Lia Malcom, founder and Studio Director of Dance Elite Academy of Performing Arts in Rapid City, South Dakota, was interviewed for this article. Lia said she was “fortunate enough” to have trained at Great Britain’s Royal Ballet. (From what I know about Great Britain’s Royal Ballet, being “fortunate 
enough” has very little to do with being accepted. You have to be gifted and “very talented” to be accepted. At the age of 11, Lia was accepted as a student at the Royal Ballet which only accepts 1 out of 2,000 candidates. It sounds like the “fortunate” ones are her students at the Dance Elite Academy of Performing Arts to have her as a teacher.) After her time with the Royal Ballet, Lia went on to have a long and varied commercial professional career around the world and was an associate of both the RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) and the world renowned ISTD (Imperial Society of the Teachers of Dance). Because of this experience Lia is able to give her students a proper Cecchetti method based training.
The Dance Elite Academy of Performing Arts is the proud home to twenty pageant winners ranging from Little Miss North Hills to Miss South Dakota and the dynamic Elite Squad has garnered more than 425 awards in the competitive dance field.
Clearly, achieving excellence in any activity only comes through a passionate drive that has to come from within. Lia believes there is no one piece of advice that can sustain that drive in every student so she strives to keep the energy level and intensity of every class as high as she can. Since Lia believes that success is a natural motivator, it is fortunate that the studio has done very well at 
competitions.
According to Lia, there are a million little things that have happened since opening the studio that has made her beam with pride, i.e., watching the little shy girl who suddenly truly opens up because she has found something in dance that triggers real and warranted self-esteem; the boy who finds the courage to not only take up dance, but stick with it and excel in a part of the country that isn’t known for fostering the idea of boys doing anything other than football, wrestling or rodeo; going to a competition and watching a group of young people rise to the occasion, conquer the stage fright, go out there and perform better than they ever thought they were could. Watching the unbridled joy of young people hearing their names called to come get their trophies.
According to Lia, these, and countless others, are the things that make all the hard work and loss of sleep worth the whole endeavor for her!
Complacency is the biggest mistake Lia sees dancers make during competition. She believes that it must be avoided at all costs!
In Lia’s opinion, the must have dancewear items every dancer needs varies slightly depending on the dance, i.e., for classical ballet dancers, it goes without saying that properly fitted, high quality pointe
shoes are simply indispensible. The same applies to tap shoes for tap dancers. Obviously, a selection of high quality and durable tights and leotards are essential with any dance style.
Lia’s goals for this year pertain to the two shows on which they are presently working. They are only a month away from staging a full length Classical Ballet (a reworking of The Sleeping Beauty) and another full show they’re calling Travelogue, which has as a narrative a trip through musical time and space. Both of these shows will be performed at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, South Dakota on May 18, 2014. Obviously, it is an “all hands on deck” time of the year for the studio right now, but they’re ready and very excited to perform these shows! Lia will be running a limited number of summer camps, but she is looking forward to the next school year. She’ll be selecting some competition squads, picking music and choreographing them and get them polished. She will then be taking the squads to three or so as yet to be determined competitions. Additionally, she will design and produce another two full shows for the spring of 2015. 
Another busy year for the Dance Elite Academy of Performing Arts indeed!
Although Lia’s professional performing career was long and pretty well injury free, for which she is truly grateful, the reality of life for a professional dancer is that you simply can’t do it forever. As the great Charles Barkley said, “Father Time is undefeated!” If a professional dancer wishes to remain involved in the world of dance once his/her performing career is over, there really aren’t many options. The choices are pretty much limited to choreography and/or teaching. Lia decided that going the route of opening her own studio allowed her to pick a place in the country that was removed from the big urban centers and to lead a more placid personal life in a beautiful part of the world. So, the Dance Elite Academy of Performing Arts in Rapid City, South Dakota was born!
If you have experience with Dance Elite Academy of Performing Arts or Lia Malcom please leave a comment below about your experience!
