Bay Area couple celebrates more than 40 years of teaching ballroom dancing

TAMPA, Fla. - A Bay Area couple passionate about dance is celebrating a major milestone.

In the heart of Davis Islands, you can find Blanche Librero and her husband Emilio dancing away.   

"Wow! It's been wonderful," said Blanche Librero, owner of Librero’s School and Dance Studio. "You know, it's just been, I really believe that if you're doing what you love, that time flies."

The former ballroom dancers opened their Librero’s School and Dance Studio in 1979.

"When we first started, the first three months, the first semester, we started teaching, we only had seven students," explained Blanche Librero. "And, you would think we would have gotten discouraged. But you know what? We just got determined."

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"I just love what we do," Emilio Librero added. "You know, we love dancing, teaching, and doing parties."

They teach ballroom dancing, Latin, swing, Argentine, tango, and wedding dances.

"Every day I am really happy to get up and come to work. I don't believe that, in these 45 years, I have ever said, I don't want to go to work today, I love it, I love the people," Blanche Librero stated.

"What we want is really to help people live healthier and happier lives, to dance through dancing," said Emilio Librero. "And I think that had really fell (sic) back to us too. We have been healthier and happier because of it."

The Libreros met at a dance studio in Ormond Beach in 1973 and were married a few years later.

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"I think we just like each other, you know, we like, we had a similar philosophy in what we wanted to do, you know, and we just wanted to do our own thing and do it our own way," Emilio Librero added.

Dorothy Tsai has been a regular since the studio opened more than four decades ago.  

"It's been very nice, you know, now when I see somebody that dance, oh, yeah, I can do that too," Tsai shared. "Maybe not as nice, but at least I think I know how to do it."

The small, intimate space is a renowned dance school that even landed them on a late-night talk show years ago.

"We were on the David Letterman show one time, and I danced with some famous baseball player, but I don't even remember his name. I'm sorry to say," Blanche Librero said.

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But, she hasn't forgotten about her love of dancing.

"I just love dancing," Blanche Librero explained. "So, there was no doubt music and dancing. So, I looked for that in my life."

A legacy of timeless dancing with every step taken on the wooded floors.

The Librero’s are celebrating their anniversary with a big party on June 14 at the studio.

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