Today’s interview is with Pier Sircello of Center Stage Dance Studio in Hilo, Hawaii. It provided us with a very interesting insight of Pier and her studio. Pier and all of her dance
instructors, sincerely care about their students as individuals inside and outside of the dance studio. They feel that they are training not just dancers but individuals, who they want to help grow up to be caring individuals who will give back to their communities. Center Stage works hard to raise the bar there on Hawaii Island. They put forth a high quality program. Pier carefully screens instructors to make sure they understand and value their unique culture and also know the technique that they are teaching. All of Pier’s instructors have at least some professional experience and many also have degrees in dance. Her instructors and many of the older and more advanced dancers mentor younger dancers at their studio. They also have many male dancers at the studio. They start as hip- hop and break dancers, but many end up taking ballet and getting fairly serious about it.
Pier mentors a lot of teenagers outside of the studio doors. she just talks to the kids and lets them know where their potential lies. If she has one that is wavering in their commitment and she feels that they have a large amount of potential, then she reminds them that they can live a life of travel and creativity doing what they love. Some of her teenage students don’t like school much and don’t have a lot of financial support coming from their homes. A career in dance would be a pretty awesome thing for them! She also does a lot of her motivating right in the classroom. she is very high energy when she teaches. she pushes the kids hard but knows when she needs to slack off on the criticism and go to a more complimentary approach.
She also uses lots of different music from all over the world and in all styles. The music really helps to keep the motivation up. They never know what they will be dancing to next, and they never get bored of the music. It takes a lot more time on her part, because she spends a lot of time searching for just the right piece of music. She has to carefully choreograph all her combinations to music with which she’s not always familiar.
Pier has so many proud moments that she can’t give just one. The studio has only been open
eight years. Even so she has three beautiful dancers that are dancing professionally on the mainland. She thinks the other moment she is proud of actually happened twice. That was when she gave a correction and every single person in the room got it. The first time it happened, she was so happy she almost cried.
The dancers don’t compete since they live on an island. In all honesty, she’s not sure she likes the whole competition thing anyway. She looks at competitions and feels as if artistry is going out the window. All she sees are young kids doing phenomenal tricks but with no real artistry behind what they are doing. She guesses there is a place for everything in the dance world, but she’s a little old fashioned.
Pier prefers clothing that is tight and shows the form of the body. She loves really thin fabrics like micro fiber. she also likes the lycra leotards and men’s tights. she prefers her students to wear black shorts with their leotards rather than chiffon skirts.
The studio is raising funds to do a cultural dance exchange program with another studio on the mainland. Pier really wants her students to see what is out there beyond their very small island world. She believes seeing students dance in their class and how they work in another place will spur her students to work harder. she thinks what they have to share is their awesome performance abilities and openness. It shows when her kids get out there to perform!
Pier was motivated to start a studio because the island needed a good studio that was inclusive of all styles of dance for both young and old, beginners, and advanced students. She had a following of students from teaching at the YWCA for several years but there was an absence of a true program of dance there. She and her colleagues were all ready to see a good high quality full dance studio in Hilo. She was the gutsy one who decided to go for it. She is very happy that she did. She feels that this is her true calling in life. She loves mentoring students especially teenagers and knows that she has helped so many kids and teens have a better quality of life because her studio exists. Also, she absolutely loves teaching!
If you have experience with Center Stage Dance Studio or Pier Sircello please leave a comment below about your experience!
