See a gallery of our construction progression below.

Please check back for updated photos and new announcements. We can’t wait to start dancing in our brand new studio with you.

See our New Location’s construction Progression

Energetic persons with Fantastic Outgoing Personalities, Honest, Sincere and Concerned about how they look, Dedicated to being the best and 100% career oriented.

Those with backgrounds such as ballroom, ballet, jazz, gymnastics,modern will excel quicker in our XTREME dance environment. Sounds like a big order? Be a part of the best! If you have no experience but meet the other requirements , call us. You’ll be glad you did!

Call Dan at 317-291-6500 to arrange an interview.

Once upon a time, you saw an ad in the newspaper, or you watched Kirstie and Max on ABC-TV’s hit show Dancing with the Stars, and you thought – “that looks like fun. I think I’d like to learn how to dance.” So you Googled “ballroom dancing lessons in NJ” and you came up with 5 choices near you. Hooray for you – you chose the Fred Astaire Dance Studio.

You took the 2 lesson special, then the 5 lesson special. You decided to continue to learn how to social dance, and set your goal to become a good Bronze dancer. You learned that a good Bronze dancer is someone who could lead or follow anyone on the dance floor with confidence, and that is why you started.

You remember when your teacher explained the “Trophy System.” She mentioned the Gold Dancer. She pointed out that lady on the dance floor who is awesome. That lady goes to competitions every month and won the U.S. Pro-Am, blah, blah, blah, and you thought, “No, I never want to do that.” Then your teacher mentioned the Silver Program and said “Silver dancers compete a few times a year, but live for dance. They come to lessons every day, they attend every ‘Practice Party,’ they go to every event, and they even practice on their own.”

Still, you said, “nope, I’m not that ambitious.” So you decided you wanted to be a Bronze Dancer. After all, a Bronze dancer is better than what you are, but not as fancy as a Silver or a Gold dancer. Now, all of the sudden, your teacher is talking about competitions! What happened? “I swore I said I didn’t want to compete.” And that’s true, you did.

You also entrusted your teacher with your dance education, and said your goal is to become the best dancer possible. One way to achieve your goal is to dive into a dance competition. The reason is simple, it’s not about winning, but once you have made the commitment to compete with a deadline to perform, the entire experience of learning and practice changes.

Practice parties will suddenly help you build your stamina. You’ll begin to think about your posture and your poise, and about reaching your arms farther. You might also watch a better dancer twirl her fingers in that sexy way. You’ll begin to watch your wife’s teacher move his hips, wondering if you’ll ever be able to do that.

You’ll begin to plan your lessons with your teacher, and study your chart after your lesson. You’ll learn that you had better get that babysitter committed to every Tuesday and Thursday night for the next month, and you’ll have a back-up plan ready, because your practice time is limited and needs to be scheduled. You’ll start to take more group classes, because they’re less expensive.

You’ll become goal oriented, whether during practice parties, in a class, or with an instructor, or yes, even when you practice on your own.

In essence, you will push yourself to achieve more. And wasn’t that your goal all along? All the money you invest in your dancing isn’t going into your teacher’s pocket, or your studio owner’s or competition organizer’s. It is going into your dance education, your self-improvement, your confidence, and your happiness.

It’s also going into your poise, posture, time spent with your spouse, your personal relationships. It is going into your fantasy of wearing rhinestones and being swept off your feet, your weight-loss goals, your health, and your relaxation. When you have successfully completed a competition, you will have improved your dancing more than if you took ten lessons in one day.

We seriously doubt that you decided to pursue ballroom dancing because you needed another activity to fill your dull and boring life. Most of us barely have time to watch the Dancing with the Stars episode that we TIVO’d. Competitive dancing is a bonus — an extracurricular activity that will help us enjoy our dancing.

It gives us the opportunity to try hard, to practice, to study, and become the kind of dancer we dreamed of being when we started out. If we happen to pick up a blue ribbon in the process, it’s an exciting added bonus.

Kostadin Bidjourov and Carrie Babcock
Benefits of Competitive Ballroom Dancing

• Have a vision
• Setting goals makes work more productive
• A little competition inspires you to work harder
• Find practice more productive
• Build stamina
• Increase opportunities to go out dancing
• Improve your poise, posture
• Improved self-confidence
• Overall self-improvement
• Use your competitive routines to social dance at parties and practice parties
• Focus your training
• Working with accomplished coaches and trainers helps you improve faster
• Having a deadline makes you work now
• You’ll probably stick to your diet or exercise program, knowing you have a competition coming up
• Earn respect from your peers
• Turn dancing into a passion
• Because you love to dance
• Improve your self-esteem
• Develop memories that will last a lifetime
• Give your grandchildren, neighbors, friends a great story
• Improve muscle tone
• Meet people who love what you love
• Reduce stress
• Increase energy
• Stimulate your mind, like sudoku or cross-word puzzles
• Develop circulatory system
• Reduce heart rate
• Teaches you to be the best possible dancer you can be

Competitive dancers make the best partners – they are the easiest people to lead and follow on the dance floor, making them the person everyone wants to ask “could I have this dance?”
Carrie Babcock is a 5-Time US Champion and co-owner of the Fred Astaire Dance Studio of Upper Montclair. She began her career as a competitive ballroom dancer at the age of 28.

