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If you’re looking to dust off those cowboy boots, or you’re hankering for a little Texas two-step, Dean Garrish is your guy.
He’s also your guy if you’re looking to buy or sell your home.
The 61-year-old Mount Airy resident is commonly known in the area as “Your Dancin’ Realtor.”
On April 24, Garrish will be skipping open houses to show people how to country line dance as part of Boot Scootin’ on Main Street, held throughout downtown Mount Airy. The event features food, music … and dance lessons
Although he was in construction and investing in real estate since he was in high school, Garrish considers his first career to be dance.
“I got into dancing in my 20s, and that kind of took over to be my primary career for almost 30 years,” he said.
He was introduced to country line dancing after going to a firehall dance. At first, he watched others dancing, including his neighbor. “I watched him and his wife do a two-step and I’m like, ‘I like that, because you’re actually touching your partner,’” he recalled. “It’s not just jumping around. It had some structure to it.”
Soon after, Garrish started taking dance lessons, which eventually led him into competitive country dancing. Back in the ’80s, there were plenty of country bars where a person could practice, he said.
“Around here, there had to have been almost a dozen different country bars in the Maryland, Virginia, D.C. area,” he said. “One thing led to another, and I just got hooked. … I’ve always been an athletic type of person, where I played sports all through high school and throughout my whole life. Also, I’ve always enjoyed country music. And the people that I would meet in this environment, I’d say 90% of them were just good, wholesome people. Super nice, and very helpful. … It was a good place to get a positive fellowship.”
Eventually, though, Garrish needed a way to supplement his hobby. That’s when he started to teach dancing and also do some DJing. As he started to build up his credentials, Garrish soon became a sought-after dance instructor and opened Garrish Dance.
“It started to help pay for my hobby, so I ended up making my hobby my career,” he said.
Garrish began to compete professionally and won the 2009 United Country Western Dance World Championship at the Pro-Am (professional/amateur) level. Additionally, he coached and danced with his amateur students.
Although a teacher should never pick their favorite students, Garrish though can’t help it because two of his students are his daughters, Alexis, 22, and Taylor, 17, both of whom have won world championship titles at the United Country Western Dance World.
“I was able to share this with my daughters, which is probably the most cherished thing I’ll ever do,” Garrish said.
Alexis has multiple World Championship titles at the Pro-Am level, which she won with her dad as well as on her own. She’s a dance instructor on Tuesdays at Cancun Cantina for a swinging country mix night, and she leads classes there on Wednesdays as well.
Alexis said she’s been dancing with her dad practically since she could walk. “I think my first dance competition with him was for a 2-month-old baby contest,” she said with a laugh. “No joke, they slapped some big numbers on us babies who were all born around the same time to all the pros in the circuit. We had a competition, and my dad and I actually ended up winning. So that was my first competition, and we started our winning streak.”
She started competing more when she was 2 years old, i.e., old enough to walk, and she hasn’t stopped since. She especially loves the experience of dancing with her dad.
“It’s definitely been a lot of fun,” she said. “It’s something that I feel like a lot of young people or even just kids growing up, should experience, just because it’s great to be able to share something with your parents.”
She said dancing was something they could do as a family, and it gives them something in common, something “we can talk about and grow with together.”
And because he was there competing with her, Alexis said her dad told her, “It’s OK to aim for the stars and not necessarily reach that.”
She said those words meant a lot during competitions. “There were a lot of life goals that ended up getting learned and taught throughout the entire process. It’s definitely been cool.”
Garrish said being able to share dancing with his daughters has been his favorite aspect of dancing.
“As a dad, I can’t tell you how proud I am of both of them — and then how blessed I am to be able to dance with my daughters,” he said. “If I could give a gift to any father of a daughter, it would be to have them dance with them.”
In country music, Garrish explained, there are eight dances.
“The only thing that really makes them country, per se, is that the music we dance to comes from Nashville,” he said. “Our waltz is just like a ballroom waltz. Our cha-cha is similar to a ballroom cha-cha. … Then we wear dance boots and cowboy hats, so the attire is a little different.”
In addition to country Western, Garrish also danced, competed and coached Western swing dance, a genre that includes everything from R&B and Motown to contemporary and country, he said, adding that it’s one of the most popular dance styles because it fits across such a large genre of music and age groups.
“I love coaching and teaching people,” he said. “To be able to walk somebody out on the dance floor as their coach or pro and share in the same excitement I had when I first started? It’s, again, a blessing.”
However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Garrish Dance, like nearly all entertainment businesses, was forced to shut down. That’s when Garrish started to pivot and went into real estate. After earning his real estate license, he became a member of Keller Williams Realty Centre.
Garrish previously owned his own construction company while teaching dance full-time, but he needed some income during the pandemic and he had to take a hard look at his skills.
“It was either go back to pounding nails and get back into construction, or sell, invest and help people buy, sell or invest in real estate,” he said.
Two years ago, he started a new career in real estate, and he began to realize how his enjoyment for helping people learn to dance translated to the real estate world.
“I found out how much I really love helping people find their homes, because it’s one of the largest purchases somebody’s going to make in their life,” he said. “What better way of having a positive influence on somebody’s life if I can help them find that dream home? It’s been so rewarding.”
The “Your Dancin’ Realtor” name was inspired by a fellow Keller Williams Realtor. Garrish had recently attended a seminar, where another Realtor used tennis to make himself stand out. A co-worker suggested he do the same thing but with dance, and the Dancin’ Realtor brand was born.
As for dancing, Garrish said he’s going to keep going until he can’t any longer. He encourages anyone who wants to learn to dance to come out to the Boot Scootin’ event or one of his classes to give it a whirl. He promises anyone can do it and says if you can walk, you can dance. That said, those with disabilities should not shy away from it.
“I’ve coached people that are blind. I’ve coached people that are deaf. I’ve even worked with people in wheelchairs,” Garrish said. “If you have the desire to do it in any shape or form, you can do it.”
For more information on Garrish Dance or his real estate business, go to dancingwithdean.com.
Crystal Schelle is a journalist whose work has been published locally, regionally and nationally. She enjoys trivia, cats and streaming movies.
When: 5 to 8 p.m. April 24
Where: Downtown Mount Airy
Tickets: $35, limited to 150 participants
Info: mountairymainstreet.org
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