Dancing Through Life

To the unknown, it’s a plain, warehouse-like, building with a forest green awning, but once inside, 5678 Dance studio comes alive. The dance studio can be a place you love or a place you hate. It is a place of hard work and dedication, but also a place of passion and fun. Growing up in my hometown dance studio and now teaching in North Sioux City and creating the same experience for others in the Siouxland area is a job I take pride in.

From the outside, the bland off white building with a forest green awning doesn’t create the most welcoming ora. The studio is located in North Sioux City on Derby Lane, back by Old Military Road. This road is full of warehouses and industrial businesses and when leaving the studio late at night after closing, when the sun is down and the moon is out, it doesn’t feel to be the safest neighborhood. However, once or twice, I have went in the morning for choreography and the reflection of the orange glow of sunrise bouncing off the green awning creates a calm and welcoming presence, especially with my own excitement of what is to come with choreography. When normal classes are in session, the parking lot is overfilled with a variety of cars of parents waiting for their children to get finished with classes.

Once entering the front glass door, during the early evening, the enthusiastic sounds of excited children putting on dance shoes and preparing for class fills the air. “Is class starting yet?” “Can we go in yet?” and such questions from the youngsters float through out the room. The faint musical sound of a past recital chimes on the dvd player on the wall to your right. Worn-out colorful shoes and full dance bags are scattered across the floor and draped on steel grey aluminum folding chairs the line the walls of the lobby. To the left is a old white wooden shelf full of jet black and deep purple dance shorts along with the empty sign-up sheets waiting to be picked up by nervous perspective dancers. Directly ahead is where I start my visits to the studio: the office.

Who ever is working the front desk, Melissa or Mary or one of the teachers, is usually overwhelmed with questions of new shoes and apparel to monthly payments of tuition. At first sight the office may look like a cluttered minuet space within the studio, however at second look the office is a small space but is highly organized and efficient. From the towers of dance shoes lining the back wall, abundance of costume books in a wicker basket, to a shelf full of random necessities such as cleaning supplies and teacher’s area to place belongs, the office has a perfectly useful organization. This room is also home to a comfy, sophisticated black and white zebra comfy chair. Usually coming from the office, the voice of concerned parents commands the office, along with Melissa’s calming answers and solutions. This is where teacher’s rest and wait for the next class of rugrats to begin.

The dance studio room can be looked upon through crystal clear windows. The windows are mainly for the younger classes therefore parents can gaze upon their sons and daughters learning how to shuffle or pirouette; some even learn a hip-hop stall or two. The floor is a rich wooden grainy linoleum and stretches across the entire room of studio one. Upon walls of sea green, mirrors are used almost from floor to ceiling for dancers to utilize when in a group dance or developing the details of their own technique. Above the shining mirrors are trophies from years past. This colorful, glistening evidence of hard work and dedication line the ceiling encircling the entire room.

Royal blue and golden yellow tumbling mats wait patiently in the corner to be utilized for tumbling classes every other day. A grey and black stereo sits upon a plastic stackable shelving unit along with colorful rubber dots used to mark spots on the wooden floor and a basket full of CD’s that are way past their prime from, Hannah Montana to Now That’s What We Call Music 28. The voice of an authoritative teacher fills the air in the studio room along with blaring music of a variety of genres.

Growing up the dance studio was my place to let go and forget all that happened to me that day. It ultimately became my home away from home. My goal in life is to create and environment for young girls and boys to grow up in and have that same feeling that I did and develop a passion for performing. Starting to teach in this studio is definitely putting me on the right path for my goals and is a prime example of a beautiful place to dance and grow up through music.