Denise "Ms. Denise" Kimrey stands in front of her studio on Main Street. She has been servign the community for 25 years.

Dance studio celebrates 25 years in business

After 25 years of serving the public through her dance studio, The Dance Place, Denise Kimrey estimates she has literally taught thousands.

First Taste of Dance

At the age of seven, a young Kimrey walked into a dance studio in her native Elkin.

"I think it was just one of those things," she said of being signed up to take dance classes. "Mom had a girlfriend's daughter who was going, so she signed me up. I also begged a lot. My very first teacher was Leah Gilreath in Elkin. The next thing I know, my teacher's taking me to another teacher in Winston-Salem on Saturdays to take a class down there. From there, I was just taking classes all the time."

By the time Kimrey was 14, she was assisting her teachers to help pay for her dance lessons at Jim and Nanette Shover's dance studio in Elkin. To this day, Kimrey still admires the couple, calling them "huge mentors."

Recalling her years of dance, Kimrey said with a chuckle, "Mom didn't realize she was paying for my college education when she was paying for all those dance lessons along the way. Although I didn't go to college, I was studying in a lot of different places."

For example, Kimrey went to a teachers training session at Kent State, a summer program where individuals were taught how to be a dance teacher.

"They touch on how you run your dance studio, how you deal with different aspects of running the business," recalls Kimrey. "I did that for two different summers and trained with different teachers from different places, took workshops and that kind of stuff."

Dancing in Alleghany

Kimrey's foray into the dance business in Alleghany began shortly after venturing into downtown Sparta and finding Smallings' School of Dance.

 

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