It was scary, said John and Barbara Pattillo, owners of Towson Dance Studio.

After the couple decided to move Towson Dance Studio to Timonium -- in the middle of one of the worst recessions in memory, they thought of the old film, "African Queen."

"We were Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn going down the river, not sure if we were going to make it or not," John said.

Since 1961, the studio on the third floor of 31 Allegheny Ave. was the place to go in town to learn ballroom dancing -- from swing, foxtrot and samba to rhumba, tango and jazz.

"I see it as a social, recreational activity," he said of dance. "A man and woman interacting, feeling the rhythm, moving together with the music."

Towson Dance Studio survived and thrived on Allegheny even though the ceiling was low, the space was limited, the parking was difficult and the parquet floor was laid on concrete. And then there was that creaky old elevator.

On the other hand, the rent was low.

"It was a trade-off," said Barbara, John's permanent dance partner and business partner as well.

The couple married two years after he bought the studio in 1974. They had met through a mutual friend.

Barbara was employed by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. But after two years of working days as a lab researcher and him working nights as a dance instructor, she left Hopkins and went to work for him managing the studio.

When she met John, she had never danced before, she said.

"I remember being very nervous when he started teaching me to dance," she said. "I thought people were entirely naturally talented, or they could not learn to dance. But I learned anybody can learn to dance."

Towson Dance Studio is a culture onto itself -- a wellspring of grace at wedding receptions and cotillions, of snappy moves on the dance floor of country clubs and night clubs.

Through the years, it has "opened up a whole new world for so many people," said Barbara.

"Some say they have always wanted to dance; once they get started they get to fulfill a dream," she said. "And if you're a man who knows how to lead, people seek you out."

Lutherville resident Steve Miles, who started taking lessons 22 years ago after his divorce, can testify to that.

"It's definitely true," he said. "If he has half-decent looks and a half-decent personality and he knows how to make a woman look good on the dance floor, he'll have no problems."

Chris and Kathy Greco, who live in Perry Hall, met at Towson Dance in 1981. A captain in the Air Force, Chris had been through a bad break-up, was feeling insecure around women and was looking for something to do after work.

They met on the dance floor, and waltzed their way into more than 25 years of marriage. Now they're retired and continue to dance at the Sunday parties at the studio.

"It's exercise without pain, and camaraderie with nice people," Kathy said. "It's nice to go back to where we first met. It's sort of full circle."

Change of pace

In 1973, John Pattillo moved to Baltimore to earn a doctorate in philosophy at Johns Hopkins University.

"But it was the height of the counter-culture, and I was counter-counter-culture," he said. "I Iooked around at my fellow students and decided I didn't want to do this for the rest of my life."

He had been dancing since he was 11, when his mother made him take lessons in San Juan, Puerto Rico, one of the places he lived while his father worked for the U.S. Immigration Service.

He didn't get serious about dance until, while living in Chicago, he had to attend a formal dinner-dance with a string orchestra playing Viennese waltzes.

"I went to a dance studio to learn the Viennese waltz and fell in love with the whole ballroom dance thing," he said.

In 1973, he was teaching dance part time at the Towson Dance Studio. When Irv Stiefel, then-owner, was looking for a buyer, John signed on the dotted line April Fool's Day, 1974. It was the middle of a recession then, too.

"John was so in love with dancing that he thought the entire world would be in love with it too," Barbara said.

John is a trainer certified with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, and has a fellowship designation in modern ballroom dance from ISTD's international organization.

For years, he and Barbara were a team on the floor -- they competed in events including the North American Championship, the Classique du Quebec, the Eastern U.S. Championships and the Pan American Dance Competition.

But he last danced competitively in 1990, and she stopped before that.

"Competitive dancing is a young person's game," he said.

John now spends his time with the staff teaching; the studio has 12 full and part-time employees.

Barbara manages virtually everything else, including the weekly Saturday night and Sunday afternoon dance parties, which are open to the public. Admission is generally $14 (the fee can be higher for special galas).

"People can enjoy what they have learned and meet other people with the same hobby," she said.

Timonium soft shoe

Last spring Bogart and Hepburn were still navigating whether or not they should leave Towson for Timonium.

Then 31 Allegheny was sold. The new owners, the Troia family, decided to move Cafe Troia from the Penthouse into the Allegheny building. And they raised the rent on the studio space.

That did it. The Troias were cordial; they were willing to negotiate, but there was no looking back.

The Pattillos signed a long-term lease for 6,000 square feet of space at 9486 Deereco Road -- again on April Fool's Day, 35 years to the day after John purchased the studio.

Both say they want to do what they're doing for at least 10 years, and they believe the new location will attract more people and allow the studio to grow.

They've kept the name Towson Dance Studio, despite the confusion it might cause, after running the idea past their students.

"We have customers come back to us from 10 or 20, or even 30 years ago," Barbara said.

Their new home is a former warehouse rebuilt from the inside out. It gives the studio a large ballroom with a high vaulted ceiling and chandeliers that remind John of the dance halls he used to love in England.

They have four mirrored practice studios, and suspended floors that made dancing comfortable.

The exterior looks like an office building, Barbara said.

"But when people come inside, their jaws drop," she said. "It's beautiful."

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