Barbara Boylan (born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

) is an American dancer and former

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

personality who was featured on ''

The Lawrence Welk Show ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years, from 1951 to 1955, then nationally for another 16 years on ABC from 1 ...

'' from 1961 to 1967, and briefly for a few months in 1979. She was the first of

Bobby Burgess Robert Wilkie Burgess (born May 19, 1941) is an American dancer and singer. He was one of the original Mouseketeers. Later, he was a regular on ''The Lawrence Welk Show''. Early life Growing up in Southern California, Burgess started performi ...

's three dancing partners on the show. The two have known each other since childhood; both attended the same dance school where they were first paired together. Boylan and Burgess made their Welk debut in the spring of 1961 when they won the ''

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

'' dance contest at the Aragon Ballroom in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to i ...

sponsored by the Maestro. After six months of guest appearances, they were hired as regulars. Boylan remained on the show until the summer of 1967, when she married Welk castmate Gregg Dixon and retired from show business. (She briefly returned for a few months in 1978 after her replacement,

Cissy King Claire Yvonne King (born January 3, 1946) professionally Cissy King, is an American-born singer and dancer best known as a featured performer on ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' television program. King was born in Trinidad, Colorado. Her father w ...

, left the show.) She and Dixon celebrated 50 years of marriage in 2017, and are the parents of two children, David and Dee Dee, and numerous grandchildren. They make their home in the suburbs of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, where she ran a

dance studio A dance studio is a space in which dancers learn or rehearse. The term is typically used to describe a space that has either been built or equipped for the purpose. Overview A dance studio normally includes a smooth floor covering or, if used fo ...

for 23 years. Boylan starred in the Adventure Time: Distant Lands.

References

1942 births Living people American female dancers Dancers from California Lawrence Welk {{US-entertainer-stub