hailed from Dallas. That partnership lasted for twelve years. When Barbara left the Welk show to be married, Bobby found his next wonderful partner, Cissy King, in Albuquerque. Welk hired them on the air six months after that first contest appearance. Actually, they really created a job with us for themselves!" Mr. "Every time we recorded a new song, they'd create a special dance routine, and the viewers' reaction was tremendous. "I was practically forced into hiring them," recalls Welk.
LAWRENCE WELK SINGERS WHERE ARE THEY NOW TV
For the next few months, Bobby and Barbara choreographed new routines each week, danced live with the band at the Hollywood Palladium on Friday and Saturday evenings, and appeared on the live Welk TV show that week at Mr. Bobby's specially created routine won top honors for them, netting them a guest appearance on the Welk nationwide television show in 1961.
Bobby became an instructor at Call's, learning the methods and cotillion structure from the masters, laying the foundation for Burgess Cotillion as it is today.ĭuring the few years between The Mickey Mouse Club and The Lawrence Welk Show, Bobby graduated magna cum laude from high school, attended Long Beach State University, and made lifelong friends as a member of Sigma Pi Fraternity.Īt 19, Barbara and Bobby entered Lawrence Welk's dance contest for his hit Calcutta. Bobby and Barbara vied against countless other ballroom couples in competitions waged all over the country, finally scoring a grand coup by being named King and Queen of the national Call's Grand Medal Ball.
Fate stepped in when Bobby found a ready-made partner there in Barbara Boylan. As busy as he was filming daily television shows, performing at Disneyland on weekends, and touring the country in live shows, Bobby also found time to begin ballroom dancing.Ĭall's Fine Arts Center was the biggest and most prestigious ballroom dancing school in Long Beach boasting a student body of 11,000 at the height of its success. For four years, starting at age 13, Bobby was a roll call member of Walt Disney's original Mouseketeers. Bobby didn't get that job, but they liked his barefoot jazz dance and signed him up to be a Mouseketeer for the new kids' show called The Mickey Mouse Club.
LAWRENCE WELK SINGERS WHERE ARE THEY NOW SERIAL
She sent him to Walt Disney Studios for an audition to be on a children's serial called Spin and Marty. An agent saw him on one of them, called the station, and signed him up. By the time he turned 11 years old, he had appeared in some 75 television shows in the Los Angeles area. Bobby brought home a washer-dryer, a fish tank and a typewriter. Talent shows were big and winners received wonderful gifts. He excelled at tap and was paired with his first dance partner in kindergarten.
Janie noticed Bobby's love of dancing around the radio at three years old, so she sent him for lessons at four. Bobby was a major part of early television through his performances on two of the most famous family-oriented shows: The Lawrence Welk Show and The Mickey Mouse Club.īobby Burgess also wrote his autobiography, called "Ears and Bubbles, Dancing My Way from the Mickey Mouse Club to the Lawrence Welk Show." The book can be ordered through or Mouseketeers and Early Careerīobby was the second of four children born to Janie, a homemaker, and Bill, a meat cutter, in Long Beach, California. He brings his lifetime of dancing experience to his students. ABOUT BOBBY BURGESS AND BURGESS COTILLIONīobby Burgess is the Cotillion Master of Burgess Cotillion.
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