Tude (pronounced TOO-dee) Della Maggiore recalled tripping and stumbling as a young child. When she was seven-years-old, her mother put her in ballet lessons. Tude Della Maggiore fell in love with the art of dance and later went on to open Tude’s School of Dance (at 1593 Pomeroy Ave.).
“I’m still at the same location where I opened the studio back in 1976,” said Tude Della Maggiore, who also started a production company called Tude’s Rhythmic Movements. “I was a young 23-year-old then, trying to figure out what my dream was. It was to open a studio and teach kids, teenagers and adults. My dance studio is always open to anyone who wants to learn how to dance.”
On a late summer Monday afternoon at Tude’s School of Dance, students practiced leaps, splits, turns, toe stands, lay outs (kicking a leg up high with the body arched back) and triplets (leaping shuffle steps) in the spacious one room studio. With a lively spirit, Wendy Della Maggiore Callahan, Tude Della Maggiore’s sister, led this intermediate jazz and tap class.
Styles taught here include jazz, ballet, tap and hip hop.
“I love to train and teach young dancers,” Tude Della Maggiore said. “It makes me feel good to have a place where they can go to become professional dancers and where they can just do it for fun. I’ve had kids grow up in the studio and now I’m teaching their children how to dance. It’s very rewarding to watch my students grow up and become the dancers that they are. Even if they don’t go professional with it, it’s still good that they have this skill. Dancing is a form of body language. You can express yourself through dance when you aren’t able to do it through words. It makes you feel good.”
Tude Della Maggiore added that many adults come to her studio to dance as well.
“There aren’t too many studios in the area that also cater to adults,” she said. “The adults can come in and forget about their troubles and feel good about themselves.”
The students at Tude’s School of Dance can perform in shows. Near the entrance of the studio are posters showing students in colorful and dazzling costumes from these dance productions.
Tude Della Maggiore gave examples of how dance continues to enrich her students’ lives outside her dance studio.
“One of my girls is majoring in dance at college,” she said. “A few of my students from the past are teaching dance and have their own studio. One of them teaches dance at a college.”
Visit danceattudes.com for more information about Tude’s School of Dance.