Noel Osborn began folk dancing at the age of 12 with the Atlanta International folk dancers. She has been dedicated to teaching folk dancing since she was 17 years old, when she taught folk dancing to Girl Scouts troops. While living in Georgia, Noel also did contra, English, and Appalachian big circle dancing. Noel was one of the founding members and organizers of the University of Georgia International Folk Dancers in Athens, where she taught regularly from 1975-1981.

In 1981, Noel moved to Oklahoma City and quickly became involved with the newly formed Oklahoma City International Folk Dancers (OKCIFD). Wanting to introduce contradancing to OKCIFD, Noel organized a contradance workshop and dance in 1988. More dances followed, and the Scissortail Traditional Dance Society was founded. Noel has been one of the main callers from the beginning and has called dances in Oklahoma and surrounding areas for more than 25 years.