Launching their first-ever business last year, Amy Cherrez and Marko Micic envisioned creating a community of some 30 to 40 locals who enjoyed learning how to dance, both for fun and competitively.
In the past 12 months of running Fred Astaire Dance Studio on Main Street—located in the second-floor space at number 111, formerly Caren Forbes—the couple has not only exceeded those goals but has also flourished in unexpected ways.
Marko Micic and Amy Cherrez inside Fred Astaire Dance Studio on Main Street. Contributed
Cherrez, a native of Ecuador, and Micic, who is from Serbia, have been giving lessons and developing dances for competitions and showcases with more than 60 people, about 80% of them New Canaan residents, they say. They’ve also offered free lessons to local nonprofit organizations and schools and showcased their talents at community events such as “Groove on the Green” at New Canaan Library, the Sidewalk Sale and Holiday Stroll.
This month, the business marks one year—a milestone that Cherrez and Micic plan to celebrate with a party to be held at 7:45 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24 (free and open to the public), with group dance lessons, demonstrations and refreshments.
“I feel really, really happy because the support that we have had from the community, it’s been really great,” Cherrez said on a recent afternoon from the Fred Astaire office, overlooking the large and well-used dance floor that itself overlooks Main Street.
She continued: “People that start brand new with us, they continue with us. We see the joy that they have coming in here, and we also see the impact that dancing has created in their bodies, their minds. We see people more confident, more fit, with more energy. It’s a whole transformation and that’s something that makes us happy, because that’s the best impact that you can make on people. We believe that if we provide the best service that we can provide, not just with dancing, but also as a person, then people will continue with us, and that’s what we try to do and that’s what we try to build as a community.”
New Canaan people who have joined that community are feeling the difference.
Jim Kucharczyk started by gifting his wife, Ilona, a trial lesson last Christmas and “we’ve been steady customers ever since,” he said.
“And have enjoyed every minute of it,” Kucharczyk continued. “We love that it involves both the body and the brain, the movement is fun but I have to concentrate. No one would ever accuse me of having a natural rhythm, but I feel like I am making progress every week. We were the envy of friends and family at a wedding in Atlanta in April. Amy and Marco are patient, gracious and very encouraging—no pressure, a lot of laughs. We look forward to the one on one class each week, and take on a second group session when possible. As an added bonus, we’ve made it a date night by going out for dinner after the class and talking about our favorite dances.”
The Rev. Chapin Garner and Tammie Garner, another local couple at Fred Astaire, said that Cherrez and Micic “made learning dance truly enjoyable.”
“We’ve been at the studio since they’re opening, and even though we tend to be slow learners, or at least I do, they haven’t kicked us out yet,” Chapin Garner said.
The pastor at the Congregational Church of New Canaan, he also arranged for a church dance class there in the early months of Fred Astaire “and it was really delightful.” (Garner last month officiated a wedding for a couple that had taken their dance lessons there, too.)
Laura Budd, executive director of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, called Cherrez and Micic “an asset for downtown New Canaan.
“Marko and Amy have done an incredible job of creating a community of dance enthusiasts,” Budd said. “We are so lucky they chose New Canaan to open their business, and we look forward to their continued success.”
That success has sprung for New Canaan residents’ desire to support their local businesspeople, Cherrez said.
“It has seemed to us throughout this whole year that we have been open that New Canaan people support New Canaan businesses,” she said. “And that’s so important to us because some of them say, ‘Oh, we’re so happy to come, once, twice a week because we want to support you. We want you to stay in business.’ That means so much.”
They also have made it easy for locals by offering individual, couple and group dance lessons with a number of incentives—for example, they offer a free lesson after 15 purchased lessons, and have started a gift card program.
“We are one of the rare studios in Fairfield County that—for the price of one lesson, for people who are in the program—we give entrance to a group class suited to their level,” Micic said. “We have two [group classes], beginner-intermediate and intermediate-advanced. As long as they [students] come to one class per week, they can come to that. Plus everybody can come to the weekly Friday dance party, which is one hour of practicing dancing or just dancing and line dancing combined. So people get a lot when they sign up for one of our programs. They can get five lessons or 10 lessons and we reward them, we do something extra for them.”
Asked about the long-term vision for Fred Astaire Studio New Canaan, Cherrez said she envisions a growing community that becomes involved in even more competitions and showcases.
“We are going to have our first ‘Dancing with the Stars of New Canaan’ next May, and we’ll select a nonprofit from the town that is going to benefit from it. The same way that the community is giving to us, we will be giving to the community.”