We started dancing Traditional Line Dance in the year 2005 (at that time we didn’t know each other). That didn’t last long, it was clear we wanted more! On Youtube we found different videos of dances like Hallelujah and Magazine. Then we knew that was the way we wanted to go. Thanks Adriano and David!!

We met in 2011. For Lilly it was love at first sight. Mario took a little longer to fall in Love.. but we were meant for each other. We decided to start our journey together in October 2012. From that moment onwards, we became inseparable. Mario asked Lilly to be his wife, she said yes… so we got married in real Country Style in June 2014. We spent our honeymoon at the Voghera Country Festival that year. We of course celebrate our wedding anniversary there every year!!

We try to share our passion for Country Music and Country Line Dance with our heart and our mind set on people. We use every minute of our spare time to practise our hobby and we do it as often as we can, even beyond our limits!! So the name  “The Travellers” fits us perfectly.

From Monday to Friday we give classes in different cities in Northern Austria. We do so in the evening, after our fulltime jobs. Both of us are leaders of our own line dance group. Mario´s is called Government First and Lilly´s Smiley Liners. We really love to spend time with them, but then in the morning Lilly is a little bit lazy 😉

Besides teaching, we started creating our own choreographies together in the year 2013… the name of our first dance was “Chug A Luggin”…  Okay begginings are always hard, and of course better choreographies followed… and we also created choreos separatedly. Mario’s first choreo was “Pueblo” (2011) and Lilly´s was “Smiley Polka” (a real Austrian Country Song, 2012).

The years flew away and so the dances we created were more and more. Now we have about 60: 56 Bad Guys, Apero, B.B.C.,Back on Track (Partner), Betty Boo (Belt 2015), Big One (WEF 2014), Bloody Mary, Boots & Suitcase (WEF 2015), Champion’s Taste, Chug A Luggin’, Country Circle (Voghera 2016), Country Strong, Crazy (Belt 2013), Daddy, Darlene, Dolce Vita, Drinkin Buddies (WEF 2016), Dry Town (El Barn 2013), Fire Tonight (WEF 2016), Friends, G.O.M.M., Girls like That, Heart of Mind (with Nadia Krieg), Heartbreaker (Muntanya 2015), Here I am, Herzwerk, Holly’s Church, I saw the Light, Julie, Just 4 Smile, Just One Kiss, Kind of Night (El Barn 2013), LALALI, L-EN-J, Like a Memory, Lillyl, Mayday (1st WEF 2015), My Man (Partner), Old 22 (Best Music El Barn 2014), Pueblo, Red Lincoln (El Barn 2012), Rocky Top (Contra), Roll On (Wild Bunch 2015), Roxanne’s B., She Knows (Belt 2015), Smiley Polka, Smoke a little Smoke (El Barn 2012), Snuggled Up, Something Good, Sommer, Stay, Sweet Johny, Sweet Little Story (Voghera 2014), Tell Me, Trailerhood, Unknown Thunder, Wake (Cavaillon 2014), Wasted Day, Wildfire (Cavaillon 2015), Workaholic … and… to be continued!!

Not all of them are very popular but we are proud of every single one because we created them with our heart. After a lot of 4th, 3rd, 2nd place or “next to last place” in different competitions we got the first place in Budapest in 2015 with “Mayday“.

We love to share the stage with people, so one hot summer day in 2013, at a grill party, we founded the group ACDC , together with some friends. ACDC stands for Austrian Catalan Dance Connection. That’s the name we use when we take part in competitions, not only Mario and myself… Together we all have fun. Everybody is warmheartedly welcome to be a part of this group anytime.

We are working very much and very hard to teach Country Line Dance to people, what it means beyond the steps. All those who have already enjoyed a workshop with us know that there will be a lot o fun.. and.. we keep it going!!

Keep it Country

Mario & Lilly Hollnsteiner