Five time world dance champion Brian Barakauskas, Owner and lead instructor at Dance Louisville (DL) in Louisville, Kentucky, describes their studio as Louisville’s favorite dance studio! After 10 years in business, Dance Louisville offers a large variety of dance classes for teens and adults, with world class dance training. They provide dance lessons in ballroom, salsa, swing and country. Those classes include Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Salsa, Two Step, East Coast Swing and West Coast Swing, Two Step, Samba.
Dance Louisville has worked hard to create a professional and very friendly environment. In fact, they have been named the “Friendliest Studio” in the entire Midwest for three years in a row! At Dance Louisville, they really focus on the customer experience. Brian believes that many dance studios focus on just the dancing but they focus on the people, too! It is important to have every person who walks through their doors have a fantastic experience. They believe their studio is not only teaching dance but changing lives. Both their students and instructors are completely committed to bringing their students the best possible dance experience! Whether they come one time only or go on to become professional dancers, Dance Louisville wants people to have a positive experience!
Brian believes their studio is different from other studios because of the classes they offer. They offer very diverse styles such as Ballroom, Latin, County, West Coast Swing and Salsa. Additionally, he thinks the largest thing that makes them different is their professionalism in every area. From the way they answer the phone to the first lesson all the way to teaching their loyal dancers who have been with them all 10 years, they strive to give the best experience to their dancers every single day!
Their owner, Brian Barakauskas, brings you over 18 years of professional dance instruction teaching both teens and adults all over the world. He has devoted himself to offering Louisville the best possible group and private class instruction in a state of the art studio. With top level 
teachers in all forms of partner dancing from country to ballroom and salsa to swing, they have you covered! Their teachers have literally decades of dance experience and they bring their passion and skills to every lesson they teach! Between Brian and his instructors, their students are in great hands!
According to Brian, his proudest moments as a dance instructor involve their studio showcases. Watching regular people become good dancers and perform for an audience for the first time is awesome. He has also had two students win ProAm world championships. Those were proud moments as well. It was a long journey for them to get there.
From Brian’s experience, the biggest mistakes he sees dancers make is not choosing their teachers wisely. The years of experience teacher bring to the table is invaluable. Also, setting small realistic expectations helps build confidence and allows for a smoother path of improvement with less disappointment. The small ‘wins’ add up!
Dance Louisville has been on a big growth spurt as a studio and they hope to grow by another 20% this year, too. Happy dancer = a happy studio! They also want to continue to grow their local competition. Three years ago they had 300 attendees. This year they had 600. They hope to top 700 dancers at the next competition! Dance Louisville has wanted to start an online teaching website for west coast swing. www.WestCoastSwingOnline.com and have finally accomplished that. They hope to bring quality instruction to people who do not have good west coast swing teachers near them. Brian is very excited about expanding his teaching to dancers he may never meet face to face through a quality online experience!
Brian started Dance Louisville because he was a professional dancer and needed to continue to grow his teaching base. Since there were no other opportunities in Louisville, he created his own. Many years ago, Brian took his first dance steps right there in Louisville. He has now been a professional dancer for almost 18 years. Ballroom, country and swing dancing competitions have taken him to over 22 countries around the world as a competitor, performer, judge and teacher. His journey had now come full circle and in 2005, his dream of a fantastic studio in Louisville came true. Brian is completely committed to making Dance Louisville the best studio in the city. Their goal is to create a relaxed fun environment for people to enjoy dancing. Although they provide full competitive programs in all genres of partner dancing, their initial focus is on helping students find their passion.
Over time, Dance Louisville has changed their focus from the more traditional ballroom classes to a more modern and diverse blend of ballroom, swing and salsa. They have worked to add classes that are not available in other studios in the city and fill needs that other dance studios cannot fill. Rather than compete with other dance venues in town, they desired to add things to the community that were not there previously. Every year, they take account of their dance classes, and then take notice of what other studios are offering in Louisville to make certain that they are still an asset to the city as a whole!
In an effort to keep Dance Louisville on the cutting edge, many of their students and teachers travel the United States and abroad to continue their training in all genres of dance. They are one of the most relaxed studios in town; consequently, many of their students call Dance Louisville “home” even though the students are free to dance wherever they like. They simply prefer the way they do business. Additionally, they offer showcases, competitions and studio trips so their students’ opportunities grow as their dancing progresses. Information about their WSDC swing competition Derby City Swing can be found at http://derbycityswing.com.
If you would like more information about Dance Louisville, visit their website at http://dancelouisville.com, call them at (502) 377-4859 or email them at dancelouisville@gmail.com. You can also “Like” them on Facebook and view them on YouTube.
Please post a comment if you have had any experience with Brian Barakauskas of Dance Louisville.
