I always tell people that my MHDC claim to fame is being one of the first 10 students to sign up for dance at MHDC….EVER! My parents tell me that they were out for a drive and passed Melissa in her first location on 102. The studio still had not opened and at the time she was hard at work painting the inside. From that day forward, dance, Melissa and MHDC became the biggest part of my life. Now if you ask her, I know Melissa has enough embarrassing “Mindy Moo” stories to write a book! She’s watched me grow up; taking part in her first recital as a four year old, to joining the competitive team, and then being part of the first Subtle Intuition Dance Ensemble under Sandi. While dancing at MHDC I was fortunate enough to be the recipient of many awards from both regional and national competitions as well as a national dance title and many scholarships.
I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to start teaching at an early age. At 16 I started “team teaching” with one of my good friends Devon, whom many of you know. I was instantly hooked! I loved teaching and passing my love of dance on to others. I knew where ever a professional dance career took me, I would always have teaching. It was most difficult to remember to keep school a priority as well as dance, as I was definitely not as passionate about school…. However, being the type-A perfectionist that I am, it was always important to me to do well in school. There were many sleepless nights because heaven forbid I miss a dance class!! My heart has always belonged to the studio, whether teaching or taking classes. This is why when graduation came and I had to make a choice to follow my head or my heart…you all know which I chose. It wasn’t easy explaining to people how I could graduate second in my class, be accepted to such a prestigious school, and then decide to dance professionally. There are days when I wonder what my life would have been like, but I always come back to the same word, miserable.
After spending 3 years dancing for Royal Caribbean Cruiselines as a featured soloist and aerialist, I decided it was time to come back home, and I have been teaching at MHDC ever since. Currently, I teach at both MHDC and Carlene Nazarian Dance Center in Salem NH as well as teaching Bikram yoga- yup! that’s right! the HOTTT yoga!- in Manchester. I could go on and on forever singing the praises of this studio and it’s staff, but the true testament is that I just can’t stay away. The other day, I had a student of mine turn to a new student and say, “Miss Mindy has been teaching me since I was 3!” Wow, and now she’s 11….it’s the greatest reward to be a part of the lives of your children and to share my love and passion with them every week. I think about it all the time how lucky I am that my parents found Melissa those MANY years ago.
