In Step With DC
Who Had the Biggest Impact on Our Teachers?
Our wonderful teachers at Dance Connection are why we shine as a studio. Their passion for dance and their ability to share that and inspire our students to excel is definitely second to none. But who was their inspiration? They were good enough to share with us the very important people in their lives and dance careers that influenced them in so many important ways.
My biggest motivator and ballet inspiration was one of my ballet teachers, Miss Renee. She was the one who signed me up to audition for The Joffrey Ballet summer intensive at age 14. She was one of their principal ballerinas when she was younger and I was always in awe of her! She is a huge reason why I love ballet so much today. She had such a passion when she taught, I could feel her love of ballet even on her strictest days! I hope she would be proud of the ballet teacher I am today, because she had so much to do with it without even knowing it probably.
When I first started as a student teacher at the age of 12 I worked with Miss Tracy. Tracy had been teaching the “baby classes” for years and I just loved everything about how she instructed her classes. She made every week fun while the dancers learned their ballet and tap curriculum. From the first week I knew that becoming a dance teacher was something for me and to this day I use many of the teaching techniques that I learned from Tracy all those years ago.
I started as a dancer 20 plus years ago at Dance Connection and now I work side by side with some of my long time teachers. They have had a big influence in shaping me into a dancer and giving me the teaching tools/skills to carry on to my students. Each teacher has their own flair and personality that always made their classes unique. I always like to recognize Miss Mary, Miss Donna, Miss Melinda, Miss Colleen as well as give much gratitude to my past teachers on my path to becoming the teacher I am today.
The most influential figure along my journey as a dancer has been my high school dance instructor, Helene Yelverton. She not only taught me the technique and training to become a professional dancer, but she instilled respect, grace, focus and drive. After sacrificing everything to pursue my passion, Helene was the inspiration that helped me persevere.
We’re hoping that our teachers and our studio are having the same important impact on our dancers, and are helping to guide them not only in learning to dance, but in learning skills that will assist them throughout their entire lives.