MURRAY, ARTHUR

MURRAY, ARTHUR (Moses Teichman, 1895–1991), America's most famous ballroom dance instructor; businessman. He was born in New York and trained with Irene and Vernon Cast. After winning a waltz contest at the age of 17, he started selling dance lessons via mail, by sending out footprint diagrams designed to teach students the steps of the popular social dances. Shortly after 1923 Murray opened a highly structured dance studio in New York occupying six floors and employing dozens of teachers, which was followed by the establishment of an extensive network of other studios which provided dance instruction in the U.S. and Europe. In the 1950s, Murray and his wife, Kathryn Kohnfelder, who became his dance and business partner, presented a long-running television series, which helped to popularize ballroom dancing. Murray is credited with creating many of the standard steps still used today in the foxtrot and the rumba. In 1964, Murray resigned as president of the Arthur Murray Dance Studios but remained as a consultant. (Amnon Shiloah (2nd ed.)