Opening a studio the natural next stage for young dancers
Breslau location seen as a good fit for cousins to launch Fusion Dance Academy
THE CREATION OF FUSION Dance Academy in Breslau was a long time coming for Amanda Vizza and Jessica Micheli.
The cousins opened their studio at 79 Woolwich St. S. last month for summer dance camps and now they’re preparing to welcome students for the fall classes.
Introduced to dancing as three-year-olds, they fell in love with it immediately, continuing to dance competitively together right through high school.
“We’ve always said that our dream is to open up a dance studio. When we were little we would always make up dances at home. This year was our last year competing so we just thought I don’t want to stop dancing, we don’t want to stop dancing together, so we thought why not make our dream come true and do this,” Vizza said at their open house on Aug. 27.
They offer classes in ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, hiphop, acro and breakdancing, split into age categories for dancers as young as three years of age.
Vizza has volunteered for many years as an assistant dance teacher and recently completed her Elementary Russian ballet exam. She has competed across Ontario and previously was the dance team captain at Grand River Collegiate Institute, which required choreographing the team’s routines. Locally, she’s performed at the RIM Ladies Professional Golf Association Tournament in Waterloo.
Micheli competed in Reisa, Germany with the Canada Tap Team and competed all over Ontario and the United States, winning for jazz, open, contemporary and lyrical solos. She also performed at the Centre In The Square in Ballet Jorgen’s Nutcracker.
They both have performed on Walt Disney World’s Downtown Disney Stage in Florida for Disney Magic Music Days and the Hands Up for Childhood Cancer Benefit in Kitchener. Always eager to learn, they’ve attended dance conferences and workshops over the years, like So I Know I Can Dance.
Breslau was an easy choice to build their business.
“Breslau’s such a family friendly community and it’s a growing community, so we really hope our business can grow with the community, along with all of the students here, all the young kids,” Vizza said.
They agree it’s all about helping their students improve their dance skills and passing on their love of the sport. Eventually they hope to take some dancers to competition, as they’ve had the opportunity to do. For the youngest dancers, they want to ensure it’s fun so they’ll want to keep coming back.
“We want to meet our students, see what they can do, and not rush them into competition. And then if we find a group that we think would be good in competition and could do it, then we could make a competitive group next year,” Micheli said.
Vizza specializes more in ballet and jazz, while Micheli enjoys acro and hip-hop.
The say their summer dance camps were well attended and some of the campers already signed up for fall classes.
“All the students loved it, we became really close
with a lot of them. We already miss them,” Vizza said.
The studio came together fairly quickly. They started talking about the business seriously in April and originally were going to hold off for a year but instead decided to start right away once Micheli had graduated.
And the location looks like it was made for a dance studio with a reception area, two change rooms and a big dance room.
Down the line, they’re hoping to expand the studio with one or two more dance rooms.
“We only took out one wall and then we just painted and did floors. The place beside us is for lease too and it’s pretty much the exact same as this, it has a big dance room, a waiting room. So we’re hoping that we can hopefully get that. We don’t need it right now, but we will in the future I hope,” Micheli said.
They’re hopeful their dance studio can become a dance family where dancers can learn in a friendly atmosphere. It’s the only dance studio in Breslau.
“Not even having started fall classes yet, Breslau and the Woolwich community has just been so welcoming, so supportive,” Vizza said.
She notes the best part of dance is it has allowed her to make lifelong friends.
“I have more friends from dance than I do from school, just because you form a bond with your dance friends. It’s like no other,” Vizza said.
Micheli says training all year for competition was always an exciting part for her.
“And it’s awesome to see other studios, to compete against and see other styles of dance. And doing solos, you get really nervous but in the end it’s really worth it.”
Gabi Micheli and Steven Flanagan-Tordjman will also be teaching at the dance studio. FlanaganTordjman will teach the hip-hop and breakdancing classes.
“I want the parents to know this place can be a place where their kids can come and they will always have fun and they’ll always feel welcomed and we’ll always want them here,” Vizza said.
To view their fall schedule visit www.fusiondanceacademy.ca.