About Us

Our story:

Run by swing dancers for swing dancers, dancestore.com features the best in shoes, clothing and accessories for Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Balboa, Charleston, Boogie Woogie, Collegiate and Varsity Shag, 6-count, 4-count, you name it!

We've been doing this since 1997, and strive to provide you with a wonderful experience each and every time you shop online.

Gay Santelmann has been Lindy Hopping since 1996 and started dancestore.com shortly thereafter in 1997, originally calling it "Hell's Lindy Hoppers".

Andrew Kontola has been Lindy Hopping since 1997 and teamed up with Gay in 2003. They spend their days designing new, cool stuff for incurable swing addicts like themselves. They can be found on dance floors from Manhattan to Baltimore and sporadically teach.

Gay, Andrew and the dancestore.com team create and ship dance shoes and apparel all over the world from their warehouse near Baltimore, Maryland.

Their design team is a core group of swing dancers who are tapped for their knowledge, aesthetics and love of the dance and are integral parts of the decision making process when new items are introduced to our line.

In addition to the design team, hundreds of dancers in the DC/Baltimore area are consulted at dances where they test our shoes under precise laboratory conditions; grabbing a partner and heading to the dance floor.