The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Dance academy has a new home
Fairport Dance Academy relocates from Fairport Harbor
After over 15 years, Fairport Dance Academy closed its Fairport Harbor location for the family-run dance studio to quickly cut a rug to their new location at 1 Victoria Place in Painesville.
“We’re so excited to be in Painesville in this space,” said Academy owner Nicole Dibiase.
The dance studio moved in December.
Just finding a new place proved only half the battle.
Formerly a CVS pharmacy, their current venue needed plenty of reconstruction before it could serve as functional studio. Walls were raised, new floors were installed, and entire studio rooms were built.
The additional construction prolonged their movein date by several months.
“We had the schedule done, thinking we would be able to move into our place and the end of September, but it wasn’t until December,” Dibiase said.
“The building manager was very accommodating. He let us use temporary space on the floor above until we were ready.”
The former Fairport Harbor address hosted the academy since 1992 but its origin dates back to 1972 when Nicole’s mother, Cheryl Hill, started the academy with the support of her own mother who helped with the bookkeeping and making costumes.
Hill has found the transition a smooth and welcome one.
“The businesses are all so friendly and supportive here (in Painesville),” she said. “We’re liking it here a lot.”
Part of what made Painesville such a fitting home for the academy was a pre-existing clientele within the city.
“We have had a few people join, especially in December and January from this area, but we always has a decent population coming from the Painesville area to our school to begin with,” Dibiase noted.
The transition from Fairport to Painesville signifies more than just a change of address. It ensures the continued legacy of the academy as it lives on through multiple generations.
“When I was teaching and they were away at college I would often wonder ‘how much longer do I want to keep doing this?’ ” Hill recalled. “I love doing it, but there was always that thought in my mind, ‘what’s going to happen when I have to retire? Who am I going to hand this down to?’”
Her questions were soon answered when daughter Nicole stepped up to take over the business. She was soon joined by her sister, Erin Hill, who runs the nearby Branches of Wellness yoga studio on 70 South Park Place.
Together, the sisters work co-dependently between the two locations with frequent collaboration.
“To have them back and running the business, I feel like everything I worked so hard for is going to be carried on,” their mother said.
The new Painesville locale allowed the academy to expand from three studios in their facility to five.
The added rooms allow for an extensive array of classes for a wide range of ages.
“We have just about everything, including classes from ages 1 1/2 to adult,” Dibiase offered.
Fairport Dance Academy is looking forward to showcasing some of its best and brightest with a series of events, including a Fantasy Dance Camp on March 8 for ages 5 to 8 where children will be given an arts and craft project to accompany their dance.
The academy will be performing at the Great Lakes Mall in Mentor at 12:30 p.m. March 23, and Downtown Painesville Organization’s April 5 First Friday event will have a “Once upon a Princess” theme with the academy’s young girls as the princesses.
“The kids are really excited to work with the city,” Hill said.