| dance for a cure jill babinec |
my name is krissie brownlee. i was born and raised in avella pennsylvania by my mom, jean ann folio karikas and the late coleman joseph karikas, with my two sisters, karen hinerman and kay danna. i married my high school sweetheart, paul l brownlee jr in 1977. we were dairy farmers, a life which i loved dearly. i waded in cow manure for 15 years until a tragic accident in 1993 took paul away from me and our three children: laura elizabeth, rebecca lyn, and jessica ann.
in that same year, 1993, dancing became a part of my life... i started my road to recovery: i picked myself up and dusted myself off and i put my life back together.
by 1995 i was teaching line dances at a place called the "nitelite" in washington, pa. in june of 1999 i entered my first line dance competition at the JG2 marathon in which i took home a 1st place female crystal trophy. in september, the same year, i also had the same result at the nashville event. i kind of hit a fork in the road adding west coast swing to my vocabulary... i decided to travel both roads. line and west coast swing. in 1998 i started private lessons with my dance partner, jackie lindsey. (now husband)we drove two hours to take a two hour lesson from jeff and lisa lemeire in franklin pa, and then drove the two hours home. jackie and i competed together at a few country events in 2000 and 2002. we decided to give up the country circuit and compete mostly at the swing events. we have completed at the nashville classic; halloween in harrisburgh; swing fling to name a few events and finished from 2nd to 4th.
on the jack and jill circuit , i have had several 1st place winnings. in intermediate j&j i took 1st place at the swing fling event in 2002 and the the mad jam event in 2003. in 2004 i inquired enough points to dance in advanced j&j. i also have a 2nd place standing in amateur west coast swing in fort wayne indiana.
today, i teach line dances to country and non country music. i teach beginner west coast swing, beginner two step, and pattern partner dances. i also play a mean game of racquetball, triathlon training and try to do a bicycle ride of 50 miles on the weekend. i am a mom, a 40 hour a week, racquetball, swim, bike, run, dance, very busy kinda girl......