Welcome to Miss Beverly's Blog!
It’s easy to notice that Blossom & Bloom's dance schedule focuses on children’s classes. That's because children’s classes are my strong suit and my comfort zone.
When I first began teaching I was learning under the mentorship of a local dance studio owner who provided me with amazing training opportunities and most importantly, the opportunity to practice what I was learning by teaching my own classes. That requires a great amount of trust and I will forever be grateful!
As a new teacher I had this connection with students that I couldn’t explain. I was traveling to a studio management training on the East Coast and I remember sitting on a curb in Boston and almost every kid who walked by either waved or made eye contact & smiled. For some reason the energy in me resonates with the energy of a kiddo. It makes me laugh every time because I have to imagine they see something silly on my shoulder that none of us can see, like a purple baboon wearing a Liberace style cape and a pirate’s hat.

Of course I made plenty of mistakes when I started teaching because my expectations did not match reality (I was 19, so that was happening a lot). I wanted my kids to learn their skills across the floor to “You Can Fly” from Peter Pan and “Little April Showers” from Bambi but those songs are actually awful music to try and teach over in a children’s class. The vocals are distracting and the volume/tempo changes too often. I had to learn that just because I liked the idea of something didn’t mean it would work. I was able to tweak and adjust my music selections, activities, and curriculum to the point where my children’s classes run like clockwork.

After years of experience I have so many tools in my dance toolkit that if an activity isn’t working with a certain group, I can quickly change it up and offer something else that may work! I never have “Oh, no! What do I do next?!” moments in class because I have enough experience to pull from. I’m constantly looking for more things to add into my dance toolkit. I don’t know it all and other teachers have so many creative ways to do things, I love continuing to learn!
It takes time, patience, resilience, and a desire to grow in order to create a class that truly revolves around the child’s experience and not the expectations of an adult.
At one point I was teaching over 200 kids a week and teaching dance 5-6 days a week on top of management duties. My job required overtime constantly but I think everyone working in a creative field can commiserate. It’s difficult to “clock out.”

On top of a personal life that was not going as expected, the work life I had built up was not working for me. My body and mind gave out. So I stepped down from my position. I had never felt like more of a failure. I thought, who am I to turn down this opportunity? Who am I to just say “Naahhhh” when this is the most fantastic job, even with its downsides? Well friends, I’m not a failure. I was just tired, depressed, and transitioning into the next phase of my life. I really didn’t see dance fitting into this new phase, but ya never know…
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