Instructor Biography: Richard Barnett
Richard Barnett is a country, ballroom and Latin dance instructor, DJ and choreographer. Rich, a retired IBM marketeer, came upon his second career by accident after having been persuaded to take line dance lessons by friends. This was followed by a neighbor persuading him to teach line dancing. That was twenty one years ago. During that period Rich became a successful instructor and entrepreneur hosting weekly dances and becoming the Northeastern Regional Director for the National Teacher’s Association for Country Dance (NTA). A desire to become more proficient at the Hustle opened the door to ballroom and Latin dancing and introduced him to his first Russian dance instructor, Julia Ivleva. Although one to teach by the book, Rich was not prepared for the perfection demanded by his new instructors who were world class competitors. It took a while but Rich became a successful competition dancer competing in Pro-Am with various professionals like Larissa Malikhina Trebunskaya and Viktorija Dias. He now uses the skills acquired through several years of lessons and competition preparation to teach others. Rich is most proud of the Retired Service Volunteer Program (RSVP) line dance team he has coached over the years who entertain at various nursing home and assisted living facilities. They bring much happiness to the people living there and in turn bring him great satisfaction. Basically, he loves teaching and being with people. Although dancing is not the only thing Rich thinks about, his wife Carol disagrees. And when she hears one of his students say “Rich has so much patience” she mutters “you ought to see him at home!”