From hooks and fishing lines to ballet shoes, the new leasers of 12 N. Broadway rolled out the dance floor on Saturday, opening the new Oakland Regional Ballet dance studio.
Formerly Hook Line ‘N Sinker, the Oakland Regional Ballet will teach kids from as young as two, to any age adult, ballet, hip-hop, jazz, point and tap dance lessons.
Auditions are open for the core ballet dancers, the lead soloists in the Nutcracker and another special production in May.
Dance classes are open to the public, however, and everybody will be included in these performances.
Lake Orion High School will house the twice-yearly performances.
Owner and head ballet teacher Kerry Miotke’s goal is to have a Nutcracker performance every December.
‘My goal is to do entire studio productions and involve everybody,? she said.
Miotke found the building in downtown Lake Orion in July. She leased it not even a week later.
‘It was just everything that I wanted, everything I was looking for, and the downtown area is just amazing with foot traffic. You get a lot of visibility there,? she said.
The landlord offered to take down the pegboard for Miotke, which previously had lures and other tackle.
Not many other renovations’new carpet and drywall installed by her husband’were needed to transform the former bait shop into a one-room dance studio, perfect for the intimate and personal setting she envisioned.
‘I do have a lobby with a closed circuit television, so there’s a camera set up in the dance room that shows what’s going on in there. Parents viewing in the lobby can see it all on the TV,? she said.
Oakland Regional Ballet will specialize in ballet, which is Miotke’s speciality and passion. Her former business was called Kerry’s Dance Stages.
Miotke graduated from Oakland University with a bachelor of performing art in dance.
‘I grew up dancing in different schools all over Michigan,? she said.
There are already 28 classes scheduled in for a week’s work, taught by Miotke and two other instructors.
Not only is the studio’s goal to produce excellent and well trained ballerinas, but also to encourage teamwork on and off the floor, and lasting friendships.