According to Lori Boldt, Owner of The Dance Movement (“TDM”) in Plano, Texas, they are a fun-first studio and home to two dance companies – Fusion Performance Company and Impact Competition Company. TDM has been proudly serving Plano, Allen, McKinney and Frisco since 2002. They also house a large recreational program with classes offered in ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, musical theatre, and lyrical. There’s a place for everyone at TDM!
Their dancers are trained in the Cecchetti ballet method and take oral and local performance exams at least once a year including attending local Cecchetti Seminars. The dancers test Cecchetti grades and receive certificates for passed grades.
In Lori’s opinion, TDM is different from other studios because they believe little girls should dance like little girls and older dancers should present themselves in a conservative fashion. Their ideology is reflected in their costumes, music and choreography. She also strongly believes they are not only teaching dance steps, they are teaching life skills and their teachers are not only great dancers, but great role models as well.
What stands out to Lori as her proudest moment as a coach is the time when a handful of their graduates came back and performed an old competition dance in their recital. They got together on their own to rehearse it and re-costume it. So fun and memorable! It felt like children coming home for Christmas!
The biggest mistake that Lori sees in the dance world actually has more to do with the instructors. She believes the competition scene is tricky because to keep up with the skill level and score well, you have to ask many hours of your dancers. However, ask too many hours and they burn out after a few years. Finding a good balance of training time and off time is key. They have found that requiring 7 hours and offering up to 15 hours is a good 
program for a competitive dancer. It gives them enough time to train and keep up, but it does not burn them out at age 12, when so many quit and turn to drill team.
The Impact Competition Company is TDM’s competition company for the serious, pre-professional dancer. There are four separate levels within Impact which are determined by age, experience and ability. All four of these dance teams compete at local dance competitions four to five times a year and perform the opening dance at the recital. The companies also perform at charity events and other local performances. They also attend various optional conventions throughout the year including Dance Revolution (Christian Dance Competition). All companies are required to attend a 5 day camp prior to classes beginning in mid-August where they are taught various forms of dance such as jazz, tap, ballet, lyrical, musical theater and hip hop.
Impact’s Booster Club schedules social events and raises funds for the companies. These events include tea parties, swim parties, movies, awards, a year-end semi-formal banquet with a DJ, and lots of fun!
TDM’s Fusion Performance Company is celebrating their 6 years of dance! Fusion is a fantastic group of dancers that live loud and dance big. They perform six times throughout the school year, at venues such as festivals, nursing homes, Plano Balloon Festival, as well as performing the closing number at the TDM recitals. Fusion proudly sponsors an annual benefit concert where dancers raise money for a different charity every year. With a first year goal of $5,000, Fusion raised $7,000. As a consequence, they were able to build a fresh water well for a poverty stricken village in Cambodia. Last year, they raised another $10k to for City House, Hagar International, and Collin College Dance.
The Fusion Performance Company has 3 ensembles – Ballet, Jazz/Contemporary and Hip Hop Crew. Each ensemble is for dancers ages 7 to teen and is divided into Junior and Senior groups. The dancers can participate in only one ensemble or all 3!
Her goal for this year has to do with their Fusion Performance Company. The Company chooses a charity (or two or three) to sponsor and raise money for every year. They get the whole community involved and they host a benefit concert with a silent auction. Their goal is to raise $10,000 or more (which they have been able to do the past several years) so her hope is that they can again – make the world a better place through this event.
Lori started The Dance Movement when after having taught for several other studios in the area, she had one of those “I can do this” moments. She took all she had learned and gathered the things she liked and did not like about studios and put it to use in developing her own. She has always loved kids and enjoyed management, program building and putting on shows, so she knew owning a studio was a good fit for her.
It is a blessing to provide a dance studio in their area and to serve their local community. They have wonderful, supportive families and great kids. Lori is thankful for their studio atmosphere, which is fun, friendly, hard-working and always growing and changing.
If you would like more information about The Dance Movement, visit their website at thedancemovement.com, call them at 214-509-9000 or email them at info@thedancemovement.com.
Please post a comment if you have had any experience with Lori Boldt of The Dance Movement.
