Fifty years ago Dancin’ Feet dancers filed into the basement of a Canton Township building where the flooring was half tile and half carpet. Fifty years later, the new generations of Dancin’ Feet dancers get to enjoy various designated rooms at the Summit with multiple highly-trained teachers to help them become the best dancers they can be. 

Cheryl Reitz, current studio director, credits all the teachers and the hard work that they have put into to make the dance company flourish, “With Miss June, and all the teachers, we’ve had 377 years total with Dancin’ Feet, either with teaching or being a student here, so that’s a lot.”

All of Dancin’ Feet’s current teachers are in-studio raised; they all started dancing with the studio at four-years-old and then graduated with the studio as seniors. Later, they all came back to teach the next generation the love of dance.

The teachers are knowledgeable about dance and how to teach the students. “I have five teachers who are certified in grade five Cecchetti or more, which is just unheard of in the community. We have several teachers that are dance master certified, and also several of my teachers are kindergarten teachers, so they’re elementary school certified as well. So that, I think, is just as important,” said Reitz. “Teaching the little kids is a skill in itself.”

Parents of dancers also participate in the success of the Dancin’ Feet studio by helping raise money, prepare their dancers, and help the studio put together the recitals and events. “With my daughter, I just helped her get all her costumes together, fitted right, and packed for the recital,” said Donella Grissom, mother to dancer Allison Grissom. “With the company, I helped earlier in the day with the bake sale, which was a fundraiser for Dancin’ Feet so they can stay running for another 50 years.”

Family members like the Grissoms love to watch their dancers grow and have fun every dance season with Dancin’ Feet. Dancers also enjoy the benefits they get to experience dancing with such a large, long running studio with so many students. “I really enjoyed the tap company dance at the end of the show.” said Allison Grissom, junior at Dancin’ Feet studio. “I liked being able to dance with so many different dancers in a fun routine that we all enjoyed.”

Alumni of the studio returned to perform for the recital. Reitz explained that a Facebook page was set up to contact the alumni dancers.  Donella Grissom stated, “I had no clue about anything that they were doing for the 50th year anniversary, but it was really cool to see the alumni of all ages come back and dance together again.”

Reitz is proud of how far Dancin’ Feet has come and excited to see where they go in the future. 

“We basically evolved from just teaching ballet and tap to now teaching ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical point and Cecchetti [a master ballet teaching method]. We also added our own competition program. So it just kept getting stronger and stronger, and Dancin’ Feet has won many, many awards and competitions.” Said Reitz.