History of Arthur Murray

Celebrating over a century of dance, Arthur Murray is one of the oldest franchises in the world. Arthur Murray opened his first dance studio in 1925 with wife Kathryn, whom he met in a New Jersey radio station during one of his broadcast dance lessons where she was a member of the audience.  

The son of Austria-Hungary immigrant parents, Arthur Murray won his first dance contest in 1912 at the Grand Central Palace and taught ballroom dancing in a variety of venues while studying business administration at the Georgia School of Technology and working as a draftsman.  

A published author and pioneer of social dancing, Arthur achieved early success as part of his involvement in the American social dance scene in the twenties and his methodical style of teaching which included his patented footprints. Arranging to have music transmitted to a group of students, Arthur Murray was the originator of the world’s first radio broadcast of live dance music. Frequently performers with popular celebrities of the day, Arthur and Kathryn opened their first franchise in 1938. When incorporated in 1946, there were 72 franchised studios, grossing nearly twenty million dollars a year.

Today, there are nearly 300 Arthur Murray Studios located in 21 countries making it a global enterprise. Conveniently located off I-75 and I-675, Arthur Murray Dance Center of Dayton is the area’s most exciting ballroom dance experience with one of the region’s most beautiful dance studios. Consistently ranking among the top ten percent of schools worldwide, the award-winning Arthur Murray Dance Center of Dayton makes learning ballroom and social dancing as easy as one, two, three. 

Are you ready to learn the newest steps and brush up on today’s most popular ballroom and social dances? We invite you to take advantage of our special introductory package, 1 personal lesson for $29 (a $90 value)! Link to introductory dance package.