A Message from Miss Cindy ...
This is the message I never wanted to send. From a very young age, I knew that I wanted to be a dance teacher. And I consider myself one of the luckiest people alive that I got to do just that. I started teaching dance at age fourteen, and four years later, with the help of my parents, realized my dream of opening my own dance studio, Miss Cindy’s School of Dance, on North Main Street in Mansfield. In 1984, I moved the Studio to its current home on East Street. And now, fifty-five years into this wonderful journey, I have made the very difficult decision to close Miss Cindy’s after our final Recital on June 20th.
As for so many other businesses, the past year has been a challenge. Last spring, we transitioned to video lessons and for the first and only time held our annual recital, Variations in Dance, by Zoom. When classes resumed in the fall for what has turned out to be our final dance season, we were back dancing in person though at half our usual capacity, and we had a brand new camera setup for students learning from home. Although there was quite a steep learning curve (only a decade ago, I was reluctant to stop using cassettes for the Recital music!), and it all took quite a toll on me, I don’t regret for one second staying open for this last year. If I hadn’t, I don’t know how many children may not have found places to dance.
When I opened Miss Cindy’s in 1966, I was both the owner and sole teacher, and it was mainly that way for the first twenty-five years of the Studio’s existence. Although I continued to teach dance until 2004, for the past thirty years I have relied on the skill and dedication of other teachers, most of them being former students, to educate our students the way I would do so myself. I have known our Saturday instructor, ‘Miss’ Jess, since she was a baby and she started taking dance at Miss Cindy’s at the young age of three. I am so overjoyed that she came back to teach this year. ‘Miss’ Jill was also a student and took on a great responsibility for me at a transitional time for the Studio. She started teaching at Miss Cindy’s when she was only a freshman in college, but I knew that she would be an excellent teacher and I have loved seeing her become just that over the past twenty years … as well as a friend.
I wish there was enough time to thank everyone personally who ever signed up their children to dance at Miss Cindy’s for giving me the gift of teaching dance to your children. It was a privilege I never took lightly. I truly hope your children continue dancing, even if only in their bedrooms and backyards. Because though they say that laughter is the best medicine, I know in my heart that it has always been Dance.
I love you all!
Dancingly yours always,
“Miss” Cindy
As for so many other businesses, the past year has been a challenge. Last spring, we transitioned to video lessons and for the first and only time held our annual recital, Variations in Dance, by Zoom. When classes resumed in the fall for what has turned out to be our final dance season, we were back dancing in person though at half our usual capacity, and we had a brand new camera setup for students learning from home. Although there was quite a steep learning curve (only a decade ago, I was reluctant to stop using cassettes for the Recital music!), and it all took quite a toll on me, I don’t regret for one second staying open for this last year. If I hadn’t, I don’t know how many children may not have found places to dance.
When I opened Miss Cindy’s in 1966, I was both the owner and sole teacher, and it was mainly that way for the first twenty-five years of the Studio’s existence. Although I continued to teach dance until 2004, for the past thirty years I have relied on the skill and dedication of other teachers, most of them being former students, to educate our students the way I would do so myself. I have known our Saturday instructor, ‘Miss’ Jess, since she was a baby and she started taking dance at Miss Cindy’s at the young age of three. I am so overjoyed that she came back to teach this year. ‘Miss’ Jill was also a student and took on a great responsibility for me at a transitional time for the Studio. She started teaching at Miss Cindy’s when she was only a freshman in college, but I knew that she would be an excellent teacher and I have loved seeing her become just that over the past twenty years … as well as a friend.
I wish there was enough time to thank everyone personally who ever signed up their children to dance at Miss Cindy’s for giving me the gift of teaching dance to your children. It was a privilege I never took lightly. I truly hope your children continue dancing, even if only in their bedrooms and backyards. Because though they say that laughter is the best medicine, I know in my heart that it has always been Dance.
I love you all!
Dancingly yours always,
“Miss” Cindy
Voted #1 Dance School in Mansfield!
Thank you for naming us the top dance school in Mansfield in Wicked Local's Annual Readers Choice Awards!
IN THE NEWS!! ... Celebrating 50 years of Dance at Miss Cindy's!!!
Wicked Local Photo / Donna Whitehead