The following is the transcription of his interview. Please be sure to make a comment below and let us know what you think!

Mike Uhrick first came to Fred Astaire Dance Studio on December, 2007 and has been dancing with us ever since. He lost over 103 lbs during his first 28-month journey with dancing.

What made you decide to come in and join The Fred Astaire Dance Studio?

• Mainly to lose some weight, I was way overweight
• Meet some new people, and make some new friends
• Get out of the house and do something instead of sitting around the house too much

What were your goals when you first started dancing?

• I thought I lose some weight but I never thought I lose this much weight.
• In the last 12 months it’s been pretty drastic and it’s been coming off pretty good and it’s continuing to come off.

What has dancing done for you?

• I lost a lot of weight since I started dancing
• It’s added years to my life
• Feeling younger. People tell me I look younger
• I’m not as shy as I used to be
• I can talk in front of a group now
• It’s forced me to buy a whole new wardrobe

Mike comes to the studio about 3 to 5 times a week . He also gets about 1 hour of practice a week outside of the studio.

Tell us more about your Weight Loss journey. What did you do before dancing and how did it work?

• I tried get out and walk some
• I attempted some diets
• I tried some exercises at home, never really went to any gym or anything
• I tend to procrastinate and I’d be really hip about doing it for a couple of weeks and then it would stop
• I have been able to stick with this one… So…,

What can you tell us about your Journey with Fred Astaire and Dance? And How do you feel now?

• Oh, I feel great. When I look at pictures of about 3 years ago I don’t even recognize myself. I don’t even look like the same person anymore.
• I feel like that it’s had to have added years to my life expectancy. People tell me that I look 10 years younger, which is surprising to me but that’s the kind of positive comments I’ve been getting
• You can set a goal and you can reach that goal
• Learning to dance is all about steps, obviously… making small steps
• But what I really got out of it is that learning is all the same. You do something, like dance or weight loss for example, one step at a time and at the end you look back and you’re like… “wow, I accomplished that goal”

Mike has received about 150 private dance lessons in the last 3 years.

Are you happy about What Dancing and Fred Astaire Studios has done for you?

Yes, I came in basically trying to get some exercise and lose some weight.  And I can dance now. I have a skill. And I tend to think I’m pretty good at it and I’m getting better every time. So, Yes I’m happy about it.

What was it like the first time you came into the dance studio?

I’ll be honest. I was kind of shy and I felt a little intimidated at first. You come in here and see people dancing very well and you’re thinking: “oh, well, I’m never going to get to that level. And I learned real quickly that no matter where you are and at any level and beginning, as you get better, everybody is very supportive of you and gives encouragement to you and they give you tips and people help you practice. It’s nice.

What would be your advice to people about dancing?

I found it very fun and challenging. Everyday I’d come in here for a lesson and it’s always something new. It’s either a new step or maybe going back and work on something you’ve done before and making it better. But it’s always something interesting and new every time I come in here.

Mike has participated in several Studio and Regional Competition Events and has performed several dance routines in different studio shows and productions.

What are your goals now that you’ve gotten this far?

Well, I kind of have a running joke that every time I hit a goal that I’ve been trying to reach, as far as my weight, I say: “Well, I want to lose another 20 lbs.” But as far as the dancing goes, just learning more dances and getting better continuing to grow and improve and always trying to be perfect at it.

What would you say to someone who’s in the same position you were in?

I’d say “give it a try”. I was a little nervous when I first came in here and didn’t know what to expect. I came in and took the free lesson and was very impressed that how supportive everybody was and it wasn’t all that scary. So, I’d say give it a try and see what you think? If you like it, go with it.

Well, Mike. You said that dancing have changed your life. Has it helped you with the ladies at all?

Well, the short answer is: Yes, it has a lot.

]]> http://danceclassesindianapolis.com/featured-videos/meet-mike/feed/ 4 http://danceclassesindianapolis.com/videos-to-watch/competitions-gallery/ http://danceclassesindianapolis.com/videos-to-watch/competitions-gallery/#comments Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:30:57 +0000 Admin http://danceclassesindianapolis.com/?p=2749 A Video Gallery of the Fred Astaire Dance Competitions!