Barb Keown has enjoyed the need for dance all her life. It began back in her home town of Sault Ste. Marie, when at the age of 4 she was inspired by old black and white films featuring dancers such as Fred Estaire, Gene Kelly and others. Her first attraction was to tap dancing and shortly thereafter she was given a pair of tap shoes to improvise her moves on the concrete basement floor of their home. She was hooked immediately to the joy of moving to tempo and making noise with her feet.
Fast forward to teenage hood, when she and girlfriends attended every Friday night dance at the various high schools around the city doing the swim, the monkey, the jerk, the twist and the mashed potato.
She married her high school sweetheart and was transferred with him to Montreal where they took part in the disco scene at the height of popularity in the 1970's often waiting in line ups for up to 2 hours to get into a popular disco. This was the era of the hustle with John Travolta look-a-likes in bell bottom suits everywhere. That kept dance fever alive in Barb and during that period she also took up belly dancing with a friend just for exercise, but of course it involved rhythmic moving to music so by that time, it really didn't matter what dance medium was involved. She got out of that when she was noticed by her instructor and was asked to perform in costume at a local mall.
During all those years, Barb raised a family, worked in an office environment during the day and took university courses in the evening to upgrade her skills. She progressed from secretary to Training Officer to Human Resource Manager.
Dancing was still in her blood, but she had not discovered the variety and enjoyment that ballroom dancing has to offer until after she, her husband and two children moved to Winnipeg in the 80's. After a brief stint with clogging, she took up ballroom dancing. She received her instructor training from Shirley Caron and Todd Parker, and has been an instructor at Shirley's Dance Studio since late 1999.
Barb has choreographed couples routines for weddings, and offers private and group classes. Her enthusiasm and 2 hour workshops have been very popular with beginner and intermediate dancers and are held every Wednesday and Saturday.