Kristan Ballard has taught dance for more than 20 years.[/caption]Kristan Ballard remembers twirling in her dance costume as a little girl and often finishing with a proclaimed ‘ta-da!’
“I grew up singing and dancing and acting,” she said.
After teaching dance at other studios for 20 years, Ballard opened the Texas Academy of Dance Arts in Oak Ridge North in September 2014. She said she wants to inspire excitement and appreciation for dance in all her students.
TADA—purposefully pronounced ‘ta-da’—offers competitive and recreational dance classes in several disciplines, such as ballet, contemporary and hip-hop. Enrollment is open year-round, and classes are available for children and adults of all levels.
Ballard said she discovered her passion for dance as a child living in Guam where she performed in numerous musical plays written by her parents.
“Then I trained at a local dance studio,” Ballard said. “It was really cool because the studio would fly in all these amazing teachers from the Philippines, Japan and New York.”
Many TADA instructors are active in the dance community and come from award-wining dance companies, including Ad Deum, the Houston Metropolitan Dance Center and Houston Ballet.
“When my husband and I decided to do this, we really wanted to do it right the first time,” Ballard said. “We want to put something out there that people could come in and trust it is going to be well-done and professional.”
The academy also houses two competitive adult dance companies: Ascend Dance Collective, which performs modern styles, and Noble Motion Dance Company, which TADA sponsors.
“It is a huge deal for us because [the professionals] are such an inspiration for the kids,” Ballard said. “All are very experienced, very energetic and very faithful.”
Ballard said all her instructors have dance degrees and some have master’s degrees in dance.
“[The program] is growing very fast,” office manager Stephanie Graff said. “We are at about 500 students. We were at 250 in 2014. It is great; lots of energy and lots of Goldfish crackers on the floor—but it is always clean in the building.”
Ballard said the building has 9,000 square feet of space and is scheduled to expand to 13,500 square feet in January. Each room has sprung flooring that decreases risk for ankle and knee injuries, Ballard said.
The children’s competitive groups are divided into Star, which Ballard said is a lighter competitive team that is less intensive, and TADA’s company.
“Our company is a small group of [preprofessional] kids who live, eat, sleep and breathe studio,” Ballard said. “They train over 20 hours a week and compete all throughout the season.”
Students demonstrate their skills in various competitions, showcases and charity performances. TADA students danced at the Lighting of the Doves holiday event in The Woodlands, and a portion of the proceeds from TADA’s holiday performance of “The Nutcracker” will be donated to the Will Herndon Fund to support juvenile Batten disease research.
“TADA is about delighting in the discovery of your own potential,” Ballard said. “That is what I would say it is all about because once you discover you can do something, and you are running around saying ta-da! You are hooked.”
