UNIVERSITY EDUCATION PICTURES: Whitney Patton Opening a dance studio is a huge undertaking. It’s also risky. But to Michele Mercier, who realized one of her lifelong dreams when she opened Dance University in Lakewood Ranch this summer, it’s worth it. After creating and running dance teams in a handful of local elementary schools over the past 12 years, Mercier knew she would have the students to attend her school, which offers ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical/contemporary and other dance and ��tness classes for kids and adults, plus performance and competition teams. The foundation for Dance University was laid in the fall of 2016, when Mercier began taking a class through SCORE - a nonpro��t that helps small businesses get off the ground - and created her business plan. As part of her course, she had to come up with a name and slogan and, after agonizing for months, the perfect name came to her a few months ago when she was driving on University Parkway. The name, along with the slogan, “educate your body, inspire your soul,” now graces the fronts of the tee shirts, shorts, hoodies, jackets, and dance wear that Mercier and her daughter, Marina, designed and now sell in the studio. Soon after deciding on the name, and after searching for years, Mercier found the perfect space to rent, at 5002 Lena Road, right near I75 and SR 70. The space had just the right amount of room and just the right con��guration for two dance studios, one large enough for big classes as well as performances, and a more intimate room for smaller classes and private lessons. After coming up with her studio’s name and slogan, Mercier said she was “overwhelmed with emotion.” “I always knew it would happen once I ��gured out what the name should be,” she said about opening her own studio. “That’s why it all happened so fast.” As soon as the rental agreement was signed in April, Mercier went to work renovating the space - painting and laying a custom built sprung dance ��oor in the large studio and a ��tness ��oor in the smaller studio. “Every day was a 12-hour day,” she said.
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