The Brooklyn Park Recreation Dance Program celebrated its 50th anniversary on May 4 at Osseo Senior High School with a dance recital titled, “This Is Me.”
Brooklyn Park’s dance program prides itself on creating a welcoming, noncompetitive environment for individuals to learn dancing fundamentals.
“They feel like there’s a sense of community and belonging,” program dance instructor Jessica Martin said. “We don’t have auditions, we don’t do tryouts, you can dance with your friends. We try to be as accommodating as possible. We just really built a lot of comradery among the students. We really have a nice celebratory atmosphere.”
The program, in many ways, has become intergenerational. Martin explained that dancers often return to the program and ascend through the different classes fit for each age group. In many cases, Martin said, adult dancers who grew up in the program will eventually bring their children to join.
“If you want to dance, we will make a spot for you,” Martin said.
Early beginnings
The program was started 50 years ago after dance instructor Sherry Dease originally planned to open a dance studio in her basement in her Brooklyn Park home. However, certain circumstances prevented this, so Dease went to the city’s Recreation and Parks Department and asked if they could use a dance program teacher.
As Dease had said, “going from brunette to gray hair” revealed to her a significant change in the way girls have participated in social activities. At the time of creation, Dease said dancing was all girls had as an extracurricular activity.
“That over the years has changed the most, that they’ve been able to get equal opportunities,” Dease said. “Also diversity has changed, which is wonderful. Being an inclusive program has been wonderful for us as teachers. The girls have taught us many things as well.”
Dease said that most of the dancers are active in other extracurricular activities such as sports, theater or band and that the program is flexible around this.
“Our program works with that,” Dease said. “Because if they can’t come, we’re very encouraging that they play their school sports, that they act in their school plays and are in their band, so I think we’re very flexible and allow them to miss events. We think they should have all the experiences, not just dance. We think they should have all that they want.”
Martin joked that Dease was being modest, that the program has grown over the years in sophistication.
“When I started taking dance lessons as a kid, our costumes were made of cardboard boxes and bags that we’d tape to our black leotards,” Martin said. “Sherry used to play our recital tracks backstage on a record player and she would hold a microphone to it. Now we’re fully digital, we can do visual and audio cutting, things like that. Our costumes are now professionally manufactured. All of that stuff has changed. We now have professional stage lighting. We try to keep up with the times.”
‘She believed in me before I did’
Dease is retiring from the dance program this year and has left behind a tremendous impact and legacy on her students and fellow instructors. Dance instructors Martin and Carson Gasner were moved to tears when asked what Sherry’s teachings have done for the program. Martin was originally a student under Dease in 1987 and went on to become an instructor, working closely with Dease through the years.
“Sherry has been my mentor since I was a little girl,” Martin said. “She has literally walked beside me at every milestone of my life. She’s always cared about and I just always knew I was valued by her.”
Gasner said, “I have known Sherry for a very long time. I’m still friends with her daughter, we went to high school together. She’s like my second mom. She has been there through many milestones in my life. I just love her.”
Martin added to this, saying, “She believed in me before I did.”
“The Brooklyn Park Recreation and Parks Department has been so fortunate to have Sherry Dease teaching dance with us for 50 years,” Brooklyn Park recreation service manager, Jen Gillard said. “There have been thousands of dancers that have come through our program and Sherry has meant so much to them.”
Dease proudly said she is leaving the program in good hands and that she will return as a fan to cheer and support the dancers from the audience.
“I have gotten back more than I’ve given,” Dease said. “Being around all these precious dancers for so many years. So for me, I’m extremely grateful and I’ve got a heart that’s full. I’m gonna be back watching. I’m gonna be back as a cheerleader.”
‘Feeling comfortable in your own skin’
Martin, Gasner and Dease noted the significance of student retention throughout the years.
“We allow them to be individuals,” Dease said. “We don’t make them wear their hair a certain way… We’re accepting of anybody being in the program. We don’t have to compete against each other. They’re there for the joy and love of dance.”
The program typically has around four recitals a year, though this was disrupted by the pandemic in 2020. With high enrollment, Martin said it’s been nice to return to the normal four recitals a year in 2024. The classes meet once a week for about 35-45 minutes depending on the age of the class from September through April. The younger dancers typically only do ballet and tap, but from third grade to seventh grade, jazz is included. As the students get older, they can then take pointe which is a separate class each week.
Pointe is one of the specialty classes the program offers. These can be taken as a standalone class by itself or in addition to another class. Other special classes include lyrical ballet, VIP-Very Important Partner, which partners a student dancer with an adult dancer.
For age ranges, the program offers options for preschoolers to adults.
“We really are performance driven,” Martin said. “We focus a lot on the recital pieces and working together as a team.”
The current dance instructors are Sherry Dease, Jenny Dease, Carson Gasner, Jessica Martin, Megan Drassler, Carrie Bell, Liv Burns and Krissy Foreness.
This year, the program offered its first 25-year trophies to dancers who have been with the program for 25 years.
“It really shows how the friendships that form in the classes are something that last,” Gillard said. “Our adult classes and VIP classes have become very popular in the last few years. Sherry has talked about how excited for her last recital to be themed ‘This is Me!’ Her philosophy of dance has always been that dancing is a celebration that isn’t about perfection. It is about movement and feeling comfortable in your own skin. She has shared that with her dancers and the rest of our instructors feel the same way.”
Registration for the 2024-25 dance season will begin in July. Register online at brooklynpark.org/youth-teens/dance or by calling 763-493-8333.
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