Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Hunsaker.
Melissa, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My obsession for dance began at the age of 5 and the obsession continued to grow all throughout my life. I danced competitively at a local studio in the DFW area all throughout high school and then went to UNT to receive my BFA in Dance. After graduation I have lived in Oak Cliff for about 4 years and feel in love with the neighborhood immediately. I developed a dance department at a charter school in south Oak Cliff and taught there for 3 years before taking the leap of faith and opening my dance studio. In June of 2016 to open my dance studio with the excitement of all of my childhood dreams becoming a reality. We started with 10 students in the summer and by that December we were at 50 students. The end of the year recital we had almost 90 students and today we have over 100.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The struggles that we have faced have been our rapid growth in students. Our facility quickly became too small to house all of our students. It’s a great problem to have don’t get me wrong but finding a new location to house everyone has been extremely difficult. We are nearing the end of the search in finding the perfect new location for our dance studio!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Oak Cliff Dance – what should we know?
Oak Cliff Dance Studio teaches students of all ages the love of dance through exceptional instruction and custom choreography. We have given the Oak Cliff community a safe place to come together and express themselves through the arts. We offer ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, hip hop and tumbling for ages 2-adult. We are most proud of being able to connect with the families of Oak Cliff and the support that everyone has for each other. Bringing everyone together through the gift of dance is truly a dream come true!
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I couldn’t have done any of this without the love and support of my wife, Whitney McAnallen. She has not only been my emotional support in all of this but she also created our logo and website. Roselle Carlino who is our company director is also another individual who has made the studio run! She organizes all of the company information, competition information and my right hand woman. She is really incredible to work with and helps me stay sane! Of course none of this would have been possible with the support of all of my dance families. These families are some of the sweetest and most supportive people I have ever met. We have dads and mom fixing odds and ends around the studio, volunteering their time to help with performances and always showing up to classes with a smile!
Pricing:
- We offer a free trial class before registering
- 1 class a week is $65 a month and $15 for any additional classes taken
- We offer sibling discounts
Contact Info:
- Address: 539 W Commerce St
Dallas, TX 75208 - Website: www.oakcliffdance.com
- Phone: 817-454-0268
- Email: weare@oakcliffdance.space
- Instagram: oakcliffdance
- Facebook: oakcliffdance
Image Credit:
Jill Broussard
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