About Us

The Hip Joint is a dance and fitness wear shop located just off the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The Hip Joint is committed to being a superior resource for the movement arts community in Central Virginia. The store specializes in selling and fitting shoes for Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Tap, Hip-Hop, Ballroom and Theater, as well as leotards, tights, costumes, activewear, yogawear, and accessories and gifts for all forms of dance.

The Hip Joint staff has an extensive background in dance, theater and the movement arts in order to provide the proper and pertinent information regarding fit and function.

Jennifer Tweel Kelly
is the owner of The Hip Joint, a native of Charlottesville, and has been dancing for the past 28 years. Jen received a BA in Dance from James Madison University and has been performing and teaching dance ever since. Jen has perfomed with Chihamba, pieces of dance exchange, Chavasse Dance and Performance, and CORA/Shannon Hummel among others. She has also shown her own work primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area and Virginia. Jen has taught people ages 3-adult at pre-schools, private schools, colleges and universities. She has been influenced by her teachers all over the country in her movement studies experiences including American Dance Festival, Tisch School of the Arts, Bates Dance Festival, and Alexander technique training. Jen has been a member of Charlottesville's Zen Monkey Project since 1999. She lives with her husband, Christian and daughter Maya in Charlottesville. They also own Maya Restaurant on West Main Street. She opened The Hip Joint in November of 2003 and continues to be an active member of the arts community in the area.