Laraine Miner was born into a family with extensive Mormon pioneer ancestry and strong music and dance traditions. Her love of folk music and dance was augmented by her participation in the BYU International Folkdance Ensemble and their first European tour in 1964. Since then she has been avidly researching, teaching and presenting the traditional folk and social dances of her Mormon pioneer ancestors. Laraine Miner has written and published several dance-related articles, including “Mormon Folklore” in Viltis, Magazine of Folklore and Folkdance, She presented her Master’s Project “Early Utah Dances" at the 1985 national Congress on Research On Dance conference. In 1995 she co-authored with Michael Hamblin "Old Time Utah Dances," a self-published book/CD combo, and sold it primarily to schools in Utah for the children to have an enjoyable way of celebrating the Utah Statehood Centennial in 1996, and the Sesquicentennial of the Mormon pioneers in 1997. Laraine’s hobbies are; weaving pioneer overshot coverlet patterns, family history research, supporting family dances in Provo, and Eagle Mountain, Utah that are perpetuating the pioneer dances featured in her book, Laraine is a member of the Pioneer Heritage Company and participates in their pioneer re=enactments at events across the state of Utah. The Pioneer Heritage Company was started by participants in the 1997 Mormon Pioneer Sesquicentennial Re-enactment Trek.. This group also presented the pioneer dances researched and choreographed by Laraine at the LDS Church History and Art Museum every December from 2009 through December 2013 as part of Temple Square Performances. Facebook page: facebook.com/mormonpioneerdances/ Website including blog: laraineminer.com
