Corey Mathews was a five-year member of Dance West, joining the company with two other eighth-graders in 2002 and graduating from both ACMA and DW in 2007
Corey Mathews Firefighter 2008
Corey is now working on an engineering degree at Oregon State, but he continues to tap with Nancy Traina in Corvallis and travels to Portland for an occasional class with Terry Brock or visiting master teachers with Hoofers and Company.
Dance conditioning worked out well for Corey the last two summers as he fought fires in Oregon and California. Both years he passed the field pack test in less than 35 minutes and way ahead of the rest of his test group. The field pack test is a 3-mile hike wearing a 45-pound pack that must be completed in 45 minutes or less–who says dancers are wimps!