Centre Dance in State College, Pennsylvania, is for the recreational as well as the more involved dancer. They are a diversified school that caters to each level, which are separated according to age, interest, and commitment. At Centre Dance, they believe in both the larger commitment for their dance careers and the recreational equally. In the nine months of their season, they focus on basic dance technique, the development of performance qualities and refined motor skills, and on individual correction as needed. They are proud to offer a wide range of classes. Their classes are taught by an exciting, young faculty who is always learning the newest techniques and styles emerging in the world of dance. Centre Dance offers Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Acrobatics, Hip Hop, Lyrical and Contemporary.
Nicole Swope, their Director, studied and taught ballet, tap and jazz with Deborah Anthony at the Allegheny Ballet Academy in Altoona. She has also choreographed the opening and closing number for Centre County’s Outstanding Young Woman Program for about twenty years. Also, she is a member of Dance Masters of America.
In the opinion of their Director, Centre Dance stands out from other studios because they offer excellent dance technique and performance grooming instruction. They focus on the well rounded dancer. They also have a unique teaching faculty. Being so close to Penn State University Park, Nicole feels she is fortunate that she has so many instructors from other areas with dance expertise. Nicole also has the benefit of using her dancers that she has trained to teach for her while attending Penn State down the road! She believes that the studio is very family friendly and fun.
Nicole’s proudest moments coaching are when she sees a student reach their goals each day and watching them gain confidence and pride in his/her work.
In Nicole’s experience, the biggest mistakes she sees dancers make are when they expect instant gratification. Dance does not work that way! Obviously, this keeps becoming more and more of a challenge with the immediacy that they are accustomed to with technology and social media. Dance is a long, ongoing process. Nicole tries to encourage and inspire them to stay focused and driven toward their goals. Centre Dance goes to a lot of competitions where her dancers are exposed to other incredible dancers and teachers. This is a way to be aware of the necessity to stay current and inspired in the dance world.
Nicole’s goal is to run her studio to meet the needs and interests of all of her customers. They
recently performed the full length Nutcracker ballet that included all of their ballet students. They are now in their travel competition season with their team, AVID Dance Productions. They are also gearing up for their annual spring recital (their 25th!) featuring all of the studio’s dancers. They are planning a special 25th anniversary gala during the recital weekend.
Avid Dance Productions (“ADP”), under the direction of Nicole Swope, is Centre Dance’s competition team. Throughout the Winter and Spring months, Avid travels throughout Pennsylvania and the surrounding states. ADP was founded in effort to provide Centre Dance dancers with the opportunity to make a larger commitment to their dance careers. This dance team spends many additional hours in the studio rehearsing and working on new choreography. Unlike the majority of recreational dancers, the competition team trains all year long.
Their current team choreographers include Nicole Swope, John Daulby, Kayley Swope, Tiffany Glab, Madison Cable, Jill Wess, Kate Moss, Leah Cable, Jazmin Tyson and Andrea Young.
Nicole started dancing when she was just 5. She started teaching at a studio when she was 13 and absolutely fell in love with it. She taught dance throughout high school and college. Upon graduating from Penn State in 1991 with a BA in Journalism, she realized that her real passion for teaching dance would have to be turned into a career. So, one month after her graduation in 1991, she found a space in which she could create a studio and opened her studio that fall. She loves that she can combine her love of teaching children (and adults) and have a career that is also her hobby.
Nicole is proud to be able to use dance to teach life lessons and important work principles that her students can use throughout their lives. She believes that team work, dedication, integrity, patience, time management and many, many more skills learned through the art of dance are so very important in life.
At Centre Dance, summer is a great time for dance! Beginning dancers get an opportunity to try out different styles of dance while only committing to a short period of time. The more experienced dancers are provided a time to focus on concepts and dance techniques without worrying about having to work around their busy school schedule. Centre Dance believes that everyone can find something to suit their interest. There are two camps available. One is their Introduction to Dance program where the campers are provided a combination of dance genres (ballet, tap and jazz) with creative projects and videos to correspond with each day’s lesson. The other camp is their Avid SummerDance program which is for dancers who wish to be considered for Centre Dance’s Competition Teams for the following competition season. To be considered for one of the five competition teams (Peach, Fuchsia, Green, Yellow, or Purple) , the dancers are required to participate in at least two weeks of the Centre Dance intensive workshops and a minimum of nine Monday and/or Wednesday night classes during the summer. The Rainbow Team will be required to participate in at least one intro workshop (the 5 to 7 year olds workshop). Centre Dance summer intensives include not only the Centre Dance faculty but also at least one master teacher each week.
If you would like more information about Centre Dance, visit their website at www.centredance.org, call them at 814-238-8695 or email them at Centredance2121@gmail.com. You can also view them on YouTube.
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