I would like to welcome you to Movin’ Easy DanceWear.  My name is Tim Hurst, founder and President.  To know Movin’ Easy is to know the respect we hold for dance, dancers, dance teachers, and all their supporters.

Our Movin’ Easy Dance Wear Specialists come from a variety of backgrounds and stay with us for years.  To make your dancing goals a reality, all the employees at Movin’ Easy go through a very detailed training period of 4 to 6 months to become Dance Wear Specialists.  We hire dancers and our history of dedicated employees is well known to dance students, parents, and professionals in Central Texas.

I am proud to work with each person, past and present, and I know you will be pleased with their attention and service.  You can depend on their expertise and dedication to help you find just the right dance wear and the perfect fit.

Movin’ Easy DanceWear today is the source for the most up to date styles in dance shoes and apparel.  Our specialty is the professional fitters that we hire and train over a period of six months to make sure that beginners to professionals of all ages get the perfect fit and the best look for them.  

Movin’ Easy came from my desire to promote dance as way of learning and expressing the joy of living.  When I first came to Austin in 1972, I was 30 years old and determined to fulfill my life long dream to dance.  I joined the only modern dance class in the city at the Unitarian Church.  From that moment on, I was a walking promotion of anything dance.  As the Civic Ballet expanded into the Armadillo World Headquarters and the avant-garde modern dance scene developed, I attended almost every dance performance until well into the 1990’s.  In 1992, I took my first ballet class, met my wife, and though I attend less dance performances, our lives are filled with dance with each other and with four new grandchildren.

Little did I know that Movin’ Easy would blossom from a passing wish for a Dance Pub where dancers would meet to share stories, dreams, and concerns.  Austin modern dance grew rich and wild through the 1970’s.  A new dance school and modern company was formed by Dee McCandless, our Unitarian dance group initiated the Austin Dance Umbrella organization, and dancers from across the country came to Austin to dance with my new mentor Deborah Hay.

The name Movin’ Easy came from one of Deborah’s on-going classes called Movin’.  A friend began a dance studio where Texas French Bread is now on 29^th street.  She asked me to start a dance wear store in the same building   Luckily too late for the Dallas Market, I had to go to New York to buy dance wear where I would find a bustling interest in designers for what I identified as easy moving clothing and dance wear.

The first Movin’ Easy was in a tiny New York size boutique of only 300 square feet.  I took on the daunting task of advertising a store filled with half designer clothing and half dance wear.  We carried New York designers like Betsy Johnson and cutting edge dance wear like Karushka.

In those first years, Movin’ Easy brought the first lines of 90% cotton leotards to Austin before Danskin got the idea, brought street wear looks of leggings and legwarmers before Jane Fonda sent every chain store into the trend, brought the first 100% cotton warm-ups to Austin before their time.  What we could not find in the market, we had local seamstresses make for us.

Also a first,  the Grand Opening for Movin’ Easy in October 1981 was a presentation of  every style of dancer and group in Austin from Belly dancing to skate dancing.  This was the first performance of our now famous tap dancer Acia Gray performing with Austin on Tap.

The response was so great, we had another event at a local hotel that brought in everyone from the Civic Ballet, outrageous modern dancers, and a Jazzercise team of teachers who were taking Austin by storm.

This was the beginning of my dream of networking dancers in what was truly a Dance Pub.  Anytime two people were in the store shopping, I would introduce them and share a little about their special kind of dancing.  We placed ads in every Austin publication with photos of local dancers promoting dance events and awareness of dance.  A Dance Information Center was set up in the store to find out details about all kinds of dance and where to find it.

This Information Center would inspire the What’s Happening in Austin Motorblade Service and expand to a cooperative call in line with the Performing Arts Center that later became an InSide Line at the American Statesman.  With the advent of the internet, movineasy.com now has the most complete source of local dance in Austin, plus a guide to help new dancers get started, and a forum called Shortcut to Happiness—Dance that gives dancers an opportunity to connect about everything from their favorite teacher to their fund raising goals.

Today as in its long tradition, Movin’ Easy DanceWear is the first in newest styles, fitting expertise, and information about how to take a Shortcut to Happiness-Dance.