Tell us a little about The Barre Dance Company and how you decided to open your own studio?
The Barre Dance Company was founded to offer excellent quality dance training to the Morris, Kimberly and surrounding areas. Our mission is to glorify God through dance, to develop leaders within our program, and to use these skills to better our communities.
The story of how this dance studio came to be is an amazing story of God’s Providence and one that I’d love to sit down and share with anyone interested in hearing the details. In a nutshell, after spending most of my life dancing, training, performing, earning a degree in dance, and teaching dance for years, God opened the doors to open The Barre Dance Company, and has provided every step of the way- from the people to the location, to the instructors, and every single aspect. I am extremely humbled and grateful at all the Lord has done.
Why did you choose Morris as the location?
My husband, Josh Golden, accepted the head boys basketball coach position at Mortimer Jordan almost 7 years ago, and for a while he commuted from Alabaster. We eventually decided to move to the Morris/Kimberly area. I was teaching dance in Helena and continued to make that commute several times a week from Kimberly. About 2 years ago, what started out as teaching private lessons to a couple 13 year olds from the Morris/Gardendale communities, lead to the realization that God was beginning to open the doors for my dream to come to life, right here in Morris, and I began the journey to turn the dream into reality. I’ll forever be in awe of how it all transpired.
What ages are accepted in your training?
Our classes start at age 3 and go all the way up to adults! We even have adult only classes!
What types of skills and development are worked on within your training?
We strive to offer the highest quality dance training. We have several instructors who have degrees in dance education, and several who have extensive experience teaching dance at the highest levels.
Our focus is on teaching proper alignment and placement to prevent injuries and ensures that we prepare our students for the next level, whether that be a more advanced level at our studio, or for something in a college dance program, a professional company, or a dance training experience at a prestigious dance institute. We want our students to be equipped with everything they need to take their dance training to the next level, whatever that may be.
How many instructors do you have and do your students typically spend years training?
We currently have 9 instructors at our studio. Although this is only our second year as a studio, our goal is to develop top quality dancers/artists who are prepared to take their dance training to another level, but we also know that many will not pursue dance after high school. We have a place for everyone- those who are pursuing dance just as a hobby and do not wish to pursue dance after high school, as well as those who want to seriously train and see a future in dance. But to answer the question simply, yes, our dancers typically spend years training at our studio, whether it be because they are learning dance and meeting friends and being given the tools to lead successful lives, OR because they desire to continue their dance training after leaving us.
We are excited about what God has in store for The Barre Dance Company!
