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Photos by Kamp Fender.
Sterling Burroughs, owner of Fred Astaire Dance studio in Greystone, dances with student Dotty Stills inside the studio’s new location, on the second level of the Greystone Center at 5510 U.S. 280, Suite 210.
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Photos by Kamp Fender.
Sterling Burroughs, owner of Fred Astaire Dance studio in Greystone, dances with student Dotty Stills inside the studio’s new location, on the second level of the Greystone Center at 5510 U.S. 280, Suite 210.
Champion Latin and Ballroom dance studio has reopened in a new location and with a new name, moving from Vestavia Hills to Greystone and changing its name to Fred Astaire Dance.
Owner Sterling Burroughs and fellow instructors Monica Emerine and Courtney Ellison are looking forward to welcoming a new influx of students in 2019.
A graduate of Chelsea High School, Burroughs was raised in the Church of Christ, with his father working as a pastor in Chelsea. After graduating, he set out to pursue his dream of becoming an actor, but he missed out on a role in a movie about University of Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant because he didn’t know how to ballroom dance.
“I saw an ad, and it said, ‘How’d you like to sleep all day, party all night, travel around the world, dance with beautiful women and make great money?” Burroughs joked.
His plan was to sign up for lessons, learn how to dance and continue pursuing acting, but he ended up being recruited by the studio to teach lessons himself, a choice that clashed with his father’s beliefs. However, after seeing that his son’s teaching was helping and benefiting his students, Burrough’s father grew to accept his newfound passion.
“There’s people that gain self-confidence, couples that grow closer together because they take lessons together, people lose weight — there’s a lot of benefits of taking lessons,” he said. “And when my dad saw that, he thought it was great.”
In working as a dance instructor, Burroughs has also been able to dance competitively. However, given the choice, he would rather teach because he loves explaining things to people and “getting them dancing.”
“I would rather work with someone the first six months to a year that they learn because that’s when they’re learning the most,” he said.
Emerine has been teaching for 28 years, getting her start as a receptionist at a dance studio where her sister was an instructor. Ellison is part of a professional dance company where she gets trained by world renowned champion dancers, and she decided to focus on Latin dance after taking lessons while studying abroad in Costa Rica.
As instructors, they can teach their students any dance that can be done with a partner, particularly focusing on what they call the “social dances:” foxtrot, waltz, swing, rumba, cha-cha and tango.
The studio offers both individual and group lessons, and they encourage students to come do a mixture of both to enrich their skills.
Typically at the beginning of each year, they see engaged couples coming in who want to learn a few steps for their first dance together at their wedding. These are the lessons that Ellison particularly enjoys.
“It’s like teaching them a new language they can speak to each other in. It’s like a secret that they can share with each other through body language, and you just watch the intimacy grow,” she said.
The feel-good payoff is something that all three instructors agree on.
“Taking somebody who’s never danced before and showing them how much fun it is and what other benefits they can get from it,” Burroughs said. “I get goosebumps thinking about it.”
The Fred Astaire Dance Studio is located at 5510 U.S. 280, Suite 210, in the Greystone shopping center and is open 1-9 p.m., Monday through Friday. For information, go to championlatin.com or call 994-6457.
