Dedication to Dance: Lou Moulder’s Story

by Katie Lou Armstrong

In a dance studio space seven young dancers sprawl out on the floor, laughing and joking. They perform a warm-up routine with long stretches as their instructor, Lou Moulder, calls out directions. Even though there are only eight people in the room, they take up the whole space. Moulder joins the students on the floor at the front of the room by the mirror.

“I feel it,” one of the girls says dramatically as she leans into a stretch.

“Yeah? You should,” Moulder responds. The whole class giggles.

The class continues, with a conversational and loose tone. It is a modern dance practice, with a lot of floor work and leaping with some handstands. The girls’ ages range from 10-16. The students are all barefooted and wearing clothes they can move in. For some this means a leotard and a skirt, for others this means stretchy pants and a t-shirt. There are occasional explosions of chaos but Moulder has mastered the balance between friend and instructor.

Moulder has short, reddish brown hair. She is prancing, crawling, and rolling around in black yoga pants and a baseball t-shirt. The small tattoo on her wrist represents the combination of the body, mind, and spirit. Her sentences are punctuated with sudden and infectious laughter.

Moulder demonstrates a panther crawl across the floor, and the girls laugh at themselves as they fall over trying to replicate it. After two rows of girls have crossed the floor Moulder demonstrates a backward panther crawl. The front row of girls call out “Nooo” and drop to their knees in unison and start to wriggle themselves across the floor.

Moulder has been dancing since she was three years old. When she was seven she drew a self-portrait of what she wanted to be when she grew up: to teach dance. She participated in dance team for one year of high school in Texas, but she found that the competitive nature overshadowed the artistic part. She says, “As an artist you’re already competing, you don’t need to compete with the people next to you.”

Before Moulder got to where she is now, she held all sorts of what she calls “normal” jobs. Office, construction, bartending, phone sales, retail… “You name it, I’ve pretty much done it,” she says. She says that she moved from Texas to Oregon for two main reasons. She had visited Eugene before and she fell in love with all of the green. Secondly, Eugene is big enough for opportunities but small enough to not have to compete. It is just the right size for a dancer like Moulder to get what she wants.

Now she is studying to get her bachelor’s in dance at the University of Oregon. She has one year left. She teaches and does choreography for Ballet Northwest Academy (BNWA). After she graduates she hopes to continue what she is doing right now, with more time for dancing and choreography.

Some of the classes she teaches are for adults. She says that she refuses to listen to people who say, “I’m too old to dance.” She likes to help her students achieve their goals, whatever they are.

Moulder’s mom comes to visit about once a year from Texas, Moulder’s home state. She usually comes for the BNWA June performance. Her parents have always been supportive of Moulder’s passion for dance. They drove her, watched her recitals, and made dinner for her around her schedule. Moulder says she would not be able to maintain this lifestyle if it were not for their support.

Eat. Sleep. And dance. That’s Moulder’s mantra. “It’s constantly what I’m thinking about,” she says. The inspiration for her choreography comes in different forms. Sometimes it starts with a piece of music, an idea, an emotion, or simply a movement.

Moulder aims to inspire her students as much as they inspire her. She glances at some of the girls goofing off and says, “I see bits of myself in every single one of them… some of them more than others.”

Her advice to these girls is “Stick to it. And breathe.” She says it applies to all aspects of life, but it particularly applies to dance.

“I’m an airplaaaaaaaane!” One of the girls says as she flies around in circles, while Moulder talks to another girl about breaking her ballet habits.

The last five minutes of class is “free play.” Moulder puts on some music and allows the girls to dance however they want and experiment with their bodies. Some girls run around the room, and some slide across the floor on their backs. One girl who had been sitting out because her head hurt lies down on her back and kicks her legs around in the air.

The class ends and Moulder says, “Alright, love you guys!” Some of the girls leave, but a few remain to tell Moulder a story from that day in school. Moulder listens with interest, smiling. This is a part of her job that she loves.