Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Smith.
Michelle, Founder and Executive Director of the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company (aka METdance) has more than 24 years of ballet training including training with the New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Texas Christian University and during her college years she performed at Summer Stock/Casa Manana Musical Playhouse earning leading roles in “Grease,” “Oklahoma,” and “Chicago.” After graduating from TCU in 1981 she and her husband moved to Houston. Her passion for dance lead her to join the Delia Stewart Dance Company.
Over the next 15 years she performed as a principal dancer with the company and was a primary faculty member for the school. In 1985 she became the Manager of the professional dance company and added the role of Director of the Delia Stewart Dance Center in 1989. She established a children’s program and diversified the classes offered in the program for adults. She balanced performing with the company and being Director of the Dance Center while having three children, who are now young adults. Simultaneously she managed three commercial real estate firms for seven years.
In 1995 Delia Stewart retired and Smith focused her passion and energy on becoming a full time arts entrepreneur. She transformed the Delia Stewart Dance Center into the Houston Metropolitan Dance Center. Smith developed the schools clientele to its current enrollment of 1,000 students – both children and adults. Today there are more than 450 children, from 3 years to 12 years old, who take class weekly and perform in an annual recital. More than 700 adults enjoy a diverse mix of classes including ballet, jazz, Broadway, modern, tap and hip-hop. METdance offers training for the beginning student up to and including professional level training.
The Dance Center also includes a pre-professional training program, MET too, which focuses on student’s ages 13 to 18 years old, with the vision of these students pursuing dance in college and beyond. In 2001 she retired as a dancer to focus on the growth and development of the school and professional company. For 10 years Smith championed a need for a new facility and in June 2013 METdance moved into a new space featuring four studios and ample parking. This space allows for the expansion of METdance’s programs as well as much needed rehearsal space to the Houston dance community. Her appointment will allow Smith to focus on the continued growth of the school and professional company.
Michelle believes that dance can help to develop self-esteem and discipline in students of all ages which contributes positively to their life on many levels. She has been involved in the Houston arts and dance community for more than 30 years.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
In the arts – no way! Artists are the most passionate yet underpaid people I know. The saying the starving artist has been accepted as the norm and that is not right. Being a midsized organization only adds to the problem. There is lots of funding for major arts organization and individual, fledgling organizations but if you are in the middle it is hard to come by, even after 23 years. I have actually been in the Houston art scene for over 40 years and in that time have seen highs and lows, great dance organizations and lots of them and times when the dance community is struggling.
An oil boom, an oil bust, Enron, several hurricanes and a lot of change. We are steadfast in what we do and what we offer the Houston community. As the years pass I we continue to sustain, quality dance classes and performances for everyone of all levels, interest and economic stature.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
METdance is the 2nd largest dance organization in Houston and the surrounding areas. It is made up of several programs. We are one of the few contemporary repertoire companies in the south and take pride in the caliber of dance presented and by the choreographers we bring in to present their work. Our school teaches children, teens and adult of all ages in all genres of dance no matter the level they request. Our educational/community outreach program has doubled in the last year reaching out to thousands of children impacting their learning skills and dance exposure.
I would say we specialize in teaching and presenting dance at a high level with excellent teachers and dancers.
I am most proud of the growth of the organization. Year after year Artistic Director Marlana Doyle and Associate Director Joe Celej bring some of the most creative and sought-after artists to create work on the professional company. The school continues to grows as do the class offerings and training levels from children to two youth training programs and a pre-professional training program that prepares dancers for college and beyond.
Again, it has taken time and there are no major events (other than a new space in 2013 that doubled our studio space) but we have continued to grow, develop, change as the community has needed us to and present some of the best dance Houston sees.
What were you like growing up?
My dad was in the air force so I lived in many places. Two different places for kindergarten. I was always the new kid and never really made friends because we never knew when the next move would be. Dance was a saving factor for me. Wherever we went my mom found a ballet class and it was the same vocabulary everywhere. Plie is Plie in Wyoming or California or Texas. I was also always trying to prove myself which made me very driven. So I found myself in New York at the School of Ballet at 13 and San Francisco Ballet at 17. I thought that was my career.
However, they did not. I do not have the typical ballet body and thus returned home to go to college and marry my high school sweetheart, swearing never to have a dance school myself. Oooops.
Upon moving to Houston I found a job (which I hated) and within a year was back at a ballet studio taking the class. This one had a jazz teacher who drew me into the Delia Stewart Dance Company and that was that. I was a dancer with Delia Stewart, brought adult ballet into her studio, then built her children’s dance program. Upon retiring in 1995 I reinvented the organization into the Houston Metropolitan Dance Center with some expansion into modern, swearing never to have a professional company. Oooops – a year later we had professional dancers and were performing. 23 years and 3 children later I would have never dreamed of where I am, where we are and am so grateful to Marlana and Joe for believing in me and what we were doing and getting us here.
So as a child, driven, focused, organized (as is my mother) and all of that has served me well. As a mother, I realize that my 3 children are my greatest accomplishment and am so proud of the adults that they have become. As a dancer and artist, I am still passionate about the creative process about teaching dance and making sure that everyone who wants it can experience dance in some manner.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2808 Caroline, 77004
- Website: metdance.org
- Phone: 7135226375
- Email: info@metdance.org
Image Credit:
Runaway Productions
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