Blue Moon Ballroom
Life is Better in the Ballroom...
Founded in 2011, Blue Moon Ballroom is a full-service dance studio and event rental venue in centrally located just west of the Gervais Street Bridge West Columbia's Historic River District. Led by world-champion ballroom instructor James Williamson, Blue Moon Ballroom offers lively group classes and private lessons in all the popular social dances—Foxtrot, Waltz, Rumba, Salsa, East Coast Swing, Cha-Cha, Samba, Bolero, Tango, Mambo, Merengue, Viennese Waltz—as well as Carolina Shag, West Coast Swing, East Coast Swing, Line Dances, Hustle, and so much more!
Come find your dance.
Along with classes and lessons, we offer venue rentals of two dedicated ballrooms for lessons, workshops, parties, and special events.
For larger events and outdoor weddings check out M Garden (click here).
"Tango" by Thomas Humpries
Located at Blue Moon Ballroom
Meet Our Team
Jim
Owner/Instructor
Jim trained in the Arthur Murray method of ballroom dancing and has been teaching since 1986. His style of teaching is fun and relaxed, with a little humor sprinkled in.
Jim placed first in the Florida Gator Classic Dancesport Championship,
the Costa Rican National Dancesport Championship, the Sunshine State Dancesport Championship, and the Millennium International Dancesport Championship with students in all levels of experience.
While working at Arthur Murray Studios, International, Jim was trained by Patrick Johnson (ten-dance world champion), Sergio Moya (top international competitor), Michael Richenbach (retired regional director and owner of Arthur Murray Studio, Ft. Myers, Fla.), and David Hamilton (theatre arts world champion). Other coaches include Tony Prado, top world competitor, Max Sinitsa, world champion, Kem Overby, Grand Master instructor, Dan Calloway, Dual Fellowship with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, Karina Smirnoff, five-time U.S. National Champion, World Trophy Champion, and Asian Open Champion.
Jim is also author of “A Ballroom Dance Teacher: How to Find a Good One, How to Be a Great One,” found on Kindle and Createspace.
Zan
Instructor
A former dance therapist, Zan is a longtime dancer and dance teacher. She is trained in the DanceAbility method for working with people of various abilities and certified by American DanceWheels to teach Wheel One ballroom dancing to wheelchair-bound people. She also has completed Parkinson's Dance coursework.
As a modern dancer in New York, Zan trained with Martha Graham, Mary Anthony, Thelma Hill, and more, and had leading roles in several independent films and off-Broadway musicals. Zan coached the 2021 Carolina Ballroom Dance Club and choreographed the waltzes for the 2022 Poinsettia Cotillion. She has an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Zan works primarily in adaptive ballroom dance with disabled and differently abled dancers and with dancers who want to concentrate on technique. To book a lesson or consultation, please text her at (802) 328-0100.
Jeff
Social Media Lead/Photographer/Videographer
Jeff has been in video production since 2004 when he started making his own films in high school. He loved it so much that he went onto earning a degree in Radio, Tv, & Film at the University of Texas at Austin. Since then, he ran his own video/photo production company and worked in Hollywood as a post production coordinator and social media manager. On top of filmmaking, he was an actor who had roles in a feature film, commercials, and TV shows. He moved back to his beloved hometown of Columbia where he enjoys acting in theatre, painting, and dancing at the Blue Moon Ballroom.