Mercury Academy of Dance Interview with Carly M Sanchez

Mercury Academy of Dance (MAD) in Aurora, Colorado, is a supportive community of dancers who encourage each other’s creativity and success. They pride themselves in their professionalism and consistently strive to bring new, innovative, and creative teaching, techniques and choreography to their students and performances.

In the opinion of Carly M Sanchez, Owner and , MAD is separated from other dance studios because their vision goes beyond the classroom. Mercury wants the skills their students learn in the studio to permeate all aspects of their lives. Discipline, confidence, pride in your work, and creativity are all things MAD emphasizes and encourages in their dancers.

Mercury Academy of Dance provides professional dance instruction to both children and adults at an affordable price while fostering a friendly atmosphere and creative environment in which its students can learn, grow, and succeed as both dancers and artists. Their goal is to provide a well-rounded dance program with an emphasis on their students excelling at all styles of dance, rather than just one. They will not promote competition among their students, but instead encourage them to help and challenge one another to become better dancers, performers, and choreographers.

Additionally, they hope to enhance the community by participating in local events, holding performances that will be open to the public, and providing a place where members of the community can express themselves in a healthy, productive, and creative way.

They offer a wide variety of classes including Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, B Boy, Acro, Poms, Imrov, and Yoga. Classes are divided by both age and level – Pre (3-4 yrs), Basics (5-6 yrs), Junior (7-11 yrs) levels I, II, and III, and Teen (12-19 yrs) levels I, II, III, and III/IV. Additionally, MAD offers a wide range of Adult Dance/Fitness Classes including Yoga, Pilates, Zumba, Ballet/Modern Fusion, Hip-Hop, and Tap.

Carly relays that her proudest moment coaching had nothing to do with an award but the growth she saw in one of her students. She had a student who almost quit dancing after her first performance because of stage fright. Three years later she is still dancing and recently attended her first competition where she performed a solo piece, after which she was so excited that she wanted to do it again! Knowing that dance has played a part in building her confidence makes me more proud than any award. I know that the skills she has learned as a dancer will help her in her future career as an adult – even if it doesn’t happen to be dance related. Confidence and the ability to face your fears are essential factors to success in any path in life.

Carly believes that a dancer’s biggest mistake is not having confidence in themselves. So much of what they do is mentally charged and a dancer who is not confident can be greatly affected, from performance to improvement in the classroom. Confidence can only be gained by truly putting yourself out there, regardless of the outcome. They try to incorporate activities into their classes at MAD that simulate audition situations so that their dancers can learn to control their fears and anxieties in a supportive environment. Encouragement from instructors is essential and the dancers’ willingness to participate in confidence building activities is also crucial to overcome this issue!

MAD will be beginning their third season as of August 2016. They hope to add a mid-season performance to their repertoire as well as expand the studio to accommodate more classes/students.

From Carly’s point of view, it was kind of inevitable that she would start a studio. She has always felt strongly about her vision and abilities as a dancer, choreographer, and businesswoman. Starting her own studio was a way for her to do things her way. She did not want the constrictions of others to impede her vision. Carly advocate for her instructors, truly care about her students, and hold creativity and professionalism above all else. I feel like anyone who becomes a part of the MAD family does so because they recognize and appreciate these qualities and how they are reflected in the management of the studio.

Carly has been dancing competitively since the age of three. She grew up in Garden City, Kansas, and then moved to Orange, California, at the age of 19 to further her studies and explore the world of commercial dance. She received her Bachelors Degree in Dance and Psychology from Chapman University in 2009. While in California, she was a member of Team Shaka, a hip hop crew comprised of well-known members such as Chuck Maa and Robert Tsai from Instant Noodles crew, Ade Obayami, and Stephen “Twitch” Boss. Her peers recognized her for her creative, innovative, and unique choreography in both hip hop and contemporary jazz, and in doing so she was awarded the chance to create a modern stage piece in which Ade Obayami was cast as her lead male dancer along with other incredible artists such as Jamie Donovan (who can be seen in Robin Thicke’s new video Feel Good) and Skye Stoury (former member of the Vancouver Stealth Bombshells).

During this time she also taught at multiple studios throughout Orange County and was lead choreographer for Dance Works hip hop and lyrical competitive teams. Carly then decided to pursue her career as a professional dance instructor/choreographer in Denver and has since taught at an array of studios in the Denver metro area, choreographed for productions by the City of Aurora including Fairytales from Around the World and their reproduction of The Nutcracker, and is now the proud owner and artistic director of Mercury Academy of Dance. Her ultimate goal is to grow the studio and eventually create a sister performance company comprised of professional dancers and students who graduate from MAD.

MAD will be starting a non-profit professional company in January known as “Mercury Dance Company.” This will eventually open up the door for a student company who will act as apprentices for the professional company. Carly and her staff are very excited to start on this new adventure, which will provide more opportunities for their students in the future.

If you would like more information about Mercury Academy of Dance, visit their website at mercuryacademyofdance.com, call them at 303-766-6373 or email them at mercuryacademyofdance@gmail.com. You can also “Like” them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter and connect with them on Instagram.

Please post a comment if you have had any experience with Carly M Sanchez of Mercury Academy of Dance.

Written By Cyndi Marziani
Owner
BDancewear.com