Joe believes that his job is to make the student feel good, both physically and emotionally. “Once that is accomplished, looking good follows naturally. A good teacher will leave the student intrinsically motivated and compelled to continue.” 

Though both his parents met as dance instructors, Joe never had aspirations for being a dance teacher growing up. Coming from a background in music and Video production, he decided to explore teaching Ballroom as a part time gig. At age 32, after two weeks of “boot camp” at the local studio, he told his teacher that it just “feels right” and started down a life-altering path. During his 3 year stint at Arthur Murray, he received training from local ballroom and rhythm professionals, along with private instruction from professional ballroom dancers Bob and Julia Powers, John Clark, Cynthia Long, Nick and Elena Kosovich (one of the professional teams from Dancing with the Stars) and Gene LaPierre. He received awards for Top Specialist, and successfully led students from their journey of never having danced before, to choreographed student exhibitions and competitions.

After his time at Arthur Murray, he continued to fuel his passion with private Argentine Tango lessons, workshops, and even an intense experience on a “Tango At Sea Cruise. “We were stuck out on the sea for 3 days as Hurricane Wilma ravished the Caribbean. So instead of going stir crazy, I spent the time mastering the Tango.”  

Joe delights in simplifying the complicated; demystifying the intimidating.  Students regularly use words like “nurturing”, “non-threatening” and “enlightening” to describe his teaching style. “Obstacles in the road are usually much smaller than they appear:  Many times there is just one recurring road block that will hinder a student’s progress. If I can serve the student by isolating that one obstacle and changing it, it can transform their dancing experience from night to day.” Joe truly believes his students are capable of far more than they ever thought possible. “Armed with little more than devotion and perseverance, people can accomplish anything.” 

Joseph is into his 7th year teaching professionally. He is skilled in the basics of over 15 traditional Ballroom, Latin and Rhythm dances and dances at a Silver level in well over half of those. He has even created a few dance styles of his own combining moves from various dance traditions for times when the music doesn’t quite serve the foot patterns or timing. Do a Youtube search to see some of his choreographed routines and performances from the past year.