FAMILYFUN
Competitive Dance
with Cooperative Studios
THREE DANCE AND BALLET SCHOOLS ACROSS FIVE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTHWEST WISCONSIN SHARE A FRIENDLY RELATIONSHIP DESPITE, IN SOME WAYS, DIRECTLY COMPETING AGAINST ONE ANOTHER. by Neal Patten Contributed Photos
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ance Elite – with locations in Fennimore, Prairie Du Chien and Richland Center; Shine Power Studio in Boscobel; and HD Academy in Platteville – while all dance studios which send their students to the same regional competitions – share several connections that have made them more cooperative than competitive in nature. Dance Elite LLC is the oldest of the three studios, owned and directed by Holly Johnson, she taught Hana Carl, owner and instructor at HD Academy. Carl went on to instruct at the studio under Johnson before beginning her own business two years ago. Johnson has been teaching for 30 years. Meghan Mueller, owner and director of Shine Power Studio and Gym, learned to dance at Richland Center Dance & Gymnastics and taught for owner Monica Rynes, which is where she derives her style of dance curriculum from at Shine Power. She was also formerly one of the instructors for Johnson at Dance Elite, although only for a short term. Carl grew up learning at Dance Elite, while Johnson got her start through the Betty Hayes School of Dance, a fixture of the southwest Wisconsin dance scene, with an over 70-year legacy. Betty Hayes-Baxter is a regional legend, she began teaching dance shortly after World War II and is still instructing new generations of dancers as a nonagenarian. Hayes-Baxter’s school planted the seeds for Dance Elite and other studios in the Southwest Wisconsin region to blossom into offering their own styles of dance. The three schools provide classes across a diverse lineup of dance styles. All three studios offer recreational and competitive dance in the styles of ballet, clogging, jazz and tap. Both HD Academy and Shine Power also offer point while Dance Elite and HD Academy offer contemporary, hiphop and lyrical.
Additionally, Shine Power teaches cheer, gymnastics and tumbling.
Dancers, By The Numbers
Johnson teaches students age two through adults, but her typical student is in grade school to high school. She has over 300 total students, including 15 men in a “dancing dads” class. “Dance grows every year. It’s such a great thing to be involved in. It’s a healthy activity, great to keep kids moving, great for their poise and the way they carry themselves,” Johnson said. Carl’s 150 students range in age from two and a half up to 18 years old. While Carl teaches some college kids, she
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olds make up the majority of her students. She has been in business since 2014. Mueller said that with Boscobel being a small town, she was hesitant to open a studio there. She prayed for at least 50 students her first year. She had 85 enroll in the first year, which she said blew her away. Now she said she is only limited by the size of her space, but feels confident if she offered more classes, she could fill them. While she offers classes in five styles of dance, she readily admits she’s partial to one. “Ballet is by far my favorite. I like that it uses every ounce of your body, not that other styles don’t, but it builds strength in arms and core. It helps force students to build on flexibility. Ballet you’re never perfect at, there’s always room for improvement, always something harder you can do,” Mueller said. “The reason I push ballet is I believe it is foundation of dance. It carries into other styles like tap and gymnastics. It’s core.” While boys make up the minority at all three schools, there’s still a sizable number of young men taking classes. Mueller said she teaches 55 boys. She offers an all-boys hip hop class. She also attracts wrestlers to her classes, who enroll to help stay flexible for wrestling. Johnson said her boys gravitate towards hip hop classes, as well, although some have branched out and done jazz and tap.
Friendly Competition
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said she’s “just not quite there yet” for adult classes, but plans to offer them some day. She’s only in her second year of business. “Coordination, learning to work as a team from a young age, shaping into a wonderful all-around athlete - all these skills whether students start in preschool or middle school there are so many benefits you can take with you anywhere in life,” Carl said. “The best thing about dance is it never stops. Contact sports come to an end.” Out of 250 total students with her gymnastics half of the business, Mueller estimates around 150-175 students take dance. They range ages three to 18, but she also has a couple students in their early 20s. She said 3 to 8-year-
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While students of these three schools compete against one another, the competition is always friendly. “We are all friends. When you go to competitions, it’s just a welcoming environment,” Carl said. “You don’t know many of the dancers or teachers but you feel an overwhelming environment of acceptance and everyone is cheering each
other on. We take pride in the sportsmanship we display.” Johnson agrees. “While you want your studio to come out strong, we teachers all correlate and we all come together,” she said. Students within the same studio are also more supportive of one another than competitive with each other. “They link arms with teammates, if anyone falls or fails along the way, they truly view them as a family, they focus on we, not I or me,” Carl said. “In competition teams no dancer is left behind, they become a tiny family who become fierce, they are there for each other on and off the stage.” All three schools participate in competitions. They each have their own ways of selecting which students are ready to compete, using tryouts and scoring systems. Students are sent onto regional competitions in cities such as Davenport and Milwaukee. From there, they may qualify for national competitions in states including Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Texas. Carl is impressed by the range a student can display during competition, as many students enroll in multiple styles of dance. “The amount of change between styles - kids become different people - displaying whatever emotion they need to for each dance. Rough and tough or elegant and beautiful, dance teaches kids to adapt to so many styles,” she said. The love of dance seems to pass on from generation to generation. From Betty Hayes-Baxter still instructing in her 90s, to Johnson who has taught for three decades, dance continues to grow and flourish across the region. “Holly in Dance Elite was my teacher. She’s been a great mentor. We all grew up in studios, this is all we’ve ever known, the learning never stops,” Carl said. Mueller said credit for her teaching abilities and knowledge is owed fully to Monica Rynes, and her studio is associated with Monica’s style of dance. “Both Meghan and I had our backgrounds in getting where we are and pursuing our next calling,” Carl said. “We remember our roots and where we came from, but starting our own schools was our next move and what was best for us.” Carl hopes despite being in competition with each other, the different studios can keep an atmosphere of positivity and camaraderie off the dance floor and stage – cheering on, supporting and hoping the best for one another.
Dance Elite
608-604-0578 danceelite@hotmail.com Fennimore: danceelitestudio.com Prairie Du Chien: danceelite-pdc.com Richland Center: danceeliterc.com
HD Academy
608-379-1302 MissHana@HDDanceAcademy.com Platteville: hdacademy.dance
Shine Power
608-485-2589 shinepowerstudio@outlook.com Boscobel: shinepowerstudio.com