Hello readers! I wanted to create a blog to talk about the joys of operating our dance company. We have many stories, memories and accomplishments that I want to document for members who wish to read about it.
Tonight, I wanted to get started by talking about why I am a dance teacher. It started in 2009. I had just graduated from college and moved home to start my new job while my fiancé (now husband) was located in another city finishing up his last year of grad school. In looking for something to do on the week nights, my mom and I started taking an adult tap class. I was not a stranger to dance as I’d taken classes throughout childhood and high school and occasionally with my roommate in college when we could find one that would fit in our class schedule. The class was full of other adults and some high school students who were teaching dance to little kids at the same location. Over the course of the year I got to know them, got to know the coordinator of the dance program, Tara, and by the end I had the idea that maybe I could be a teacher too. After all, dance had played an important role in my life. I had many fond memories of dance recitals, musical rehearsals and days of theme park performing and I was excited at the prospect of a new chapter of dance in my life.
And so started my career as a dance teacher. I started out with classes of sweet little girls as young as 2 years old and spent the year watching as they learned not only the basic foundations of ballet and tap but also how to listen to a teacher in a classroom setting. We learned together as they all were taking their first dance steps and I was taking my first steps as a leader. Their excitement on recital night was thrilling to watch but I am sure I was even more excited to watch them. After that, I was hooked. I spent a total of 5 years at that location, each year soaking up more knowledge about how to teach dance and how to nurture my creativity in choreographing the many dances I taught.
When I found out I was becoming a mom, I decided dance had to go on the back burner for a while. I needed to figure out my new role and so hard as it was, I gave up my position as a dance instructor. After I got into the groove of motherhood, I felt a void without dance. I missed the rehearsals where the kids would practice something new over and over until they got it. I missed the sparkle in their eyes on the day when costumes were handed out. I missed their smiling faces on recital night. I wanted to get back into it and after a lot of research, planning and conversations with former students and their parents, I was ready to begin again.
Here I am now, at the helm of a new dance company that I began and I am right where I belong. I feel such joy every week when the door opens and the dancers arrive ready to tackle the new challenges I have for them. I get just as excited as I did 7 years ago to watch the little girls learn their first steps and the big girls take on the complicated ones. And watching them bring their dances to life at their performances is like watching an old favorite movie that I could watch 100 times and never not be enthralled. I am privileged to be able to teach dance.
Shine Bright Dance Project 