Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Miller.
Danielle, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My dance training began at age three in a private dance studio. From grade school through my post-graduate dance education, I noticed there were fewer and fewer students that looked like me, a woman of color, in dance spaces. What happened to all my friends in elementary school that loved to create dances on the blacktop during recess and express themselves through movement? I came to understand that it was my parents’ willingness to go outside of our neighborhood to find a dance studio that would provide the training and exposure to match my passion for dance that supported my advancement in dance study, performance, and social life. Over the course of my dance training, I became passionate about making dance education accessible to students in communities that are underexposed to dance arts. Hence, I decided to open my dance studio to combat this issue.
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?
Mena’s Dance Xchange completed its first season during the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020 with 11 eager students in a small community center room. When other dance studios were closing their doors due to local limitations on in-person activities, MDX persevered to offer dance over the Internet when students and families needed a creative outlet the most. From the start, the community knew that we cared about more than the physicality of dance; we were there to support the full social and cognitive development of their children.
Mena’s Dance Xchange quickly outgrew that small community center room within one year of its inception and moved on to sign a lease at our current dance studio in Southwest Dallas. MDX targets families in an area that can be considered an arts desert. Local schools have cut back on arts funding, and families are simply not able to travel downtown or further north to provide their students with a safe and professional creative arts outlet. The biggest challenge now is getting the word out about our program so we can share the transformative power of dance with more youth.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a dance educator with a B.B.A in Management and minor in dance from Baylor University, and a Master of Arts is Dance from Texas Woman’s University where my emphasis was on arts accessibility in underserved communities. I provide dance lessons for ages 3-adult with a focus on children and teen classes. My dance studio offers classes in ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, and musical theater for ages 3-17 with opportunities to compete. Additionally, the studio offers adult lessons and wedding dance lessons. The studio is known and set apart by its welcoming and family-like environment and instruction that encourages our students to be creative, be courageous, and never give up. I am most proud of my students’ small and big wins that I see every day inside and outside of the studio. It is beautiful to see their character develop, and I am proud to be a part of the developmental years of some of the world’s upcoming leaders. I truly believe I interact with the best and most dynamic dancers and people the world will ever see in the form of young bodies.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I expect the dance industry will become more accessible and inclusive over the next 5-10 years, with virtual classes lowering the barrier to entry and with local school district’s new focus on STEAM, it is my hope that dance and arts education in general will become a core component of primary and secondary education.
Pricing:
- Free trial class for new students
- $50 per month tuition
Contact Info:
- Website: menasdancex.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/menasdancex/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MenasDanceX/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@menasdancexchange6462
Image Credits
Eli Mabli
