FIRST DANCE
NEW STUDENT
PRIVATE DanceMakers History
DanceMakers of Texas was born in 1995 when Norman Heitman and Julie Ebe opened a small ballroom dancing school on Montgomery Street in Fort Worth along with 3 other business partners. It was a struggle at first and by the second year, Norman and Julie were sole owners of the school.
They must have done something right, though because many of those first students have become award winning dancers and are still with us today. Norman is now retired. Julie is the owner/manager and continues to teach students and train staff.
In January of 1998 DanceMakers moved to our previous location on Camp Bowie Boulevard. That space served us well for nearly 12 years. As of August 31, 2010 we moved to our beautiful new location on Sunset Drive. This new facility offers two floating dance floors (60 X 40 and 28 X 38) which stay busy with private lessons and group classes.
Now, DanceMakers is prospering due to the resurgence of ballroom dance and the wonderful word of mouth generated by our many satisfied students. Our relaxed, friendly atmosphere and constant commitment to the students have earned us a reputation as THE place to go for partner dancing in Fort Worth. Our Friday night parties draw students and professionals from all over the metroplex.
We are proud to be a lasting part of the Fort Worth arts community.
DanceMakers Accomplishments
Having been in business continuously for over a decade, DanceMakers has a standard of dance far beyond that of a beginning studio. Our quality of instruction and experienced staff have produced award-winning amateur and professional dancers. Staff members are certified by a Nationally recognized coach and adjudicator, and they all undergo continuing dance and teaching education. We pride ourselves on ethics, professionalism, and on staying on the cutting edge of social and competition dance. Since first entering the Competition circuit with Pro-Am entries in 2001, DanceMakers has entered Pro-Am, Amateur Couple, and Professional Couple rounds in regional and Dancesport events, winning Top School, Top Teacher, and Spirit awards at almost every event we attend.
We won Top School at the
Southwestern Invitational, 2007!!!,
September 28-30, DanceMakers attended the most prestigious ballroom competition in Texas: the Southwestern Invitational. We saw lots of old friends, made some new freinds, and saw some truly amazing dancing! Our students fairly commanded the floor. DanceMakers won Over-all Top school due to the efforts of our talented students and dedicated teachers. Our own Don Carlos Silvas won 2nd place in the Top Teacher competition! Thanks to all the competitors who trained hard and danced your hearts out. We're so proud of all of you! Thanks also to everyone who came out to support DanceMakers of Texas. It meant so much to have you there!
DanceMakers Projects
Dancing Classrooms North Texas
The movies "Take the Lead" and "Mad Hot Ballroom" showed the world a brilliant program to bring the elegant world of ballroom dancing to New York inner city school kids. It caught on like wildfire and now the official Dancing Classrooms program has come to Fort Worth! DanceMakers owner Julie Ebe was privileged to train directly with Pierre Dulaine (played by Antonio Banderas in "Take the Lead") and in cooperation with Dancing Classrooms North Texas have begun teaching the Pierre Dulaine system of ballroom dancing to fifth graders in Forth Worth and HEB public schools.
DanceMakers is proud to be on the steering committee for Dancing Classrooms North Texas. We are thrilled that this program will help bring ballroom dancing to more young people.
Learn more about Dancing Classrooms at www.dancingclassroomsnorthtexas.com