Our Mission | Product Features | Quality | Instructors

The Dance Store's main goal is to promote partner dancing and to help people learn how to dance in an easy, affordable way. Dancing has been a tremendous joy to me. I want to help others experience the pleasures of partner dancing without incurring unnecessary costs and frustrations. Most folks simply cannot afford to pay $50/hour on an ongoing basis to receive private dance instruction. The other thing I wish to do is share my "field tested" patterns that can be led (and followed) in social dancing. It's taken me a long time to accumulate a good collection of patterns that work nicely and reliably in social dancing. In these tapes, I'm sharing this distillation of years of trials. I welcome any support in my mission to make partner dancing affordable. Teachers, judges, social dancers: I'll appreciate and share any information you contribute.
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Have you been burned by purchasing a $30-$50 dance videotape that only had a few figures or patterns that were not leadable in social dancing? I've been burned! Since I'm a nut about dancing, I've purchased more than 60 dance instruction videotapes. I'm only satisfied with about half of these and I'm only delighted with about 5%. My main complaints: not enough material or material that can't be used in "lead and follow" social dancing. If you are like me, about 90% or more of your dancing is social dancing versus dancing choreographed routines with a partner who is also trained in the choreography.

         Product Strengths

• Leadable Patterns. My videotapes and DVDs specialize in leadable patterns, patterns that "real people" can use in "real" social settings.
• Lots of Material. My tapes and DVDs, which are generally more than one hour in length, also provide enough material to keep you busy for a long time. Unless otherwise noted, all videos show more than 30 patterns.
• Easy to Learn. The beginner tapes and DVDs use a "follow the leader" approach where you stand in front of your television and copy what the instructor does. I try to make learning partner dances as easy as learning line dances. Our goal is to allow you to learn at the same speed that the tape or DVD plays to minimize rewinding and pausing. We don't want you to have to stop the video to "figure out" what's being done. I think you will find these videos easier to follow than a typical aerobics class.
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Our products represent the "high end" of dance video offerings. Our tapes and DVDs contain a "Contents" section, demonstrations to music, discussions on how to count the steps in time to the music, and discussions about common problems and mistakes. All moves are titled and all patterns are sequenced to build logically from the most basic to the more challenging. Customer satisfaction in our products has resulted in an amazon.com quality rating of 5 stars!
Please click here to sample our videos.
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Joe Baker Joe Baker is a former UCWDC division 4 competitor and he has also competed extensively in hustle. Patricia and Joe were Atlantic Swing 2000 champions in the Advanced Hustle division. Joe Baker is the owner of The Dance Store, which was founded in 1999.

Patricia Taylor Patricia Taylor is a former UCWDC division 1 competitor. She was nationally ranked and competed in the UCWDC "Worlds" championship. Patricia has many years of ballroom teaching experience.

Sarah Sarah is a former United Country Western Dance Council (UCWDC) division 3 competitor. She's competed in swing, two step, cha cha, and waltz. She also assists in teaching ballroom dancing.

Jamie A popular social dancer in the Richmond Virginia area, Jamie is a former country and swing dance competitor. << Back to top