California
Company Member since 2025

As a young child, Phyllis took acrobatics and dance lessons. When she was in second grade, the dance teacher called the morning of the recital to say that an older girl, who was supposed to perform a duet, would not be participating. Because Phyllis had learned the dance just for fun, the teacher asked her to step in. Phyllis, evidently a natural performer, executed the routine for the first time during the recital without any rehearsal.

In eleventh grade, she initially joined the marching band as a flag girl and later played the flute during her senior year and throughout college. She met her husband, Steve, at Campbell University, and they married in 1979. Phyllis earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 4th through 9th-grade education with a focus on science, followed by a Master of Science in science education from NC State University. She spent 14.5 years teaching science and/or math.

In 1988, while watching her daughter’s first-year dance recital, Phyllis decided to resume dancing regularly. Over the years, she studied ballet, tap, jazz, Irish step, and clogging, and participated in tap and jazz competition groups. A highlight was dancing with her daughter in tap and jazz classes during her daughter’s high school years.

After a seven-year sabbatical, Phyllis returned to school, earned a Master of Library Science degree, and worked as a Media Specialist at an elementary school for sixteen years. Phyllis and her husband, Steve, have a daughter in Wilmington, a son in Raleigh, and five grandchildren. Having vacationed at Wrightsville Beach since the early 1980s, they relocated from Raleigh to Wilmington in December 2018. Before learning about the Hi-Steppers, Phyllis drove to Raleigh every week to continue her tap lessons.

 

Phyllis says, “I feel that the Hi-Steppers are a group of women with diverse backgrounds, bonded by a mutual love of dancing. Friendships and support teams have formed. I am thrilled to be a Hi-Stepper!”