Forested mountains. Whining chain saws and rumbling logging trucks. Humming, rackety timber mills.
Farms, big tractors, cultivating, harvesting, working the earth.
Big outdoors, hunters in camo, hiking, camping, fishing.
And just 3% of the population of metropolitan Ada County, home to Idaho's capitol.
So, would most of Idaho be surprised to learn that rough, tough, and rugged
Boundary County is home to a dance studio, whose graduates from its graceful instruction in creative dance, jazz dance, modern, and ballet are now scattered across the USA?
Barbara Russell's Dance Studio is an oasis of genteel in the midst of our remote, rural, rugged Boundary County.
Her own dance career began at a Philadelphia ballet school at age five. After graduating from a Philadelphia-area high school (as a high school art major), she attended college at the University of Utah, where she majored in ballet and participated in Utah's renowned Repertory Dance Theatre. After college, she continued her dance training for several more years in Pennsylvania and in New York City. Ms. Russell arrived in Boundary County in 1977, initially living in the Moyie Springs area.
So how does a person with that sort of background find their way to Boundary County, Idaho? Let's just say it was a combination of getting "back to the land," wanting to live a more rural lifestyle, seeking an area better suited for alternative clean energy ("it was big back in the 70's!" she laughs), drifting west--and north, and ultimately ending up, somehow, in Boundary County.
If you think starting a successful dance studio in Bonners Ferry might be a difficult challenge, think first about trying to start a successful dance studio at Curley Creek. That's where Ms. Russell made an early attempt on the winding road toward today's bustling studio. The results at Curley Creek: "No one came," she states bluntly, with no further sugar coating of the situation. And those classes were offered free of charge.
As we all know, if things don't work out at Curley Creek, the next obvious place to go is to the Three Mile Grange, which she did, offering dance classes for a small fee. There her first students came, and there the first foundations of today's Dance Studio were laid. Her early memories of the Three Mile Grange location include keeping the fire stoked to heat the building, and keeping the dead flies swept up. Although she didn't actually say it, it is unlikely these responsibilities were part of her earlier training on Broadway in New York City.
From the Grange hall, her studio graduated to holding classes in the cafeteria of Valley View elementary school, and in the gymnasium of Bonners Ferry High School. Her Grange students followed her to these new locations. "That was an amazing group of women, some still living here. My baby daughter would come with me while I taught."
In the early 1980's, after she had moved to Bonners Ferry's north side, she remodeled a section of her home into a studio, which included barres and mirrors. Since then, "it's been a real studio," she says, and has gone through many renovations and transformations over the years.
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How can a dance studio succeed in a small, rural area, like Boundary County? "It is not much different than the success of other businesses," says Ms. Russell. It takes "passion and love for what you are doing," and good training. "As anything else, it takes more than just wanting to do something. You need to know how to do it. Teaching dance is also different than just being a good dancer. Some of the best dancers are not good teachers."
Another important factor, says Ms. Russell, is loving the students. "Unlike selling a product, teaching has a direct effect on a child. I take my job and responsibility seriously. I continually try to find ways to teach more creatively while not compromising what I know to be important. Having expectations of being on time, being prepared, respectful, and teamwork is not always popular, but it is as essential for dance as in all aspects of life."
"I develop a personal relationship with my students and their families. Some are like my second children, having had them from very small toddlers until senior graduation."
She also believes perseverance is another element of success in her studio. "As in any business, there are ups and downs. It can be discouraging. For at least 15 years, my mother kept asking me when I was going to get a 'real job!"
She notes further that optimism, vision, and self-confidence are important. "Now in my 37th year teaching dance in Boundary County, I still do not take the success of my business for granted. Having a small population [in our area] presents a greater challenge, and keeping optimistic is important. I have a 'can do' attitude, and don't let challenges discourage me."
Today, classes total about 100 students per year. She estimates that, over the years, thousands of Boundary County students have gone through training at the Dance Studio.
At the Dance Studio, classes are offered for young children from around age 2 through adulthood. Many members of the high school Dance Team over the years have been enrolled in the Dance Studio. Many of Ms. Russell's students have gone on to additional dance training in college, some have gone on to become dance teachers themselves, and some have performed in a formal dance company or at the professional level.
At least one former student, Julie Anderson, who has taught for around fifteen years in dance academies, public schools, and in university settings, has just opened her own studio in the Denver area, the Lakewood Dance Academy.
"I can't say enough about the instruction I received at The Dance Studio," said this former student Julie Anderson, when contacted by NewsBF. "I have danced and taught in major cities across the country, and I have met few teachers with the depth of knowledge and level of excellence that Barb Russell brings to her classes."
Many former students have stayed in touch, and stop by the studio occasionally to visit. Some have taken additional classes from Ms. Russell while home on break from college. "Two former students taught summer workshops at my studio, and I was very excited to take classes from my past students!"
A highlight of the year in Boundary County is the annual Recital staged by Ms. Russell's Dance Studio. These productions are not easy. "In the very beginning, I had small shows on the Valley View gym stage. My first big recital was in 1985. The shows at the Fry Auditorium [in the old, old high school] presented an enormous amount of work just making the stage a usable space. There is still quite a bit of work, time, and money setting up the lights at the current high school's new auditorium."
"I don't think I could ever figure the amount of work that goes into the shows. I
have a love (like)/hate relationship with the recitals. My life would be so much easier without them!"
"There is so much planning--if there will be a theme, choosing music, costuming, choreography, putting dances in an order that will flow and give time for costume changes, lighting, props, practicing. It is a challenge to make the same beginner's steps look different and more interesting each year, and a challenge to come up with great choreography for everyone else, too."
If it's that hard, will the recitals continue to be a Boundary County fixture?
"I've already started thinking of next spring's show," said Ms. Russell.
"So, while the recitals are extremely difficult, the positive aspects are to give my students the opportunity to perform dance, which is a performing art, and to feel comfortable on the stage."
What does the future hold for Barbara Russell and the Dance Studio in Bonners Ferry?
"I think I have the best job I could imagine. I am so fortunate to teach so many ages and skill levels. I love my little corner of the world where I am surrounded by these wonderful children."
"My job keeps my mind and body working. I love to have a job where I get so many hugs, beautiful pictures drawn, watch young children grow into beautiful young women. People keep asking me if I am going to retire. I don't know what that means. I'd like more time, especially with my grandchildren, but how do you retire from your passion?"
Added Ms. Anderson, the former student now in Colorado with her own studio: "To train and dance with someone who loves and lives the art form is a rare and beautiful gift, a gift so many students from Bonners Ferry have been blessed with since Barbara opened The Dance Studio."