Dr. Joey Ray lives an active lifestyle combined with ministry. He is the youngest of a family of ten as well as the brother-in-law of Rebecca Hope, Executive Director of Mid-Metro Academy. Joey currently teaches East and West Coast Swing Dancing at MMA. Before teaching at MMA, he worked as a dentist for decades in southern Minnesota. After retiring from dentistry, he moved to the Twin Cities, where he coaches at a gymnastics studio.

“One of the most important things to swing dance is that if there is no balance, there is no connection,” stated Ray. “If you cannot balance yourself, it wouldn’t be any better adding somebody else to the balance.”

He invites students and adults to take his classes next year, even if they’re introverts. “If you are shy, you’ll learn to meet new people.”

Swing dance is an activity done in social gatherings, and Mr. Ray is quite the charismatic and optimistic man, as I have learned in his classes. According to Joey, the objective of his lessons is for the man to show the beauty of the woman via dance. He teaches that the relationship between partners is akin to the bride of Christ and her Bridegroom.

One of the most life-changing things for Joey was discovering Jesus when he was in his thirties. He has struggled through many trials in life and has overcome them through Jesus Christ. He uses his gifts of dancing and forming relationships to point people toward faith in Christ.