The Kentucky Dance Foundation was founded in 1991 as a not-for-profit corporation to help preserve and advance the cultural heritage of folk dancing and related arts.

The founding members of KDF have long and colorful association with American Folk culture as dancers, callers, authors, musicians, collectors and just “plain” characters. They can be found at folk dancing and music festivals and training workshops throughout the country.

The foundation is based in Brandenburg, Kentucky where a warehouse was constructed to house the music collection and archives. Stew and Kathie Shacklette work in the archives daily. There is what might be called a “branch campus” New Smyrna Beach, FL, where Leslie Lewis does the audio and video duplication. Many KDF events are hosted here, some of which are videotaped and processed in the on-site video production facilities.

Educational Objectives

• To provide an archive of records and a place where scholars of folk dancing can do research.
• To preserve the art of teaching of dance in recreational and educational fields.
• To publish books videos, CDs, articles, pamphlets, and teaching aids.
• To solicit and raise funds by donations, bequests to provide the foundation a means of sustaining its operations in the future.
• To perpetrate the art of folk dancing in its many forms.