Arts
Where the feet meet: Austin store acts as center stage for dance community
By Sarah AdamsJune 17, 2004
Upstairs in the Movin' Easy Dancewear store on 30th Street, a tiny room held stacks of boxes brimming with Ballet Austin's last remaining footwear for the season. Delicate pale pink satin shoes individually tailored to the dancers' feet, little more than papier-māche and fabric. Each pair has a life of less than one performance or practice session, if that, says Inga Lujerenko, a Ballet Austin dancer.
She's been a regular customer of the store across the street from the company's headquarters since she came to Ballet Austin 12 years ago. "It's like my closet," she says of the store.
But Movin' Easy isn't only for professionals. "We've got mamas coming in saying, 'Do you have any shoes that fit this size?'," says owner and founder Tim Hurst, holding up his forefinger and thumb about three inches apart.
Since 1981, Movin' Easy has been a fixture on the Austin dance scene as a place for the right attire and as a meeting place to learn about upcoming events, classes and workshops in Central Texas. Employees have put together a dance directory that covers everything from children's ballet to jump-roping class for interested customers, and class and performance fliers clutter the entryway.
"It's really intense," says Virginia Seigler, who has worked at Movin' Easy since she moved to Austin three years ago. "Pointe training alone takes four weeks." Although she's danced "forever," she learned about different fabrics and how to fit shoes to complement her knowledge of ballet, jazz, tap and musical theater.
As Hurst likes to tells his employees, "You're not selling shoes, you're selling an experience." Although he now has two Austin stores, Hurst began Movin' Easy in a tiny space on 29th Street as big as the shoe section at the main store today. He worked closely with dance companies, running ads for the store featuring their upcoming performances.
"I would go to every performance in town -- sometimes I'd go to two performances in a weekend," Hurst says. "We were always working." His goal was to create more than a business. Hurst says he wanted to support the dance community.
In the midst of running the store, Hurst took classes and continued dancing. He met wife Ginger in 1990 at a ballet class, where she remembers him personally fitting her for shoes. Now in their early 60s, the Hursts look a decade younger. Tall and thin, they walk with a dancer's ease and still participate in an improvisational dance group. Today they spend free time with their grandchildren, although "the first year we were together, I saw more performances than I saw in my lifetime," Ginger remembers.
Tim Hurst also enjoyed the challenge in the early years of selling activewear before the aerobics craze caught on. He says Movin' Easy was the first Austin store to sell cotton blends in a time of non-breathable polyester. Today yoga mats and clothing by Austin designers have replaced the cotton sweatsuits of the past.
"It's a marketing challenge, and of course with business, it's always a new idea every day," Hurst says. "My staff has a hard time with me because I'm always redefining."
Hurst says he has to remain competitive against chain stores that can sell products for cheaper prices. He speaks almost as passionately about service as he does dance. He offers customers free fittings that can last an hour or more, stressing the need for children and professionals alike to be properly fitted for their shoes.
"It matters more for a child -- they need a flexible shoe, they need a shoe that molds to their foot," he says. "A mom says, 'Oh, they're going to grow out of it.' " Hurst grimaces at the harm an ill-fitted shoe could do.
Manager Prince agrees. As Cinderella's oft-told story emphasizes, the shoe has to fit. She likens dancing with shoes that pinch or rub to playing golf with a baseball bat. Judging from its customer base that spans Waco to San Antonio, Movin' Easy has its feet firmly planted on Central Texas' dance stages. Seigler says she hasn't seen anyone as enthusiastic as her boss Hurst. "He eats, breathes and sleeps dance. It's his life," she says. "Here, dance comes first."
