Irene Booth says she can hardly believe it’s been 25 years since she started Tempo Dance Academy in her basement studio in a north Nanaimo subdivision surrounded by farmland.
“I was the newbie in town, nobody knew who I was,” she said.
Booth, who originally hails from Port Alberni, arrived in Nanaimo following a two-year stint at a North Vancouver studio where she was “basically running the whole school” because the owner didn’t have a dance background. Booth took the opportunity to learn about the business side of dance.
“I just realized that, I’m running this 600-student facility all by myself and I could be doing it on my own,” she said.
“So coming here and starting off really small was a piece of cake because I had gone from working seven days a week in North Vancouver to coming here and not knowing if I’d even have two days of classes, or even one day.”
In the beginning it was slow. Booth was teaching a couple classes each day for three days a week. It didn’t take long for business to pick up. In its first three years Tempo increased from 52 to 150 students and Booth started moving classes to Lantzville Hall to accommodate growing enrolment.
In 1996 Tempo moved to a 2,000-square-foot space in its current location on Applecross Road. Over the years Booth nearly doubled its size, adding more two more studios, a waiting room and another office. The school currently has around 225 individual students, but because many take multiple classes each week, the number is more like 500 or 600. There are now eight dance instructors and two office staff.
“When I first started out 25 years ago I never thought what 25 years would bring, so I’m in shock, actually, how quick it went and how much we’ve done,” Booth said.
Looking ahead, Booth said Tempo will be expanding its musical theatre program next year to include singers and actors. Tempo is also partnering with Ladysmith’s Rhythm Dance Academy, which Booth created and later sold to one of her instructors, with a new weekly program that brings in specialist dance instructors, called Axis Dance Works.
Tempo will be acknowledging its quarter-century milestone with its end-of-year show, Through the Years: Celebrating 25 Years of Dance, at the Port Theatre on Saturday, June 2. Booth said the instructors have an opening number that will be an “amalgamation” of the past 25 years. There will also be a slideshow presentation and a commemorative display will appear in the theatre’s foyer.
“Nothing too elaborate,” Booth said of the plans.
“Pretty much the same, just fancier decorations, maybe.”
WHAT’S ON … Tempo Dance Academy presents Through the Years: Celebrating 25 Years of Dance at the Port Theatre on Saturday, June 2 at 1 and 7 p.m. All seats $22.
arts@nanaimobulletin.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
