Dance instructor turns passion into profession

Mahlon Joseph Bourgeois
July 7, 2009
Ronnie Jerome Labit
July 9, 2009
Mahlon Joseph Bourgeois
July 7, 2009
Ronnie Jerome Labit
July 9, 2009

Dance is an art form that refers to the movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music. Paddy Danos, owner of Paddy Danos School of Dance on Corporate Drive in Houma, said it embodies ideas and emotions or tells a story.


“The way your body moves to the beat of the music can be breathtaking,” she said. “You can really get lost inside yourself when you dance, if you really believe in what you are doing.”

After more than 50 years of dancing and 37 years of instructing, Danos still has dance fever. She started at the age of 2. Her instructor, New Orleans dancer Marian Hinkley, offered classes in Houma.


Young Danos took lessons from Hinkley until she was 18 years old, learning all the genres of dance that were offered: ballet, jazz, acrobatics and tap. Along the way, Danos said she picked up contemporary dancing when it became popular.


“Dancing was something that I’ve always wanted to do,” she said. “I just loved it. I did it all the time.”

After attending college for a couple of years at Louisiana State University and Houma’s vocational school in 1970, Danos still felt incomplete. She missed dancing. In 1972, she opened her dance school in Houma.


This was when girls participated in dancing for the social connection with other girls or just as a way to learn a new form of dance like she did when she was a little girl, she said.


The actual definition of what constitutes dance depends on the social, cultural and artistic atmosphere, she said.

Danos said dance has evolved to include many styles: classical dance, interpretive dance, contemporary dance, step dance and the emergence of a new hip-hop dance.


“It changes a lot every so many years,” she said. “You can see from the disco years when that was really big. Country and Urban Cowboy became popular. Now, its hip-hop and contemporary dancing.”


But no matter the style, Danos said they all have something in common – proper technique. Through her years of training, she said it has been evident that every dance began with a form of ballet where the dance movements are precise and flowing.

“You learn correct posture and technique in ballet,” she said. “Then, once you have learned correct posture, you take it into every dance you do.”


One of the things that most dancers look forward to is competing to see who’s the best dancer or dance group. Competing in dance was not popular when Danos was a young dancer coming up through the ranks in the mid-1950s. It was not until the early 1980s, she said, that competition dancing became the norm.


The heavy rotation of dancers competing on prime-time television has people wanting to shake their “groove thing” across a stage or dance floor.

Individually, young dancers who believe they have the skills to be the best can audition for Fox Broadcasting’s “So You Think You Can Dance.”


As a group, dance crews or troupes can try out for MTV’s “Randy Jackson Presents: America’s Best Dance Crew.”

Dancing has also become a hit with the mature audiences. ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” has them wanting to put on their dancing shoes to foxtrot or jive across a ballroom floor.

“There have always been dance shows on television. All those television shows have influenced people to want to learn how to dance,” Danos said. “A lot of times, they watch the show and they want to learn the different genres of dance.”

“Even dancers who are already actively participating in dance watch the show for new things to make them more competitive,” she added.

As an instructor, Danos said she even takes choreographing notes from the dance shows. “We are always trying to keep up with the now,” she said.

The Houma instructor takes her dancers to two competitions a year in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Biloxi, Miss., or Houston.

She caps her classes at 18 to 22 girls because, through her experience, she finds that when there are more girls than that, it is harder to get their attention.

“The dancers can get more individual assistance with one main instructor and helper in the classes,” Danos said.

Class sessions are not broken up throughout the year.

They start in the fall and run to the summer. Danos accepts enrollment for competing girls until December. After January, she focuses on routines for competition.

Those wanting just the technical side of dances can enroll in classes before or after January, Danos said.

Girls wanting to try out for Danos’ competition roster can begin signing up the first week of August at the same time as the regular dance classes, Monday through Thursday, 4:30 to 8 p.m.

Not to fret, Danos also has classes for adults. For the last couple of years, she has had a bigger interest in the adult classes.

Danos teaches the adults the same genres as the younger girls.

“It’s kind of looking like some of the girls that have graduated from here are trying to come back and do classes to stay active,” she said.

Dance instructor Paddy Danos (middle) choreographed her students to strike a pose for the ending of a routine for this past weekend’s recital. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF