Vicki Maheu

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Irish
Irish, Israeli, international

Vicki Maheu

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Vicki Maheu Vicki Maheu Vicki Maheu started dancing ballet and tap at an early age. Then, one Sunday in 1958 at the age of nine, she and her mother saw folk dancing being done at the Food and Beverage Building in San Diego's Balboa Park. They took a beginner's class and Vicki has been dancing ever since. She continued her folk dancing throughout high school, performing European, Lithuanian, and Polynesiand dances with Vivian Woll's group. She later performed with Dolina Cygany (renamed Cigany Dancers).

Vicki formed her own group, Sedenka, which concentrated on performing Bulgarian and Macedonian dances. Around 1968, she began teaching at the Folk Dance Club at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where she had an academic appointment in Physical Education while working on her Bachelor's Degree. She then transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in Ethnic Arts and received her Master's Degree in Dance Ethnology. As part of her graduate program, she studied Classical Central Javanese Court Dance. In Los Angeles, Vicki competed in Irish Step Dancing. She also performed with the Myra Brennan school of dance and the Hungarian performing group, Betyárok, under the direction of Elsie Ivancich Dunin.

In 1980, Vicki traveled to Java to further her study in Javanese Court Dance with a court coreographer. On her return to the United States, she moved back to San Diego where, in 1982, she is instrumental in the formation of the Folk Dance Cafe (later known as the Folk Dance Center). She continued her trips to study dance, textiles and music, travelling to Africa, Bulgaria (seven times), Ireland, Japan, and Hungary (three times), Indonesia, Jugoslavia, Romania, and Western Europe. She studied dance at the invitation of the Bulgarian and Hungarian governments. She also completed a project called Carnival Parade of Arts for the city of San Diego.

Vicki has taught at several folk dance camps and workshops in the Western United States, including the Idyllwild Folk Dance Workshop in California, the August New Mexico Camp, and an AMAN Institute. As a teacher, she is equally versant in the dances of Hungary (she was one of the first to teach the Hungarian Dance Cycle in Southern California), Russia, and Scandinavia. Vicki also organizes many dance events and teacher tours to Southern California.

Vicki is on the advisory board for the Center for World Music.

Dances Vicki has taught include Elu Tziporim, Hornpipe, Hungarian Dance Cycle, Kerry Polka Set, Kmo Tsoani, Ne Felj Lanyom, Ohridsko, Pletenica, Polka, Sej Sej Bop, Zaečko, and Žensko Makedonsko.