Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebekah Stepanian
Hi Rebekah, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Dance By Design Studio opened its doors in August 2024 after several months of me teaching private dance lessons to students I’d trained for many years. In December 2023 I was working on my M.A. in Dance from Texas Woman’s University and feeling very discouraged about my future in dance. Since high school, I have dreamt of owning a Christian Dance Studio that provides quality, well-rounded dance education to students of all ages and backgrounds and choreographing for professional dance companies, theatre productions and movies/tv. After years of teaching for studios, dancing pre professionally and professionally and working hard in school, I started to feel overwhelmed with how I could ever make those goals a reality. Owning a dance studio requires a plethora of resources that I wasn’t sure how to obtain (such as costly dance and workout equipment, a staff, a dance space and finances available for investment). Dancers grind their bodies into the ground just to make a living doing what we love – and in December 2023 I was definitely starting to feel the fatigue and discouragement after doing that for years. I started to question whether I wanted to continue working in the dance industry and if it was time to move on to a new field entirely (at the time I was completing an M.A. in Dance so that was even more frustrating). One month after surrendering those lifelong dreams to the Lord and telling my husband I was ready to pursue a different career entirely, two past students of mine reached out to inquire about private lessons. That got a good laugh out of me, and I remember praying in the moment and asking God, “really?!” I JUST decided it was time to move on and NOW God was bringing these students to me. These two young ladies shared with me their love and passion for dance and their desire to train more seriously to prepare for professional careers in dance. I was SO excited for them and honored they wanted my help to achieve their personal dance goals. I sat down with their parents to lay out individualized training plans. I started working with them in private lessons to advance their dance technique and prepare them to audition for full-time training programs and competition teams at various dance studios in DFW. At the beginning of these private lessons, the intention was not to open a dance studio, but to help them find one in the area for the following dance season. After many lessons together and discussing different options for their future dance training, the students eventually asked if they could continue learning from me. They wanted to continue their dance education in a faith-based environment where worship and discipleship are regularly integrated into their classes. Before I knew it, the Arlington Seventh-Day Adventist Church offered to let us use their facility to run classes in and two of my dear friends (and fellow professional dancers) offered to teach alongside me and help establish Dance By Design Studio. Five other wonderful students and friends of the girls connected with us and asked to be part of what we were starting – they also wanted more opportunities to train in dance seriously in a Christian environment and regularly perform, compete, and attend workshops, auditions, and intensives to help their growth. All of these students wanted a dance home: a place where they could freely express themselves through the art of dance, a place where they could grow spiritually and personally and a place where they’d be safe to explore their creativity and receive love and support while doing so. They wanted a program where they felt valued and seen – and they know my heart and the heart of the other teachers is to know every single one of our students by name and need and invest in all areas of their lives – not just in their dance education. We started weekly classes in August with seven students and now some of those classes have reached full capacity! I am thrilled that people want to call Dance By Design their home! In the last six months our full-time students have participated in the Dance Effect Intensive, the Fort Worth Dance Festival, the Dance Revolution Showcase and Convention, the NextGen Dance Awards and GuiDance Dance Competition to name a few. We are opening up 8-week Spring classes on Tuesday afternoon/evenings for beginner students between the ages of 3 and 12 and looking forward to hosting our first end-of-year recital in May.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Hah! There have been so many highs and lows throughout the season. We’ve seen medical struggles come into play – including my own chronic health conditions which led to a major surgery last December. We are still finding our footing with class schedules and how to accommodate all our students needs. We are still trying to figure out marketing strategies to increase the studio’s exposure and invite more students into our home (we didn’t do any marketing for the first four months at all – other than to post on Instagram about the girls achievements because I wasn’t expecting people to be so interested in what we are offering). Now I see that many students and families want a dance home that provides what we do, and I’m trying to navigate how to share our story and values with local communities. We are actively searching for our own space to renovate into a studio – which is a VERY expensive endeavor (dance flooring alone costs $30-$50 thousand dollars). I am actively applying for grants, looking to create sponsorship opportunities, and coming up with ways to fundraise and cover the expenses of moving into our own building. I want nothing more than to provide a proper dance studio to our students, and I am hopeful this will happen. I am very lucky that the Dance By Design community is so committed to the vision of the business and its success and growth. I have seen the students and parents rally together all season in both the highs and the lows which has made all the difference in my ability to press forward in every circumstance.
As you know, we’re big fans of Dance By Design . For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Dance By Design is a faith-based dance studio seeking to train students from 18 months to 18 years old in multiple dance genres. Dance By Design is committed to providing a well-rounded dance education, focusing on proper technique, injury prevention, dance history, and character building. Dance By Design strives to prepare dancers for a professional career in the dance industry should they choose to pursue it. We desire to be a challenging environment that recognizes and supports the gifting’s and goals of every student. Dance By Design focuses on being a space where dancers are comfortable and excited to forge friendships and fellowship with one another. Dancers will learn the value and supernatural power of incorporating worship and prayer into their artistic practice.
We offer classes in the styles of Ballet, Pre-Pointe, Pointe, Acro, Jazz, Jazz Funk, Theatre Jazz, Dance Conditioning and Stretch, Contemporary, and Leaps & Turns. Next year we are looking to expand our class selection by adding Hip Hop, Tap and Modern to our weekly schedule. I like to keep our program well-rounded and inclusive of all styles to promote versatility, flexibility and adaptability in our students. I also recognize that students are coming from all walks of life with unique talents and interests – we want to encourage students to explore all sides of dance and find what styles resonate most with them. We want to teach dancers the true history of dance and where our technique comes from – which means teaching more than just Ballet. Our staff is well-qualified and our classes are a unique blend of fun-filled learning and technical challenge. We offer a comprehensive dance education that teaches more than just “steps.”
