Beth Fowler School of Dance comes to St. Charles

The Beth Fowler School of Dance is opening a second location in St. Charles at 3720 Illinois Ave. A weekend dance workshop will be offered Nov. 14 and 15 before regular classes start Jan. 4. The school will offer classes in ballet, jazz, hip hop, tap, lyrical, modern, ballroom and creative dance.

The new dance studio’s recent open house was attended by parents, local dignitaries and St. Charles Chamber of Commerce representatives. Events included free dance classes, a tour of the 8,000-square-foot dance school facility, a performance by the Beth Fowler Dance Company, and a prize drawing for classes. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Beth Fowler studied with the Milwaukee Ballet and was a principle dancer with Rockford Dance Company and the Judith Svalander Dance Theatre of Crystal Lake. She established her school of dance in Genoa in 1983, at the age of 15. As her school grew, she developed the Beth Fowler Dance Company in 1994. The pre-professional dance company requires dancers to execute difficult tasks at a professional level in an audition.

Fowler has developed dancers who have performed with professional dance companies, MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew” and with the Chicago Bulls Luvabulls. Her students have received scholarships to study with the Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theater, The Milwaukee Ballet and college dance programs.

“The Nutcracker” and more
The Beth Fowler Dance Company presents annual performances each December of “The Nutcracker.” Children from the Beth Fowler School of Dance perform the children’s roles. All students age 4 and up who want to perform are accepted into “The Nutcracker” productions. All students age 3 and up have opportunities to perform in the annual spring and summer productions. The studio owns and provides all costumes and props and never charges for extra rehearsals outside of class.

The school has a repertoire of alternating spring/summer productions. Ballet productions include such works as “Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Swan Lake.” Among the jazz productions are “Grease,” “Fame” and “Dancing Thru The Decades.” Lyrical productions include “West Side Story”  and “The Wizard Of Oz.”

School structure
Fowler teaches at least one class in each level, beginning through professional (ages 3 through adult). Once the dancers reach advanced levels, they work with Fowler and guest teachers, many who are college professors of dance. The dance faculty have backgrounds in dance training, performing and teaching experience. The teachers themselves started their dance training as young children with Fowler and progressed through the school’s programs.

Hip Hop
Leading the hip hop program is Robert Lewis, who recently performed and competed on the MTV series “America’s Best Dance Crew” with the Xtreme Dance Force crew. As a child, he trained in ballet and jazz with Fowler.

Open house classes
For more information and a schedule of free open house classes and performances, call the Genoa studio at (815) 784-5658 or visit www.BethFowlerSchoolOfDance.com.