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From a not too well paid clerk in a shoe store in his home town of Statesville, North Carolina, a town of approximately 18,000 population, Jay has become a ballroom dance instructor with a large and constantly growing number of pupils.

And now this personable young man has youngsters and oldsters alike on their feet dancing and loving every minute of it.

Last summer, because of his dancing skill, residents and guests at Blowing Rock, exclusive North Carolina mountain resort, had the privilege of seeing Jay and his pretty wife, Fredna, perform intricate ballroom dancing exhibitions for the pleasure of Saturday night patrons at one of the resort's leading hotels. And during the week, hotel guests from all over North Carolina and from faraway states as well, availed themselves of the opportunity of taking lessons from Little, who is rapidly becoming quite well-known for exhibition dancing and for his ease in transmitting his knowledge into the would-be dancing feet of others.

AFTER ONLY a few lessons in his regular classes in Statesville, boys and girls of ten and eleven years of age and even younger are doing the tango and the samba like real professionals, not to mention other popular dances such as the one they all love, the jitterbug.

At the youngsters' dances, children who had been considered shy and awkward are on the dance floor keeping right up with the best of them. Like old hands at the game, young cavaliers with scrubbed faces and draped breeches are breaking in on little live dolls with beautifully curled hair and fluffy dresses.

"It is a gratifying experience," says Little, "to see some of these kids who are so bashful and timid when they first come to the studio that they only want to stand around and look on soon forgetting themselves in the joy of dancing and participating in group fun."

Little's services are so in demand now that he commutes regularly to the neighboring town of Taylorsville, where each Monday he holds both afternoon and evening classes.

And his work with youngsters isn't the half of it—though he admits that to him it is the most important! Tired businessmen and hustling housewives are climbing a steep flight of stairs to Jay's studio to get instruction from this young man who is rekindling an interest in this excellent form of relaxation. Attendance at the dances in his vicinity has more than doubled in the last year, and young married couples who were content to watch from the sidelines, and many in the "fortyish" group who were about to forego nights out in favor of the easy chair and television, are now on the dance floor doing the fox-trot and the rumba, with a few brave enough to tackle more complicated dances.

"Many of my adult pupils who were good dancers back in their youth can catch on to the newer dances very quickly," says Little. "But with those who are really just learning for the first time, we take our lessons more slowly in order to learn the basic steps thoroughly."

ALL THIS has come about because a young man had vision enough to develop a hobby into a profession! Jay finished Statesville high school, where he acknowledges that he was never one to shine in English, mathematics and other such subjects, but where he was always A-plus when it came to football, extra-curricular activities and popularity. He held all sorts of school offices because of his pleasing personality, and was especially popular at the school dances and other social functions. This ability to get along well with others has helped him considerably in bringing out these desirable traits in his pupils.

After graduation, he worked for a year or so as credit manager for Goodrich Tire Company in Statesville. Later he went to work as a shoe clerk, but he soon found that this job paid entirely too little to support a family, which he had now acquired. Besides Jay and his wife, there is one son, Tommy, who at three and a half years of age already shows signs of being a future dance star in his own right!

So Little started casting about for a better paying job that required no college education, which had been denied him because of lack of funds. With encouragement from his friends, he decided to see if his ability to dance, until now only a pleasant pastime, could support a family. Here luck was with him, for there was no other ballroom dance instructor in Statesville, and a survey of the adult and children's dances showed that one was truly needed.

Jay realized that he could not just say, "Presto—I am a dancing teacher!"—and have pupils flocking to him by the dozens. He knew that this was something that would take time and training before he could build up enough confidence in people to make them willing to fork out their hard-earned dollars to him. So he held on to his job, but began riding back and forth to Charlotte, North Carolina, some forty miles distant, where the nearest large dancing schools were located, to take lessons in all kinds of ballroom dances.

WHEN LITTLE and his dancing instructors were sure that he was capable of teaching others, he set about organizing his first dance class. Jay believed that in the beginning he could probably best appeal to youngsters of about eleven and twelve years of age, in order to catch them before they reached the self-conscious adolescent state.

Realizing that most mothers are eager to have their children well schooled in the social graces, Jay was wise enough to communicate with them rather than approaching the children first. He procured a list of a number of the town's most prominent young matrons who had children in the right age group. He called each mother individually and explained to her his plans for starting ballroom dancing classes, and asked if she would like to have her child enrolled.

"The mothers whom I called were so interested and enthusiastic that they practically organized my first class for me by calling their own friends who had eleven and twelve-year-old youngsters," Jay recalls.

His first class met in the living room of his home, and was scheduled for seven o'clock in the evening, as he knew that he still couldn't give up a regular income on the strength of future hopes. After a few months he rented a small, second-floor room in a bank building and converted it into a studio. As his reputation grew and the number of his pupils increased, this room became too small. Now he is occupying an attractively decorated, sizeable twenty-five-by-forty-foot downtown room, but has other plans in his mind.

"What I really want is to build a house close in on a lot that falls off at the rear, so that I can have a large natural basement studio right in my own home," Little says. "I could make a nice payment on a house for the rent that I have to pay out monthly on my apartment, this studio in Statesville and the small one I rent in Taylorsville."

MOST OF Jay's classes for children average ten pupils each and meet once weekly after school hours. His charges are $1 per lesson, payable monthly. Absentees have the privilege of attending regularly scheduled makeup classes. A recorder with a large assortment of records furnishes music for the many different types of dances taught.

All adult classes are held at night, and can be any size, depending on the wishes of the group participating. In some instances, where adults want more individual attention, prices are somewhat higher accordingly. Jay is now teaching a class of seventeen couples for the local Elks' Club. For this group he has made a set charge of $15 per couple for ten lessons. "For such a large class, I can afford to give a better rate," he explains.

Perhaps Little's best method of advertising has been through the many programs he has presented for various civic and social organizations, as well as for school assemblies.

Jay is now teaching youngsters of all ages. He even has a group of eight-year-olds, who are just as cute as "Twinkletoes," and almost as light on their feet!

When his classes have a big dance, each child is allowed to invite one guest, a practice which has brought him a number of new pupils. At the beginning of each dancing term, he continues to communicate with all mothers of prospective new pupils. And by means of the grapevine, the mothers of his present students are playing a large part in helping him to obtain new ones, for his reputation has spread much more rapidly than he could possibly have hoped for.