Studio Dances to 10 Years of Success

When Liza Indiciani opened her dance studio in the Cummings Center 10 years ago, she had 180 dance students with one studio in about 3,000 square feet of space on the first floor of the 100 building.

Ten years later, the Roger Williams University graduate has about 500 students of all ages and abilities with four studios in over 7,000 square feet of space.

Indiciani is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the business.

“I’ve been very blessed to have the success I’ve had,” she said.

The Stoneham native now lives in Danvers.

Her expansion a few years ago also included adding a small boutique that sells “only what my students need,” Indiciani said.

The space at the Cummings Center allowed Indiciani to build special “raised-up stress floors” in each studio, professional level floors that help cushion the students during their dancing. She also likes the Cummings Center because it allows the studio to be in a clean, modern facility that provides plenty of parking. Plus, parents often run errands elsewhere at the office park while their children are dancing – doing anything from dropping off drycleaning to visiting their dentist.

There’s two type of dancers at the school – competition students and recreation dancers. There are 400 dancers in Indiciani’s recreation programs and 100 competition students – who learn all types of dancing, including ballet, tap jazz, lyrical and tap.

Almost all of the dancers are girls – there are about a dozen boys in the programs across all ages and levels, she said. There are a few all boys’ classes and boys can also enroll in any of the classes.

Competition students, age 6-18, become part of the programs after an invitation and audition. It requires a 12-month commitment of both time and time by the dancer’s family and involves traveling and “elaborate costumes.”

“It’s a lot more than coming to dance once a week,” Indiciani said.

The different levels have varying level of commitment, with about six hours per week for 6-year-olds to 12-15 hours per week for the older competition dancers.

Recreation dancers do not have strict rules or any auditions and each year have a recital. The year typically runs from September to May with smaller summer camps.

“That’s it and they have their summers off,” Indiciani said.

This August, competition students are taking part in a “summer intensive camp” with guest instructors such as Scott Fowler, a North Reading native who has performed on Broadway and appeared in Hollywood films such as “Rock of Ages” and “Chicago.” He can be seen instructing in an attached video.

The dancers at Indiciani’s school come from Beverly, but also from neighboring Danvers, Hamilton-Wenham and Salem plus all of Cape Ann and as far away as Lynnfield and North Reading.