Cori Grimm's performance group dances the quickstep at a Dancing with the Rogue Valley Stars 2023 fundraiser for Sparrow Clubs in Southern Oregon.

Cori Grimm turned her love of movement into a thriving business.

Teaching ballroom dance lessons and managing a dedicated ballroom space, Grimm blended her passion with entrepreneurship — proving that mixing business with pleasure can indeed be a harmonious waltz.

She manages Evergreen Ballroom, 6088 Crater Lake Ave., near Medford, and teams with her husband, John Ourant, to operate Up and Dancing, a place where people of all ages and skill levels can learn ballroom, Latin and swing.

Grimm said she started dancing in high school with her father.

“He was looking for something we could do together besides fishing,” she said. “I loved trolling and spending time with my dad, but I really didn’t like to eat fish. We both were thoroughly hooked.” On the dancing, that is.

Her dad, in fact, went on to build Evergreen Ballroom when he moved back to Southern Oregon. The elegant space in a warehouse between Medford and White City has a 3,000-square-foot wood floor. He also helped start a USA Dance chapter in the valley.

Leaving the rat race

Cori and John moved to the Rogue Valley in 2000 after their daughter was born.

“We wanted to be closer to family, and my dad was here,” she said.

After six years in Buffalo, New York, where she attended graduate school, studying linguistics, the California natives were no longer daunted by a little snow and looked forward to a place with less traffic.

She and John met at the University of California, San Diego, where they were part of the university’s first dance team. He was her dance partner.

After a break to study in France and Germany, she returned to UC San Diego to finish her degree.

“John was still in town,” she said. “Long story short, we got married and he followed me to Buffalo.”

Her favorite partner

John will always be her favorite dance partner.

“Whether we’re at the ballroom, whizzing around to a Viennese waltz, or dancing a teeny tiny swing in a little nook in a restaurant that doesn’t really have a dance floor, he makes it work, and we have a blast,” she said.

When they moved to Ashland, Evergreen was holding some intermediate ballroom classes, but nobody was teaching beginners. Grimm started a beginners’ class with the hope of rejuvenating the Southern Oregon’s ballroom community.

“One thing led to another, and I now work full-time teaching dance, hosting dance parties and running an annual youth dance competition.”

No beginners’ fatigue

People sometimes ask her if she gets tired of teaching beginners.

“I just don’t,” she said. “I love people, and I especially love to see people discovering the joy of moving to music with another person.”

Her husband, John, is also her DJ.

“We put a lot of effort into keeping our music fresh and very danceable,” she said. “We get plenty of positive feedback for that. And as a database guy, John has all of our music sorted by dance type and tempo, so I can always pull up just what I need for any situation.”

John also has a “day job” as the proprietor of Elemental Homeopathy in Ashland. Before discovering homeopathy, he earned a degree in electrical engineering and had a career in signal processing and computer science in San Diego and Southern Oregon.

Grimm said managing the ballroom allows her to pursue dance as a career. “Most people involved in creative pursuits need a day job. Managing the ballroom is mine,” she said.

Kids competing

Grimm is also executive director of Open Floor Community Dancers Association, and does most of the organizing for the Open Floor Youth Dance Competition.

“I have a fantastic board and team of volunteers,” she said. “I work with several other professional dance teachers and volunteers to teach basic dance skills to competitors, ages 8-25.”

The youth ballroom competition grew out of a less formal dance competition started by June Kranerburg as part of the Pear Blossoms Scholarship Pageant.

Grimm says many people take up dance after a breakup, loss of a partner, or after the kids move out of the house — moments of transition.

But she intentionally tries not to have her classes and parties feel like a singles scene.

“For most people, the human contact of dance is healing and uplifting,” she said. “Plus, each dance allows the expression of a different part of ourselves, whether it’s a romantic waltz, a sassy cha-cha, or a bouncy swing.”

Happy people

Out on the dance floor, she says, is a mix of happy people: lifelong dancers, newcomers and people like the man who just turned 70 and decided to finally make good on a promise someday to learn to dance, or the teenage boy who was terrified of talking to girls until he took up dance and now has a whole pack of young ladies he dances with, or the man with a heart condition who’s taking up dance because it’s more fun than the gym, or the young woman who just moved to town and is looking for a way to meet people.

All of the instructors at Evergreen are independent, representing different teaching styles and offering a variety of classes.

“So I encourage people to shop around,” Grimm said. “Most classes and parties at the ballroom are open to drop-ins.”

What’s her teaching strategy?

“If they’re having a good time, they’re doing it right,” she said. “I try not to ‘help’ people unless they look frustrated. I’m a firm believer that if people stick with dance, they’ll get better at it. When they enjoy themselves, they come back and keep learning.”

For information about events, competitions, and lessons at the ballroom, see evergreenballroom.com. For information about Grimm’s classes at Evergreen Ballroom and at The Grove in Ashland, go to upanddancing.com.