8-23-2024 11:03pm

Miss Andrea's Dance Factory tapping into 33 years of teaching and developing new skills

Students at Miss Andrea's Dance Factory held a recital in June 2024.

Owner Andrea Abbott is opening doors to her 33 season of teaching dance in a fun and gentle manner.

Miss Andrea’s Dance Factory is welcoming new members into the tribe with an open house on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Aspiring dancers are invited to sign up for a class and will have a chance to shop for a new outfit and shoes.

“Our open house will bring a chance to come in and shop at a pop up dance boutique. Major discounts are only available at the open house,” MADF owner Andrea Abbott said.

Abbott is a 1991 Hononegah Community High School graduate who remains grounded in her roots.

Her personal experience started at age five, when her parents encouraged her to go to dancing school. Abbott says her family danced many times in their homes.

Abbott took lessons at Forest Hills Dance Academy. She also had the honor of learning dance from Sheri Greenfield who was a beloved dance, flags and cheer coach at HCHS.

At HCHS, Abbott was an Indianette and a team captain.

Before becoming a dance teacher, Abbott had started college to be a flight nurse. “I never imagined becoming a dance teacher or owning my own dance studio, but one day I was sitting in college and I had a complete change of heart,” Abbott reflects.

After years of personal training, Abbott taught dance at the Beloit YMCA in the fall of 1992. The dancers were moved to the WIN Center in 1998. When the WIN Center was unable to keep itself afloat, Abbott opened her very first studio on Saint Lawrence Avenue in Beloit. Opening day was Oct. 1, 1999.

The first competitive team started that year with six dancers.

When Abbott first started teaching, she had around 30 students. Over time that number grew to 145 at the YMCA.

Numbers dropped significantly when Beloit Corp had to close their doors and people couldn't afford it any longer. The studio built their numbers back up to the 140 range of students.

MADF opened a studio in Rockton in the summer of 2018.

Over the years Abbott has continued to grow and expand, welcoming students to two extra locations.

To better serve those who want to develop their talents and skills, she also holds classes at the Gymnastics Academy of Rockford in a satellite studio. Abbott also owns Brodhead Dance Academy.

Today MADF welcomes over 200 dancers, a combination of female and male dancers, with ages ranging from two years old through adult.

MADF has a 65-member traveling competitive team, named “The Tribe.” Dancers on the team range in ages 5-18.

MADF has three levels of recreational dance and six levels of team dance. Every year students go into competitions, which vary from season to season. They featured soloists, duets, trios, and different sizes of groups.

Students have a Christmas show, a spring recital and a team winter showcase.

Abbott says the important components of dance competitions are a strong technical base, good choreography and entertainment quality.

MADF is a consistent community supporter and takes part in many local parades and supports various collections, projects and drives.

They also have two “Crown Camps.” Camp One is geared toward 2–3-year-olds and Crown Camp is for 3–5-year-olds. Children do crafts and dance.

“Being in business for 33 years, we always strive to give all our dancers the best in all styles of dance,” says Abbott.

In the studio, students can learn ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, lyrical musical theater, modern/contemporary, hip hop, pom pom and tumbling, plus other unique classes such as Mommy and Me, Yoga, African, Latin, adult hip hop, adult ballet and clogging.

Coming this fall is the addition of the “Boy’s Hip Hop Crew.”

Abbott ensures top quality education in all dance styles with the help of an equally qualified field of dance instructors.

“We are not just a group of people partaking in dance day to day... we are a dance family,” Abbott said. “It was a full circle moment when as a dance educator I get to teach the children of women who were former students when the first studio started, not to mention our alumni dancers that have gone off to college and ended up coming back home to teach at MADF.”