I have trained in dance for over 20 years, working under various instructors and directors including Courtney Johnson who offered me a well-rounded foundation in Ballet, Jazz and Tap dance techniques, Meghan Galvez who specialized in Russian Ballet and Pointe training and worship dance, Gypsy Ingram who specialized in the Aerial Arts and Kihyoung Choi who specializes in Ballet, Modern and Contemporary Korean dance techniques. I took classes at Dance Connection, RAQAD School of Dance, Moving Canvas Dance Space, Amanda’s Dance Express and Dana’s Dance Academy. I also attended the Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy in high school as a student in the dance department. I have participated in many workshops and masterclasses over the years including ones taught by Ballet Magnificat!, Arrows International, the Movers Unlimited Touring Company and with professional artists Jenna Vance, Vincent Hardy, Randall Flinn and Cheryl Cutlip to name a few. I danced pre professionally in the Movers Unlimited Touring Company under the direction of Kihyoung Choi and professionally at Six Flags Over Texas under the direction of Jamie Perrin. In 2024 I received my M.A. in Dance with a Concentration in Education from Texas Woman’s University where I researched dance studio management. All of this training, education and professional experience has led to my unique qualifications as a teacher and studio owner today.
Dance By Design currently has two other teachers on staff who are also uniquely qualified and committed to their craft. Our Ballet Mistress, Catherine Golden, has 2o years of experience training in the Vaganova Ballet Method, performing pre-professionally and professionally with the Festival Ballet of NCTx and with the Movers Unlimited Touring Company. Catherine graduated from Texas Woman’s University with a B.A. in Dance where she studied Modern dance technique. Mykah Hargesheimer is our resident Acrobatic Arts expert and Studio Director. She has trained in dance for over 20 years and has many years of experience running the administration for dance studio’s. Mykah has choreographed local theatre productions and has taught many theatre dance workshops for students in theatre programs. She has years of teaching experience and is certified to teach Acro and in 2019 attended multiple More Than Just Great Dancing events and received the MTJGD Teaching Certification.
Dance By Design has hosted two dance workshops since opening in August and brought in guest artists Anna Joy Williamson, Sierra Noelle Jones and Rachel Ramsarran to work with students. We aim to provide our students with as many opportunities as possible to grow as technicians and artists and network within the industry. We will continue to host workshops and other events where we invite guest artists into our space.
I think what sets Dance By Design apart is our culture. So far this year when students try our classes, they always leave having felt welcomed and immediately part of our family. Because we are small, we are all very close. We really are a family. And I think a lot of dancers are missing that. I think a lot of dancers come to us because they want to be part of something bigger than just dance classes and they want to know they will be given the tools to achieve their goals. I think students try our classes and realize that our staff is personally invested in every single students life and education. When a student comes to me and says their goal is to be a professional dancer, I take that very seriously and begin working one on one with their family to ensure I am providing them with the very best service. Each student is different, which means I have to approach their training slightly different. I think they see how much we love to dance and love to teach dance and that inspires them. That means we have to teach more than just Ballet.
I am honestly just proud of our students. There has been a lot of change for them this year and they’ve handled it so maturely. We’ve thrown a lot of new things at them and thrown them into dance environments that are new to them. And the entire year they’ve faced every challenge head on and have not held back once – even when I question a decision, the students will look at me and say, “we’ve got this mrs. Rebekah.”
I’m really excited about where Dance By Design is headed! We have big plans for the company that include expanding our services and offering more to our community. We’ve had lots of help from friends and family to see those plans through, and I am so grateful for all the support and love we’ve had so far to make everything happen. I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved this year as a brand new business and can’t wait to see how it grows.
I want readers to know that we are here, that we are serious, that we want to be involved in the community and we want to spread joy through dance. I want readers to know that if you are a local artist who has an idea, we welcome it! We want to grow our family. We want to be innovative and use the arts to solve problems for those in our community. I want readers to know that we provide quality and well-rounded education to everyone who walks through our doors and that we seek to bring positive change to the dance industry. I firmly believe our students will go on to change the world for the better – and I know that what we do in our classroom largely shapes their ability to do that.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
It isn’t luck, it’s God. My faith is hugely important to me and central to everything I do. I don’t move unless God tells me to, and I will continue walking in His will for my life and for Dance By Design. It isn’t luck the church allowed us to be in their facility this year. The Lord provided that space. It isn’t luck that the students did so well at competition last weekend or that one of our students was awarded a scholarship last fall. It is through hard work and dedication that these things have happened. The students and teachers have worked tirelessly to ensure that everything we bring to the stage is performed with excellence and authenticity. God has met every single one of my needs since starting the business. None of it is luck or coincidence. It is because the Lord is over what we are doing at Dance By Design and has blessed it abundantly. It is because the students want to work hard and are deeply committed to honing their craft. It is because the teachers have a commitment to our own continued education in order to provide our students with the very best training and opportunities. It is because I put in 12-15 hour work days to ensure everything is running smoothly and on time. It is because Dance By Design parents work diligently to provide their children with formative opportunities and experiences and are committed to the foundational values of the business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dancebydesignarts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dancebydesignstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Dance-By-Design-Studio/61563468055244/
Image Credits
Portraits By Design, DFW Dance Photography, NBracken Photography
