Courtesy of American Footworks

REXBURG — American Footworks is a traditional American dance company under the direction of Gary and Mindy Larsen, based right here in Rexburg, Idaho. It consists of 20 dancers ages 16-26 and a live, six-person bluegrass band.

The group tours every summer around the world, taking local youth to represent the USA at international dance festivals. They try to represent a broad spectrum of historic American dances, and their repertoire ranges from cowboy and pioneer dances, square dance, Southern Waltz, and fad dances like Charleston and swing, as well as the numerous forms of American clogging, which is always the star of the show!

In 2024 they traveled for four weeks in Poland, Switzerland, and France, to five different festivals, performing in town squares, churches, cultural centers and farmers markets, as well as on beautiful, professional stages with full tech and thousands of people in attendance.

While at their fifth festival, in Mont Gargan, France, they had a special experience of performing on the top of a hill renowned in the area as one of the primary holdouts of the French Resistance in World War II. The church there, located 50 yards from the stage, was bombed and destroyed by the Nazis after four days of intense fighting in 1944. As American Footworks took to the stage, the local band played “The Star Spangled Banner,” and most of the audience members rose to their feet in a powerful display of respect and solidarity.

One man present emailed the team the following explanation later.

“This place on Mont Gargan is a very symbolic place of resistance during the Second World War, and seeing the American flag there struck our hearts with gratitude and memory. It was a strong symbol of the ties between our countries and the history of our liberation from Nazi fascism. We especially loved how your dancers descended from the stage to dance with the members of the audience and came down to talk to us after the performance. It was a great example for our dancers and gave us all great hope for the future.”

The evening ended with a standing ovation and encores, after which the American Footworks dancers and local folk teams danced and sang together. The team was honored and privileged to have taken part in such a special festival.