The duo, Happensdance, featuring Mimi Rogers on fiddle and Allison Hicks on piano, has been playing since the late ‘80s. Mimi and Allison together have provided much of the musical scene for the Dallas dances, either as this versatile duo or as the backbone for larger scale groups such as The Winfrey Point Volunteers. Venturing off to other venues, Happensdance has played for dances in Houston, Austin, and Oklahoma City as well as weekend dance events in Lost Pines, San Antonio, Kansas City, and of course the Fiddler's Dream weekend on Lake Texoma. They even toured the Pacific Northwest with stops in Seattle, Orcas Island in the Puget Sound, and Vancouver, Canada. Playing with the Lone Star Ceili Band, Mimi and Allison can be found at the sessions at Trinity Hall in Mockingbird Station and at the annual O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat in Dallas.
An endless stream of variety flows from this simple instrumental combination with subtle yet sophisticated changes at every repetition of the melody, punctuated by an equally creative accompaniment. The ease of their craft is so smooth, it can be easily overlooked, but the sound can scarce be found anywhere else. Mimi and Allison integrate and play off each other in ways only possible when two musicians truely know each other, inside and out.
contact Mimi: mrog@juno.com
contact Allison: hicknloop@aol.com

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Don’t miss their cassette, “Tuesdays at Seven” availible through Mimi or Allison.

Mimi Rogers started playing fiddle in August of 1980 and for dances a couple of years later. She became more serious about it around the time she joined up with Allison in 1989 or thereabouts and after hearing the likes of fiddler Rodney Miller and BLT at Augusta. She writes, “What I enjoy the most is when I can take a tune, get in the groove and start to add or subtract things to the tune either melodicly or rhythmicly, and get sort of a spooky treat when Allison and I start to move in the same direction... These days I’m in the mood to play Irish tunes but delight in the fact that contra dance has room for just about any style of 32 bar tune so I’m not limited to one flavor over any other. Nor do the dancers care if you play the proper Sligo style or the Clare style of fiddling, or the Ozark Mountain style, or whatever. That’s a comfort and a freedom in my opinion.”
Mimi’s musical contributions go beyond Happensdance. She is in charge of the Fiddler's Dream Dance Weekend. She often subs for missing fiddlers in any band that regularly plays at the Dallas dance. She also plays with Houstonian, Marilyn Cooper to form the band “M&M” and can be heard playing with the band “Ragged Edge”. Mimi is a regular at many area jam sessions sharing her talent and versatility with the less fortunate.

Allison Hicks has taught elementary music and class piano in the Dallas Public Schools. Currently, she operates a private music studio called The Music Garden. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in music education and a Master of Arts in piano from Stephen F. Austin University.
Allison found her way into dancing at a camp for Renaissance music where English Country dancing was held in the evenings and Renaissance dance in the afternoons. She fell in love with both the dancing and the music. When she arrived in Dallas, in 1986, she immediately hooked up with local dance groups, first with Scottish Country Dance, then with Contra.
Allison was able to keep her musicianship a secret for about two years before she was found out and inducted into the Winfrey Point “Volunteers” where she met Mimi and thus began what we now know as Happensdance.
Allison is known in many musical arenas. She has played at contra dances in Massachusetts and Maine with Becky Tracy and Keith Murphy of Nightingale. She is a performer (with Happensdance) and staff member at the annual Winter Acoustic Music Festival in Irving, Texas. She has studied and been on staff at the Festival of Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Washington. She has also studied contra dance piano at the Lady of the Lake Dance Camp in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and at Augusta in Elkins, West Virginia.
Allison has played many times at Lost Pines and at the Bayou Bedlam in Houston. In all these places she has crossed trails with scores musicians and is known in many parts of the country for her craft.