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PROUD OF OUR PAST; EXCITED FOR OUR FUTURE! The Early Years  The dance studio first opened in September 1975 and held its first classes in a private school. The first recital, though small, was held in June 1977. It was in this year that the studio moved to its own space in a small strip mall. With one teaching room, classes filled quickly and we soon outgrew the space. In 1981, we moved to another location that had two separate floors and accommodated many more classes. While our main emphasis had been on tap, ballet, jazz and gymnastics, during these early years we also offered baton twirling, unicycling and Saturday night adult disco classes! Our first "Show Groups" were formed and many students participated in local shows and parades. The highlight for this young studio was a trip in 1980 to Atlantic City when our students appeared on the March of Dimes Telethon. In 1981, enrollment increased to the point where two separate recitals were held. Many traditions that carry on today were born during this time. 1982 - 1986 In a new large location, there was now room to add new classes to the schedule, including Hawaiian, Tahitian, aerobics, and roller disco. We were also able to accept more private students and our Performing Troupe really  started
taking shape. Some performances in these years included the first Alexandria
Waterfront Festival, Wolf Trap Children's Festival, Cerebral Palsy Telethon,
Tyson's Corner Mall, Landmark Mall, the Arlington County
Fair, Wild World Theme Park, and the Kennedy Center, just to name a few.
Our Troupe also began dancing competitively during this time. They traveled to Atlantic City for Showstopper Nationals and for several summers spent fun-filled weeks in Ocean City at Starmaker Competitions. In the midst of all the dance fun, we were forced to vacate yet another studio due to renovations, and after a long search found a new home in March 1984 in a large warehouse in Alexandria. There was no longer roller disco in this location -- now we were offering break dancing workshops! 1987 - 1991  Our
studio continued to grow while keeping focused on individual students. After
many fundraisers, our Troupe became much more active. They attended musicals
together as a group and traveled to many dance workshops, performances and
competitions. Students appeared at the Pentagon, Old Post Office Pavilion, Fort
Ward Park, Kennedy Center, United Way Fair, and on Alexandria Cable TV.
Our groups looked sharp and were consistently winning top honors in competitions in tap. We began competing more ballet and jazz routines and bringing home more awards from competitions. Although we no longer offered break dancing, we did form our first pom pon group during this time, and also started offering lyrical dance. After 15 successful years serving the Alexandria area, a second location was opened in Lake Ridge in 1990. 1992 - 1996 Once again our Alexandria studio had to find a new home due to renovation. We opened our Van Dorn Street location in January 1993 -- finally in a space that was custom designed to be a dance studio!
 Our
classes continued to grow and adult classes in ballet, jazz and especially tap
became more popular. Our students were featured in performances at Springfield
Mall, the concert for UNICEF, and in many other shows.Experience was showing in our dancers as they continued to capture awards at competitions. High score awards were won for many memorable routines, including "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers," "From a Distance," "No Limit," "Barney," "CanCan," "and especially "Swing Kids," which took top honors in New York at Nationals. The experienced students in Alexandria were not the only ones winning. It did not take long for Lake Ridge students to shine as well. In August 1995, Chris was given the opportunity to become Director of the dance program at the Dale City Recreation Center. The Lake Ridge studio closed and classes moved to Dale City where students continued to flourish. There were many new enthusiastic performers in Dale City. 1997 - 2002 In the last several years, students in both Dale City and Alexandria have continued to excel in dance. We added Cecchetti ballet technique classes to the curriculum as well as musical theater and hip-hop. Our students have taken master classes with members of Broadway's "Tap Dogs" and "Riverdance."
 They
have been big winners at the summer Dance Caravan Stars of Tomorrow competition
the last four years and have performed at Busch Gardens in Virginia and Wildwood
Beach in New Jersey. But that was just the beginning...In 2001 we celebrated our 25th anniversary with a huge recital that featured some of our favorite routines from throughout the years. Shortly after the recital our performing Dance Company traveled to Walt Disney World in Orlando, where they were the featured performers on the Tomorrowland Stage in The Magic Kingdom and spent a day in a workshop with Disney choreographers learning Disney routines. Later in the year our Company was asked to perform "God Bless the USA" as part of the official ceremony welcoming the Olympic torch to Alexandria on its way to the Winter Olympic Games. And as if that wasn't enough, we capped off the tremendous year with a trip to New York City and the lights of Broadway. There Company members participated in an intensive workshop at Radio City Music Hall conducted by Radio City Rockette choreographers, attended "The Radio City Christmas Spectacular" and caught the Broadway performance of "42nd Street." It was an unbelievable year that left us all wondering what we could possible do for an encore. Just watch us! In 2002 we began our second quarter century of building confidence and making memories, as participation in our Performing Dance Company reached record levels. Our teachers became increasingly creative and innovative in their choreography, and our dancers were better than ever, with so many rising young stars in our presence. 2003 - TODAY  In
August of 2003 we undertook our most ambitious trip to date with performances at
both Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando. In October 2003 we began yet
another new chapter with the opening of our new state-of-the-art studio on
Eisenhower Avenue in Alexandria, VA. The studio features three large dance rooms
-- two with high quality wood dance flooring and one with top-of-the-line Marley
flooring -- providing the best and safest options for each form of dance.
And though the setting has changed, our approach has not. We're still a studio that stresses proper technique in all disciplines of dance and presents it in a personalized and enjoyable manner for students of all abilities and all ages. The 2003-2004 dance year saw our students earn greater competitive recognitions than at any point in our history, culminating with Dance Caravan in Portsmouth, VA, where dances from our studio swept the three top recognition awards in a field of 120 acts. So what does our next chapter hold? We hope you will come write that chapter with us... |
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Chris Collins Collins Dance Studio |
