1994 -2023
Welcome to Fascinating Rhythm’s 30th Year of providing high quality dancing and performing – all with a smile on everyone’s face! We know that great technique can be FUN to learn! We are proud to be known as the HAPPIEST dance studio in Reno!
Kia’s FR Dance (Fascinating Rhythm School of Performing Arts), is proud and excited to offer more performance opportunities beyond our annual Winter Showcase and June Recital.
If your dancer wants to take their performance skills to the next level that includes competition and judge’s input, check out our Comp Crew for ages 6+.
Does your performer want to sing, dance, and act in a more musical way? Our Children’s Theater has created an annual original musical production since 2014. This year, 2023, we are collaborating with Galena High School’s highly-regarded theater program.
DANCE HARD, LAUGH LOUD!
Miss Kia explains how Fascinating Rhythm School of Performing Arts came into being:
The back story: I came to Reno to dance in what was the biggest show, on the biggest stage in the world: Hello Hollywood Hello (HHH – https://www.rgj.com/story/life/2014/02/02/hello-hollywood-hello-iconic-stage-show-still-resonates-in-reno-arts-community/5090905/). The stage, a full acre, housed a full-sized mock airplane backstage from which dancers would stand on its 80-foot wingspan and “fly” towards the audience. It really was a tremendous show and what a FUN way to grow up as a professional dancer – on the world’s largest stage.
How did I get there? I had been the resident choreographer for a small theater in Sacramento called The Old Eagle Theater. A friend, Michael Andrews, and I had studied together at Carmichael School of Performing Arts; he landed a gig as a singer for HHH (I hadn’t even heard of it.) He called me one day to tell me they needed a *swing dancer for this new show, HHH. So, I drove up for a private audition with the producer, Donn Arden (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Arden), and international dance agent, Margaret Kelley, better known as Madame Bluebell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Kelly (dancer). I was hired on the spot and told to “start tomorrow” – what?! I didn’t even live in Nevada let alone Reno. “You have three days to move.” So move, I did. I was fortunate to dance in seven of the eleven years the show ran.
*Side note: what is a swing dancer? It is not a style of dance from the big band era. It is the dancer that has to know everyone else’s spots in the show – for days off, sick call-ins, and holidays. I LOVED it. It kept me on my toes (so to speak) and I got to dance with different dance partners and from different spots on the stage – every night!
How did I go from a professional dancer to a studio owner? One of the dancers in HHH was a former Radio City Rockette and was moving back east, but she had created a dance studio aptly called Broadway Beginnings. HHH dancers would take turns teaching dance classes backstage between shows and, as a Rockette, she was particularly interested in the tap classes; she liked the style and manner in which I taught. She offered me her entire student base to continue their training after her move. Hm. Long story short, I took all of her tap dancers and promised to keep them for at least one year – and now, twenty-five years later…
Jumping in the deep end: After twelve years of renting /leasing, I took the plunge and bought a huge cement shell of a building, I truly had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into as a commercial building owner – and to keep construction moving, my family and I learned how to run a jackhammer, work a scissor lift, make designs with a concrete cutter, and much more! (The raised floor in the dance rooms have more than 2,000 1-inch hard rubber squares underneath to create the suspended wood floors, thank goodness for electric screwdrivers!) Now, thirteen years later, we are still “dancing hard, and laughing loud” and have turned out more than 4,000 dancers trained in multiple styles and levels of dance including aerial silks, tumbling, parkour, musical theater, plus, and from a multitude of qualified and talented former or current professionals.
Am I proud of our THIRTY year Anniversary?! You bet I am!!! XOXO
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“Kia’s FR Dance’s is approved by Washoe County School District as a provider for Supervised Curriculum in Physical Education. Our dance classes can be signed off for PE credit.”
Miscellaneous chit-chat:
2020 Artown’s Discover Jazz: Lane was invited to share his wealth of knowledge in the Jazz Dance World via virtual media to hundreds of kids age 6-12 year olds. He explained the origins of Jazz dance, including how Jazz is the most popular dance form in TV commercials. He ended his virtual class with a fun, upbeat combo to “It’s Always a Good Time” – and from what we heard, everyone did have a good time with Lane. Bravo, Lane!
2016 Artown’s Discover Tap: Kia, Lane, and Logan Strand were a great success at Artown’s Discover Tap! Kids of all ages – and their parents – learned about rhythm, how to count music half-time, straight-time, and double-time, that tappers use 8 points on their feet to become a percussive instrument, and even learned a short tap combination. We’re ready to take Discover Tap on the road!
Hey – have you ever seen the Rockettes perform annually with the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra? Well, if so, those aren’t the Radio City Rockettes, those are FR Dancers who have been a part of this yearly holiday show for more than 10 years. In addition to the long-legged high-kicking tap dancers, we have provided Jazz dancers, a Hollywood-style Waltz, and much more. It is a huge privilege to be invited and a wonderful experience to dance with a full orchestra!
HOLIDAY INFORMATION:
We follow WCSD’s traditional (Balanced) school year holiday schedule, with few exceptions (which will be posted and announced).
Confirmed holidays and breaks are:
- Labor Day
- Fall Break (2 week)
- Nevada Day and Halloween
- Veterans’ Day
- Thanksgiving and Family Day
- Winter Break (2 weeks)
- Martin Luther King Day
- President’s Day
- Spring Break (2 weeks)
- Memorial Day
