Julia Bubalo, Owner of Ozark Dance Acadaemy in Ozarks, Missouri, feels their studio is set apart from other studios because they offer classes in many dance styles, but their strength is ballet. Also, all the 
competition and choreography dancers are required to take ballet and students wishing to dance on pointe must take two 1 1/2 hour ballet classes weekly. All of their instructors hold dance degrees or have professional dance experience. Just as the students come to the studio after school, the instructors teach after other teaching or job obligations.
They have one studio, a one-room schoolhouse located in an outlying area, 30 minutes from two ballet schools that offer other dance styles but perform primarily ballets. Julia said that some of their students join them for productions such as The Nutcracker.
Also, Julia stated that being 30 minutes from most other dance studios provides a convenient location for our customers. Ozark Dance Academy is local for their dancers. They use the local high school for their performances. Some of the students go to school or church together. Julia says they “are small but mighty.”
Many of Ozarks’ dancers excel not only on the dance floor but also in school, at church, and in their communities. As dancers they must manage their time, eat healthy and focus to keep up with their rigorous schedules. Julia advises them to tend to their studies, eat healthy, be prepared and focus on dance when they are in the studio. Humor is allowed. She did not make the rules. She teaches them – hair in a bun; respect is expected; communication is encouraged; let the teachers know if they are not feeling 100%.
Julia said after nearly 20 years of teaching one does not have a “proudest moment.” She said they had two children with disabilities in their performance this year. It was a wonderful experience and a proud moment for her. They were content backstage with I-things.
For example, an instructor unexpectantly resigned in January. The instructor had choreographed a contemporary trio piece that received a score of 297.00/300.00 in an early March competition. The same choreography with different dancers won first place in a late March competition. We had many rehearsals and Julia had to make logistic decisions for someone else’s choreography. Julia said, “Yes, she was proud as a coach, an overall and a first! But let’s face it. Choreography would not be alive if not for the dancers. Each one is unique.” For their Spring Performance, they restaged the dance “Devil’s Backbone” for all the dancers. Julia stated that was a coaching task, with musical choreography and different dancers but, it has been a proud piece for her to present, and it’s not hers!
She cannot dismiss the success in their first competition and the ballet pieces in which they have scored well. Additionally, they won an overall studio award at a competition in 2013.
Additionally, she recently had lunch with a former student – a grown women with three children who moved to dance in Jackson, Mississippi and then returned home to launch a successful dance company, Petra Ballet. Julia was a part of her training! She did not coach her for competition. Yet, she grew into a mom, a beautiful dancer, and the director of a dance company. After nearly 20 years, how can one choose a proudest moment?
When asked what are the biggest mistakes she sees dancers make when competing, and how should they fix them she said she once read that 80% of the audience watches the dancer from the waist up. If this is true, she is a 20%er. She believes that the biggest mistakes depend on the genre. For example, in tap you expect to see an accentuated heel. She cringes to see chassé with an accentuated heel when the arch should be accentuated.
A simple weight change will fix what she calls “gallop” into what she calls “chasse.” Julia has always lived where winter brings snow. So she snowplows the dance floor: plié, plow the snow, jump in the snow pile, and repeat across the floor (both sides). This trains students to push and jump using their friend, the floor and move their weight toward the ball of the foot. In general, transition steps and combinations leading into leap that need precision. She thinks ballet classes are essential for establishing the muscle memory to flow through precise positions. That being said, a stag leap can be executed from parallel!
She believes that the “must have” dancewear items every dancer needs include a black leotard, tights or jazz pants/leggings, a sweatshirt, leg warmers or sweat pants, a barrette/clasp or ponytail holder and a “dance” bag to carry necessities including an energy bar!
Ozark Dance Academy started under unfortunate circumstances. Julia was teaching for a ballet school which had a pilot school two hours away. Unfortunately, the director of the ballet school passed away and Julia was asked if she would be interested in personally taking over the pilot school. For two years she continued to teach in both studios. One year they coordinated a Nutcracker performance in both cities. She was handed a studio and the opportunity to apply her business degree. In the meantime, a friend suggested she open a studio closer to home in an outlying area (which happened to be the area she lived in!). It is now coming up on 20 years since she opened that studio.Ozark Dance Academy’s goals for this year are that their competition team attends three competitions; their choreography class performs at two community events and five residential facilities and to prepare a wonderful year-end performance for every one of their dancers.
We have one studio, a one-room schoolhouse. All of our instructors hold dance degrees or have professional dance experience. Just as the students come to the studio after school, the instructors teach after other teaching or job obligations.
Also, Julia suggests you check out a former student performing on the exterior of the Nelson-Adkins Museum – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyEz5lwZfZk
Please post a comment if you have had any experience with Ozark Dance Academy or Julia Bubalo.
