My journey with dance started when I was 5 as a way for me to get more exercise to avoid the genetic likelihood of obesity. I took at a local studio where I learned to love ballet and was exposed to other styles as well. I started competing with a highly competitive studio and found that tap was a great outlet for my frustration. Dance in general was pivotal for me in navigating my teen years and giving me a safe space to work through the challenges of life.
To help pay for the extra classes I wanted to take, I began assisting at age 15. I soon found that teaching was my calling and had my first classes at 16. My dream was always to have my own dance studio. In my Brea-Olinda High School yearbook my now husband, Chris, wrote “someday we will have the studio of your dreams!” We married in 1992, saved and planned and in 1997 we opened our first studio in Placentia. My goal was to allow dancers to compete, but not at the exclusion of using what they learned in dance to help them in other areas of their lives. While it was very successful and rewarding, in 2003 we had our first child, JT and 2005 brought our daughter, Amanda. Balancing my dream of a studio with my desire to be the best mother I could be proved more challenging than I imagined. I found that too often I was choosing my studio over my children and that’s not what my heart wanted. In 2007 Chris supported me in the decision to sell the studio to focus entirely on our young family.
In 2015 while looking to expand his own business, Chris came across a dance studio for sale. Chris told me that my kids didn’t really know who I truly was, God created me to be a dance teacher and we should go at least talk to the owners and inquire. I spent the next few days praying and asking God to make it clear if this was His will because I knew what a studio took to build up and I wasn’t planning to have a studio again until my kids were in college. When we met the owners they said, “We have no idea what your beliefs are, but we have been praying and we keep hearing that we planted a seed for someone who has the heart and passion to grow this into what He has planned for the community and maybe that’s you?” Two weeks later we owned a studio again and God has been there every step of this journey. Academy 831 is His will using the talents He gave me. The 831 is for Romans 8:31 “If God is for us, who can be against us?” My first studio was my heart’s desire and proving to myself that I could do it. Academy 831 is also my heart’s desire, however it’s also God’s will. He has, and continues to, put the pieces together to help us bless the community we call home through my passion, dance.
Through my own children’s non-traditional education, I have seen the value of focusing on developing the whole-child and we bring that to the studio in our curriculum. It builds strong technical dancers while simultaneously appealing to their natural sense of wonder and creativity. My daughter was a competitive gymnast, and while that was right for her and a competitive dance environment was right for me growing up, I also recognize that I want the benefits I gained as a dancer to be a blessing to those who want to learn to dance for the sheer joy of dancing. Dance gave me self-confidence, the ability to speak in front of others and a sense of belonging. I want to provide a place where dancers feel like they are part of a family and can share life together inside and outside the studio. My prayer for the studio is that God would use the talents of myself and our teachers to be a blessing to my community and the young people in it through dance.
-Krista Casey, Owner