As James Benstine and Will Taylor ended their computer careers, both knew they wanted to embrace their dreams of dance and self defense.
“We finally get to do what we love,” said Taylor.
As owners of the newly opened Dublin Dance and Defense, to the outsider, the two forms may not seem like they go together, but they have common bonds between them.
“It’s all movement,” Benstine explained.
The newly opened studio located at 304 S. Patrick Street features a wide array of classes from partner dance classes with salsa, swing, latin and ballroom and self defense classes including intro to self defense, striking, kicking and grappling.
“It’s interesting because sometimes I will watch James teaching a dance class and notice that one of his moves is very similar to something I teach in self defense,” Taylor said.
Both Taylor and Benstine most recently came from a background in computer repair at Apollo Computers, but the duo was ready for a change and decided to open the studio.
Karen Wright, owner of Blackjack Office Space, directed the pair to the new space and about two months ago the business was launched.
Besides computers, Benstine came from a background in dance, including competition and being a dance instructor for more than 20 years.
His career began after seeing Patrick Swayze talk about Arthur Murray’s dance instruction in “Dirty Dancing.” His parents mentioned that there was an Arthur Murray Dance Studio in the town which piqued his interest. Taking classes for a year, he advanced to becoming a teacher.
Aside from jazz and ballet, he can teach any style of partner dances to any dance music.
Group classes are Thursdays and open to couples and singles for $10 a class.
Private lessons are $70 each.
For Taylor, his background includes military service as a United States Marine and work as an international private security professional.
“To see people realize they have power and can actually harness it for something positive is amazing,” he said.
Taylor’s self defense classes are a mixture of martial arts with no one specific specialty, therefore no belt system is in place.
He also does not teach competition sports.
“We really invite people to come in and talk to us. Things are tailored to individual needs,” he said. For self defense classes, group classes are $10 and one-on-one classes are $ 50.
For more information about classes go to www. dublindancedefense. com.
The studio is open noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.