Karen Duquette started line dancing in 1988 at DoDas Night Club in Plantation, Florida. While there, she made a lot of friends, especially line dancers. Karen was chosen by Sandy Collins to join a newly formed line dance team which had yet to be named. The team started off with black pants and white, long sleeved blouses. Once a month, several dance teams of many styles performed at DoDas. (Karen lost most of those photos over the years - This page was not put together until the year 2026 and Karen and Lee Duquette moved and traveled a lot through the years.)

In 1988, Karen also joined a clogging team and a square dance team that performed at DoDas, which meant she had to change her costumes each time. (Soon, all three of those teams did performances at many different places) These are also posted in Flashbacks.

Below is the Southern Star Express Line Dance Team
on July 10, 1988

Below: The Southern Star Express Line Dance Team on July 10, 1988 at DoDas.

As the line dance team progressed, the girls got pink or gray t-shirts with SSE on their shirts as they became known as The Southern Star Express Country-Western Dancers and performed at many city and private events, SOME of which are shown below on this page. At the beginning, Sandy Collins was the leader and Promotional Director. But when Sandy left the group, at her then boyfriend's request (whom she later left), Karen Duquette became the Promotional Director, and booked shows. Jerry Gerig became the Team Director and Choreographer. Eventually, Lee Duquette became the Team Director so Jerry could just dance with the team and choreograph the dances.

Below: September 5, 1988. Karen Duquette booked The Southern Star Express Line Dance Team to perform at an outdoor event for the Elks club. Since it was an outdoor event they wore their pink or gray short sleeved tops and black pants.

Lee Duquette sometimes took a photo or two. But Karen has lost many of the team's photos as the years passed. This page was not posted on this website until the year 2028, which is soooooo many years after these dance events took place.

Below: At these outdoor casual events, the Southern Star Express Country Western Line Dance Team also did some regular couples country-western style dance. They always drew a big crowd, even when the crowds had to stand up to enjoy the performances.

March 4, 1989 - The Southern Star Express Line Dancers performed on an outdoor stage for the City of Fort Lauderdale's Riverwalk Festival. A lot of people came to watch them.

Below: March 17, 1989 - The Southern Star Express Line Dance Team performed for St. Patrick's Day.

Below; March 18, 1989 - The Southern Star Express Line Dance Team performed at Liberty Tree Park for the "Plantation Concert Series". Below, dancers Hal Perry and Shari at the Liberty Tree Park sign.

Below: April 16, 1989 - The Southern Star Express Country Western Line Dance Team performed at Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, Florida. Sometimes their dance was choreographed as two lines facing each other, then passing through the lines to change position. Jerry Gerig always choreographed different ways to perform to different music.

Below: April 23, 1989 - The Southern Star Express Country Western Line Dance Team performed at The Downtown Festival of the Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was an outdoor event and many vendors complained that the dance team was drawing all of the crowds, and nobody was buying their goods that they were selling. OH WELL! The team actually became quite popular at events. But not all events that they danced at are posted here, because the photos got lost through the years.

Below: June 3, 1989 - The Southern Star Express Line Dancers performed at The Miami Sports Festival in Tropical Park, Miami, Florida. Lee Duquette was the Director, and by his own choice, only danced if needed.

Below: July 4, 1989 - The Southern Star Express Country Western Line Dance Team performed at the Regency Retirement Home in Margate, Florida. Since it was July 4th, they wore a USA bandana around their neck.The men had long-sleeved white shirts on.

Below: They did some couples dancing for the crowd too.

Below: Another event by the Southern Star Express Line Dancers at DoDas night club in Plantation, Florida on September 18, 1989.

Below: November 4, 1989 - The Southern Star Express Line Dance Team performed at Deerfest in Deerfield Beach, Florida. New dance outfits were made for them. The girls went from the dark colored skirts or long pants to special blue flowered skirts with a white slip showing a bit at the bottom. (An outfit was even made for Karen's Granddaughter Kristen, although she was too young to dance with the team. That is shown below later.) Then they got peach country-western style tops for the girls.

Below: On November 19, 1989, The Southern Star Express Line Dance Team performed at another outdoor event, which Karen Duquette booked for them, as usual. Most events also paid the team to perform.

Below: November 19, 1989 - Another outdoor event that Karen Duquette booked for The Southern Star Express Line Dance Team.

December 9, 1989 -The Southern Star Express Line Dance team performed at George English Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Check out the Pirates Ball on October 11, 1989. This was a special event so it was put on a page by itself. Then of course that page is followed by more Southern Star Express Line Dance Team performances through 1993.