Member Stories: Meet Studio Owner, Beth

Meet the Dance Without Limits studio owner and dance teacher affectionately known as “Miss Beth.” Beth Bradley has been in love with dance since she was 4 years old, and knew from a very young age that she wanted to own her own dance studio.

Learn more about Miss Beth and what inspired her to open the Dance Without Limits dance studio here in Greer, South Carolina.

1. when did you fall in love with dance?

I started dancing when I was 4 years old. My mom was looking for an activity to put me and my sisters in and she thought dance would be something fun and a good way for us to meet friends and be active. She had no experience in dance and had no clue what she was signing us up for, but I fell in love instantly and I’ve been dancing ever since!

2. when did you start teaching dance?

I started teaching when I was 19. I was in college, so I would do my college work during the day and early afternoons and then head to the studio to teach every evening. I loved everything about it. Teaching has always been my favorite thing to do; even that young I knew I was going to love doing this.

3. what made you decide to open your own studio?

I think I have always wanted to own a studio. I knew early on that I love dancing and I love kids and it just made sense to put those two things together.

I love to be in charge, so I think I knew I was going to want to be in charge of something. I had a wonderful studio owner growing up who was like a second mom to me. We spent a lot of time together and she brought me under her wing and taught me and trained me how to teach and how a studio works. There a lot of ins and outs to a dance studio, and a lot of things that go into owning your own studio that people don’t think about and she was able to teach me all of that.

From billing to marketing to parent communications and all of those other things that go into dance studios besides just teaching, she taught me all of those things and I loved them all.

4. what was your inspiration for the culture at dance without limits?

I have kind of a unique story – I’m the oldest of 18 kids. My parents adopted 15 children. They started adopting when I was 10, so when I was 10 I got a new baby brother. The next year, I got another new baby brother…the year after I got a new baby sister and it just kept going as we added more and more people to our family, which was a really fun way to grow up.

My parents felt called to adopt children that were a little bit more difficult to place; a lot of my siblings have disabilities, are from other countries, or were older when they came to us. That really impacted how I see the world and how I view my role in the world.

When I had an opportunity to open my own studio – which was a dream come true – I knew I wanted to do it in a way that would honor the way I was raised.

5. what is your favorite part of being a dance teacher?

Seeing the growth in the kids! We get so many kids who come into dance and it’s a new experience, it’s new people, it’s a new environment, and they’re scared. They start out hiding behind mom’s leg and they don’t even want to come in the room, but seeing the transformation that being in a dance studio brings to those kids is really important and really inspiring.

They become more and more confident in who they are, in their bodies and what they can do with their bodies, and that they can be in a new situation and it be ok.

That continuously progresses until we get to our end of year recital and those same kids who were scared to walk into a room of new people can get on a stage with confidence in front of hundreds of people and be totally fine and enjoy being able to dance and be a part of something like that. It’s an amazing transformation that we get to see time and time again. I don’t know many adults that can walk on a stage in front of that many people, so the fact that these kids can do that as young as they are is encouraging and inspiring every day.

come learn, grow, and dance with us at dance without limits!

We created a culture here that’s inclusive. We welcome all students of all shapes, sizes, colors and ability. We feel like they deserve the opportunity to dance, just like the rest of us deserve the opportunity to dance and to experience the joy that is in a dance studio.

That is why we’re here and that’s what we do every day, and it’s a blessing that I get to see these kids come and be a part of something that I got to be a part of growing up.

Interested in joining the Dance Without Limits family? Sign up for a free trial class or give us a call Monday through Thursday, 3-8pm.