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Crowley may be a long way from the bright lights of New York City, but one former Broadway dancer is bringing the dazzle of the Big Apple to the Metroplex suburbs.
Fort Worth native Frances Lea has danced her away across the nation for decades, but the alum of musicals such as “No, No Nanette” has no plans to hang up her dancing shoes anytime soon.
She is in the process of opening her newest studio, the Frances Lea Dance Center, in Crowley and said she is eager to teach a fresh generation her favorite art form.
The Crowley studio will offer lessons for both adults and children ages 3 and up of all skill levels, Lea said. She will provide instruction in tap, jazz, clogging, hip hop, modern lyrical, tumbling, cheer and her personal favorite, ballet, she said.
Lea, who has a four-year-old dance studio in Burleson, decided to open a Crowley center to replace her old Fort Worth studio, which she closed after 32 years of business.
“A lot of families are moving down here, and they want some place to dance,” she said.
Lea said many of her former students have earned theater-dance scholarships to college, a route similar to Lea’s own past.
A dancer since age 2, she studied theater and ballet at Texas Christian University on the Nordan scholarship, she said, but kept active between semesters by performing in as many as eight musicals at Fort Worth’s Casa Manana theater per summer.
“After I graduated, I moved to New York at the age of 21,” she said. “I had to dance on Broadway, or I don’t know what I would have done.”
“I was only in New York for six weeks before I got a part,” she said, a tap-dancing role alongside Ruby Keeler in “No, No Nanette.”
Next she appeared in “Irene” with Debbie Reynolds, who she said is the godmother of one of her two sons.
“Liza Minelli would come and watch me do ‘Irene’ from the side of the stage,” she said. “But not everything was easy. After I moved there, everything was stolen out of my apartment but my dance stuff. Even my coat was stolen.”
Joy Guthmiller, office manager for Lea’s new Crowley studio, said Lea’s ample experience with classic dancers has given her unique skills to pass on to her students.
“Frances is always encouraging her students to go back and watch old dance movies,” Guthmiller said. “A lot of that style is getting lost, but Frances wants to keep that style alive.”
Lea said she likes to mix more traditional forms of dance with more modern, while keeping dancing fun.
“In addition to competitions, we like to do shows and play festivals,” she said.
Crowley classes begin Aug. 18, and Guthmiller said potential students can register for classes until the end of October.
For information or to register, call 817-263-7888.
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