Dancin's Staff:
Ray Farris
Ray went into training in 1958 in the Fred Astaire system in New Orleans, Louisiana. Within the first year of teaching for Astaire's, the Astaire franchise was bought out by the Arthur Murray Studio, so Ray then retrained under the Arthur Murray Syllabus. When he transferred in college to the University of Alabama in his Sophomore year, he took over an independant dance studio owned by the Dean of Business Administration at the University. He taught in that studio, and he and his partner, Lyn, an English dancer performed for conventions and assemblies throughout the year. Two years later he returned to Louisiana where he taught in the Baton Rouge Arthur Murray Studio where he progressed through Gold and Gold Bar, and became the first teacher in Louisiana to have a Gold Star student. After three years in Baton Rouge he returned to New Orleans where he taught for an independant studio, Continental Dance Studio for approximately a year. After leaving Continental, he taught some private groups which were organized by some friends and businesss associates. A tour of duty in the USAF brought an end to Ray's teaching until he opened Dancin' Ballroom Dance Studio in Montgomery, Alabama in 1987, where he has received coaching to keep current from many of the US and World Ballroom Dance Champions. If you look at the "Champions Who've Visited Us" page, you can see who they are. Ray's philosohy in Ballroom Dancing is neither Fred Astaire nor Arthur Murray, but what he considers the best from each of them. His philosophy is to create the best dancer in the least amount of time for any individual, and his track record seems to prove it. As the "oldest dance teacher in Montgomery", Ray has a tremendously fun sense of humor which makes learning from him more of a pleasure than a chore. He has been coached by some of the nation and world's top Champions, Linda & Lee Wakefield, Corky & Shirley Ballas, Bob Powers & Julia Gorchakova, Pierre Allaire & Mirieu Villieux, Tony Meridith & Melanie LePatin, Bill Sparks & Shirley Johnson, to name a few. Many students, present and former are proud to proclaim that they were taught by the "Master". They all remember Ray's two most prevelant statements, "If you can do it this way (meaning to the right), you can also do it that way(meaning to the left)!", and "It's exactly the same, but opposite!".