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 Goodbye
Tradition, Hello Future
By Jennifer Rienert
Why a former ballet school expanded its curriculum
My school, New Hampshire School of Ballet, had a long
tradition of a primarily ballet curriculum when I purchased it
from my aunt in 1990. But after three years, I realized that
today’s students need to be well-rounded dancers. It was time
to expand the curriculum.
The school was founded by my grandmother, Lena Taylor, 43
years ago. Her daughter, Suzanne Taylor (my aunt), at age 15,
was the school’s only teacher in the early years. She was
studying with Virginia Williams at Boston Ballet School at the
time, and since her personal experience was mostly in ballet,
that’s the direction she chose for the school. Throughout her
26 years as the director, Suzanne concentrated on a strictly
ballet and jazz program, with ballet accounting for about 80
percent of the classes. Although I’m sure tap was very popular
at that time, it was not a favorite of hers. She wanted a
small, specialized school, and since she was the only teacher,
tap was not offered.
Suzanne did a great job of instilling a love of ballet in her
students while experimenting with other styles in our small
jazz program. The studio was never involved in dance
competitions, so instead of other studios and dance genres
influencing it, theater and movies did. Then, in the 1980s,
the school’s jazz classes started incorporating a lyrical
flavor, which we all enjoyed immensely. Looking back, I can
see that those classes were the beginning of a lyrical
program, though we didn’t realize how big contemporary dance
was going to get.
When I purchased the studio from Suzanne, I continued with her
example. Since I had studied with her for 18 years, her
program was my program. By concentrating on those specialized
areas, our students had become strong and known for their
technical studies. I believed in keeping ballet as the
priority in the school, and for the first few years I didn’t
change much beyond expanding the jazz program. But when I
recognized that dancers need to have experience in all
disciplines to accommodate today’s demands, it was time to
change. After only three years as the new owner and director,
I decided to break out of our norm and include tap in our
curriculum.
Because I did not have much tap education, I did not feel
confident in teaching those classes myself. I hired Aaron
Tolsen, an up-a nd-coming
tap prodigy from our area. It was his first teaching job, but
I felt confident that we had the start of something good. As
with most new things, enrollment started slowly. In the
beginning we had two age levels, with only a few students in
each class. I thought that either our students were so
programmed to train in only two dance genres that they thought
anything else was unnecessary, or else they didn’t sign up
because the classes were beyond their financial means.
Although Aaron did a great job (he later toured with
Riverdance as a soloist), after only two years we had to
end our first attempt with tap. The classes were too small to
justify the expenses. I remember being disappointed that the
expansion process did not go as planned.
However, several years later I was determined to try again. I
believed that my students needed the opportunity to study
different disciplines and I did not want to have to send them
elsewhere for that training. I decided to give it a few years
even if it meant just breaking even on the classes. This time
I hired a former student, Mary Beth Marino, who had recently
graduated from college with a BA in dance. We developed
several levels of classes based on age (mostly all beginner
classes since we had very few students with experience). We
then began advertising the program as well as encouraging our
existing students to participate. As expected, enrollment was
slow again. However, as more students saw tap in our
performances, their curiosity and interest grew. Ten years
later our tap program is thriving and has branched out into
eight levels. I believe that having the right instructor,
along with the right exposure onstage, can generate interest
in any new program in a school.
We added occasional master classes in lyrical and modern dance
to test the interests of our students. We established lyrical
classes three years ago, mostly due to the interest generated
from competitions, and attendance has been good. My next goal
was to incorporate modern dance (Limón, Taylor, and Horton
techniques) into our weekly program. Because of the importance
that colleges place on modern-dance studies, I knew it was
essential for my serious students to have it on their resume.
Again, at first interest was limited to motivated and serious
students who were contemplating a dance future. But thanks to
more modern dance showing up at competitions, interest has
increased. We now have well-attended intermediate and advanced
levels each week.
Although ballet is still our strongest program and our
priority, expanding the curriculum has been a good business
decision. I feel that my choices have been beneficial to the
students as
 well,
which makes them all the more rewarding. I wanted to stay true
to the roots of my school but also offer enough diversity in
the program to encompass everyone’s needs. I realize that
expanding a program too much can be a negative thing as well,
especially if you try to do it all at once. In my experience,
slow and steady wins the race.
Like most businesses, we have had some failures. We have tried
to incorporate a hip-hop class for the past two years, but
enrollment was too small to continue it. I think my students’
parents are stretched too thin financially and the kids had to
choose which classes they would take. We will have to tackle
that problem eventually, since hip-hop is now a big part of
dance culture. Though it has been tough for us, studios with
larger enrollments than ours probably will not have a problem
filling hip-hop classes.
School owners who wish to expand their curriculum should
consider sending a survey to their students to determine which
classes they are most interested in. That gives you an idea of
how many students might enroll. Offering occasional master
classes in a new discipline, on the weekends and during the
summer, is a great way to begin to build new interests among
your students. Finding the right teachers is also essential.
It’s hard enough to generate something new; if you don’t have
the right teacher, one who will excite and motivate your
students in the beginning, it’s a lost cause. You can help to
open students’ minds to something new by watching videos or
movies or going to the theater with them to show them how the
professional dance world is using these styles.
Finally, don’t be disappointed and pull the plug on your new
program too early if enrollment is low. Give it a chance to
take off. Expose new disciplines in your school performances
to let everyone see what you have to offer and how fun it is.
We see a big surge in interest from students and parents
wanting to try something new immediately after they see it
performed onstage. If you believe that what you are offering
is beneficial to and in the best interest of your students,
stick with it. If it generates a win–win situation for
everyone, you can’t go wrong.
Photo captions (from top to bottom):
Holly Croteau, Abby Normandeau, and Jenny Treat give their all
in a modern dance to Carmina Burana.
Lyrical classes (taught by Megan Nallan, center) are part of
the school’s expanded curriculum.
Tap dance attracts students like Peter Mazurowski and Kasey
Harisiades.
All photos courtesy Jennifer Rienert
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