Today we’d like to introduce you to Michele Zehner.
Michele, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was a professional ballet dancer. After I retired, I started teaching and found a real passion for pedagogy. I became a professional ballet teacher, got married and we started a family. Eventually, my daughter was old enough and serious enough about dance that I needed to find a good school for her training. Having grown up in the ballet world, I wanted to make sure the school she would go to had both a professional training curriculum and treated their students with both respect and a concern for their mental well-being. I couldn’t find any schools in our area that met my criteria so myself and two partners decided to open our own school. When we first opened the doors of Florida School for Dance Education, we had no idea of what to expect but we took off right away and haven’t looked back since.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There are always struggles. For example, Covid 19 came along and we really had to reinvent the wheel. We switched to virtual classes and because we knew people were struggling, we offered April tuition-free and reduced our rates for May to finish out the season. The students had been working on their pieces for our End of the Year Showcase and we knew they would be so disappointed not to be able. To perform so we devised a way for them to perform while maintaining all the CDC recommended guidelines. All the families were so appreciative that it really ended up being a positive.
We’d love to hear more about Florida School for Dance Education.
FSDE is a dance studio. We have students as young as two years old and as young as well into their 70’s. We are known for our excellent dance training and incredible professional staff. Most of our staff have danced professionally in companies, on Broadway, and with the Rockettes.
Our Vision Statement is our guiding principle: Florida School for Dance Education was established to train dancers to go out in the professional world by offering training in a safe, nurturing environment where students can explore and thereby develop into independent, well-adjusted members of the community. FSDE offers training for all who seek to further their knowledge of dance regardless of age, color, sex or religion in a professional atmosphere.
Many of our students have decided to pursue professional careers in the performing arts. Our Alumni can be found dancing all over the globe in such companies as Pennsylvania Ballet and Stuttgart Ballet, in music videos and on Broadway or Broadway Touring Companies. One of the things we are most proud of is the feeling of family we all share. Even when the Alumni come home, FSDE is one of their first stops. It is truly rare to find a professionally-oriented school that also considers the mental well-being and development of its students.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are consistently seeing a higher and higher caliber of students. We are becoming Nationally recognized as a school with excellent training. We want to continue that trend in the future.
We constantly evaluate both our facility and our program to see if there is anything that will help us improve. We have had to make some changes due to the pandemic. We have added hand-sanitizing stations to the entrance of all our studios and reduced class sizes to allow for social distancing. We are currently considering adding another studio to meet demand.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4100 PGA Blvd
Palm Beach Gardens FL, 33410 - Website: http://floridaschoolfordanceeducation.com/
- Phone: 561-627-9708
- Email: floridaschoolfordanceeducation@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flschoolfordanceed/
Image Credit:
All photos courtesy of Hollister Thomas
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