Dance offers a form of recreation
Tanya Chandler is a shipping processor with Haulotte U.S. in Virginia Beach. She has been a member of the team for three years, and she, along with her older sister and three nieces, own and operate a local dance studio.
When did you start dancing? Why?
I started dancing at the age of five with ballet being my focus genre but have since expanded to many other genres. Dance was offered as a form of recreation where I lived, so my mother strongly encouraged me to sign up for ballet as a way of getting out of the house and trying something new and different. My mother was always encouraging my siblings and I to try and learn new things!
Can you explain what it brings to your life?
Dancing gives me a quiet sense of freedom to interpret ideas, movement, rhythm, and choreography that’s caught up in the heart and mind.
What type of dancing do you do? Did you compete in any competitions?
Through the years of being raised in a family and community filled with many different forms of dance and rhythms, I’ve been introduced to ballet, jazz, modern dance, tap, lyrical, hip-hop, contemporary, and ballroom.
To compete in these types of dance is expensive, so with little resources to compete on a wide scale, I could only compete in local and recreational events. Even though it was only in local competitions and for family and friends, it still gave me great pride, and I won many blue ribbons and trophies.
I still dance today and primarily focus on hip-hop and lyrical genres. Growing up, ballet was the most challenging genre but became the foundation for all other types of dance due to its complexity and the choreography required.
Does dancing translate into other parts of your life?
Dancing gives you discipline and structure. It teaches you to pay attention. I have become very disciplined and pay attention to detail when others show me things. It also taught me to respect peoples’ time.
What inspired you to open a dance studio?
Although I grew up dancing, the idea was really sparked between my older sister and I spending time together and discussing our family lives. My sister has three daughters who grew up dancing, and when they were younger, they were enrolled in a dance school when the owner suddenly passed away.
This created a void in our community for a reputable dance school. Other people tried to start dance studios, but eventually they would end up closing. This sparked us to have conversations about filling this void for my nieces and the other kids. We spent over a year discussing the idea, then started to look for a building.
As my sister was already retired, she was the one keeping her eye out for a good location. She kept driving by a deserted building but couldn’t find any information, until finally one day, she drove by, and a realtor was there. He offered to rent the building to us for an affordable rate, but the place was a complete mess! We spent over three months just cleaning it up with hazmat suits!
Our company, Toe2Toe Dance and Wellness is a family venture that consists of me, my sister, and her three daughters who hold various degrees in Theatrical Dance and Choreography and Sports Medicine, because we also offer health and wellness classes. We have been in business for almost 9 years!
I leave the teaching to the professionals, but off the dance floor, I teach the children how to respect each other by quietly observing and encouraging others to do their best.
Do you teach adults and children?
We teach both adults and children, so there are many different levels of dance that can be taught in any given day. We currently have around 75 students enrolled in classes. My personal role is as operations manager, but I wear many hats and oversee most of our event coordination, including our annual recital and roughly six other annual events. I also fill in as substitute teacher to warmup our students with technique.
Our annual recital is the main event, but one of my favorite events is the Gospel Show, which is the second biggest event. This show gives kids opportunity to hear another genre of music and takes kids out of their normal comfort zone because it is all lyrical dancing.
How do you manage your work and your passion?
Running the dance studio is a true passion, so working a full-time job and operating the studio never affected each other. I just factored the time needed to be at the studio into when
I was available outside of work. I had to keep working to help finance the studio. Because we started with almost no resources, we have been able to build the studio in a natural and progressive way. Our goal has always been to offer something for kids to enjoy and that families can afford, all the while producing great talent.
I am very proud of how far the studio has come. It has really satisfied our vision and gives us gratitude for the opportunity to be able to give these kids something different to do and be able to learn different types of dance and appreciate it.
I spent countless hours at the studio, day after day, to help create something special for the children to be able to learn and understand that there are many forms of dance, not just what is seen on television. I truly enjoy seeing the kids who started as babies and are now teenagers dancing at a much higher level.
Do you have any goals for studio?
I would love for the studio to truly be on the map, to be a well-known dance school in the area known for great teaching, and for our teachers to get the same recognition as the more popular dance schools. I also hope that the current teachers will be able to take over the school one day.
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