Edith Ollwerther, aka Edie, is the Owner and Director of Edie’s Dance Factory in Wood-Ridge, New Jersey. Edie’s Dance Factory began in 1973 with 11 students and holding their classes in Edie’s basement. A small recital was held at the Methodist Church in Hasbrouck Heights in June 1974 and that was the beginning of what was to become Edie’s Dance Factory. The number of students grew by word of mouth and they kept moving to larger facilities as needed until they eventually moved to their present location in 1995. The studio now offers Tap, Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop, Vocal and Musical Theater and welcomes students from 3 years of age and up. They celebrated their 40th recital in June, 2014.
As Edie’s Dance Factory began to grow, they started the competition Dance Company. Since then, they have grown substantially and their competition team has grown from 3 seven year olds to their present team of 30 students ranging in age from 6 to 18. Edie is very proud of the accomplishments and improvements that the team has made over the years.
Students who are members of the competition Dance Company must take Jazz, Tap and Ballet. Additionally, the members of the Dance Company must attend a summer dance program every year because Edie believes that you cannot go for two or three months without dancing and still keep your dancing at a competition level. In order to support their fellow dancers who are performing, all members of the Company attend every competition and show, even if they are not performing.
The Dance Company has performed on a Carnival Cruise Ship, at the New Jersey State Fair, National Competitions in Atlantic City and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and has performed three times at Walt Disney World in Florida. They have also performed in the Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington D.C. and in 2013 they participated in the “Show Us Your Shoes” parade during the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City. Additionally, they have performed for many local organizations.
According to Edie, her studio’s objective is to provide quality dance instruction in a pleasant and structured atmosphere and their goal is to pass along to future generations the joy of doing something they truly love. In Edie’s opinion, seeing a child go from being a shy, quiet student in September to blossoming on stage the following June is probably the best feeling an instructor can have. Also, having one of your students go on to fulfill their 
dreams of performing in a show cannot be beat, not to mention having former students return to the studio with their children.
As far as the mistakes she sees dancers make, Edie believes that not taking corrections is probably one of the biggest mistakes a dancer can make. When in class, the student should pay attention to the instructor’s corrections, not only to themselves but also to the rest of the class. They are never too old to learn and the best way of learning is to be a good listener. Students also should only be concerned with their own progress. According to Edie, in today’s world, especially at competitions, everyone is overly concerned with winning and what other dancers are doing.
Edie’s goal for the studio is to teach their students not only how to dance, but to teach them life lessons as well – how to respect themselves, teachers and fellow dancers, not get caught up in the “winning is everything” mentality, and to thoroughly enjoy what they do and do it to the best of their ability.
Edie fell in love with dancing the first time she entered a dance studio at the age of 6. She has danced all of her life and cannot imagine her life without it. She started teaching as a teenager and opened the studio with the hope of passing along to the next generations her love of dance and performing.
She is very proud of all of her teachers and students and is very thankful for the path her life has taken. She says that she has met wonderful children and their parents through the years and it has been a pleasure watching them grow both personally and in their dancing. She hopes to continue giving her students a love of dance and skills that they can use, not only in their dancing, but in many other areas of their lives as well.
Unbelievably, Edie is still teaching and performing at the age of 73! She has been a member of the Netsational Seniors Dance Team for the past 9 years. The Netsational Seniors have performed at basketball games for the New Jersey and Brooklyn Nets, and have been the subject of the award winning documentary about the first ever over 60 dance team that performs hip hop Gotta Dance. (Gotta Dance is now being turned into a Broadway Show, opening in Chicago in December, 2015 and based on the above-mentioned documentary).
Edie’s Dance Factory gives back to their community by hosting a yearly benefit Christmas Show, with all the proceeds being donated to charity. They also perform locally for various organizations throughout the year.
BDancewear was recently honored to be picked to supply the dancewear for some of Edie’s Dance Factory’s competition numbers. The dancers did a tap dance to Old Mac Donald and they dressed the girls as the animals and the boy as the farmer. They created the costumes using BDancewear’s leotards, tights and shorts as the base. They then added head pieces and trim to the costumes for the animals. The performance was great and they won lots of first place awards including several costume awards.
Edie has been very fortunate to have dance be such a large part of her life. Never in a million years did she ever expect to still be dancing at her age, be part of such exciting things, and really start a whole new career nine years ago at the age of 64. It just proves, “Age is just a number.” Edie is definitely a senior to look up to!
If you would like more information about Edie’s Dance Factory, visit their website at http://ediesdancefactory.com, call them at (201) 438-2994, fax them at 201-727-0481, or email them at eojazz@aol.com. You can also “Like” them on Facebook.
Please post a comment if you have had any experience with Leila Parello of School of Ballet Arts.
Written By Cyndi Marziani
Owner
BDancewear.com
