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BILL FREDERICK COMMUNICATIONS INC.
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Company offers a revolutionary way to learn to dance; a one-day program with no contracts and no pressure

Tampa Bay-based Dance Xpress re-writes the ground rules for learning how to dance. It's inexpensive, fun, and it takes just a single day

TAMPA, Fla. (April 6, 2004) – Dance Xpress™, a new concept in dance instruction, has begun operations in Tampa Bay with a series of seminars that promise to teach couples how to dance in just one day.

Dance Xpress™ departs from traditional dance instruction in almost every way. The lessons are inexpensive, they last only one day, and Dance Xpress™ does not require students to sign contracts for additional lessons. In fact, students don't sign contracts of any kind.

At the end of an intense but fun-filled single day of instruction, Dance Xpress™ students are ready to confidently take to the dance floor – any dance floor.

Founder and President Shawn Trautman said Dance Xpress™ was designed to overcome the common objections to most dance instruction programs.

“Our research showed that many people were unhappy with a number of facets of most dance programs – the programs are perceived as being too expensive, too insistent on long-term commitments, and too difficult to schedule,” Trautman said. “We designed Dance Xpress™ to overcome those objections while offering a big dose of fun at the same time.”

Trautman said most people decide to learn to dance because of some upcoming event – a wedding, for example. Dance Xpress™ is the perfect solution, he said, because it can turn non-dancers into near-experts in just a single day.

“After a single day of Dance Xpress™ instruction, couples can handle just about anything a band or a DJ can throw at them – Salsa, Swing, Country Western, Hustle, or really any popular modern dance step,” Trautman said.

Trautman didn't start out to be a dance instructor. As a high school student, he really wanted to be an athlete, but a football injury required him to give up athletics. He learned to dance at his mother's insistence, and found to his surprise that dance required a lot of them same skills as athletics – coordination, concentration, and even a dose of creativity.

Later, Trautman returned to school. He first earned a marketing degree, and then a master's in business administration. It was in graduate school that his vision of what would become Dance Xpress™ began to emerge.

Trautman also talked to people who had PhD's in movement science and physics, and audited a countless number of instructional classes to see what works and what doesn't. Then, he surveyed people and discerned what sort of dance instruction would appeal to them. Finding a way to appeal to men was critical, and that's what he focused on.

He also looked for exciting metaphors that would help ordinary people understand the basics of simple coordinated movement. Looking back to his high school athletics, Shawn found those metaphors in the realm of sports.

“Relating the movements and terminology of dance to the movements and terminology of sports helps people understand and associate concepts quickly while getting a feeling for movement,” he said. “At this point it's not dancing, but it is getting people to go through motions which get their bodies into a rhythm, a rhythm that you don't even really have to think about.”

The business model that Trautman envisioned for Dance Xpress™ was revolutionary in the dance industry – a single day of world-class instruction, a single low fee, and the assurance that at the end of the day, the student would know how to confidently maneuver any dance floor.

A typical Dance Xpress™ seminar takes place on a Saturday in a large public function room in a community center, gymnasium or hotel. Students represent all age and cultural groups. Some may be young couples that are preparing to dance at an upcoming wedding reception; others may be middle-aged or even elderly couples.

Students are led by Dance Xpress™ instructors, or “coaches”, through a series of fun movements and interactive exercises that almost magically lead them to graceful synchronized movements on the dance floor.

“By the end of the day, people can really dance!” Trautman said.

ABOUT DANCE XPRESS: Tampa Bay-based Dance Xpress™ teaches people to dance in a single day. Seminars are logical, easy, effective, and lots of fun. There is a one-time fee for each student that covers the one-day seminar. There is never a contract or pressure for additional lessons, although additional seminars are available. To learn more, visit the web site at www.xidance.com