History

Tradition

The St. Louis Service Bureau dances have been a St. Louis tradition since 1930 when a few ladies organized a dance class for their children. Within a year, over 200 children were enrolled in the program.   During this same period, another group of women were providing invitation services to the community. In 1930, these two separate entities became the St. Louis Service Bureau. From the beginning, the founding women, who were members of the Junior League, decided the profits should go to charity. In 1933, they were able to give their first charitable donation.

Over the years, the dance classes have had many changes in location and number of children. Today, over 800 children are involved in the dance programs. The younger classes, 6th grade through 9th grade are taught be professionals and overseen by our board members who are aware of our mission.  Our Assembly Dances (10, 11 and 12) are held twice a year and are black tie events. All our dances are chaperoned by our Board Members and their husbands. They serve as role models to our students.

To stress the importance of our mission, we ask each class to support a local charity. They chose a specific dance during the year and bring items for the agency. The class chairs deliver the donations in the name of the specific class.