When a couple of moms ask you if you're going to be around for the next yen years to make sure their seven-year-old daughters will receive dance training from you and you alone, you know you're doing something right.
Judy Russell of Enchainement Dance Centre was teaching a class full of little dancers during a summer program recently when she was approached by the parents.
"You know, you go through 30 years of dealing with children and their parents and you think you've heard it all and then you get asked something like that," Russell said, her voice filled with emotion. "It's good to hear."
Judy Russell is celebrating 30 years in this community and she knows she's still in it for the long haul.
Russell came to Prince George in 1978 when her dad was transferred to Northwood Pulp Mill for a promotion.
"When I first came up here I really took a look to see if I could continue dancing and I didn't really think I could. I did continue my theatre work and joined the Prince George Theatre Workshop," said Russell. "Then I ran away as soon as I could and went to BCIT to journalism school."
When Russell returned to Prince George she did her practicum with the local radio station CJCI in early 1980. She then met her true love Bill Russell and that kept her in Prince George. Russell married Bill in late 1980.
From teaching dance class in her family's basement to moving classes to St. Michael's church in early 1981 the classes continued to grow from there.
"It was hatched," said Russell. "The studio had its name and I took it on as a career at that time."
Over the next couple of years the dance studio grew to hold about 200 students.
"In 1983 we moved to 1010 Fourth Avenue," said Russell. "We started upstairs and continued to grow and took over the basement then took over the whole building. In 1996 we completely outgrew that space and we moved to the Opie Crescent building, which is over 12,000 square feet, five studios, a store and Bill's shop - bigger than I ever imagined."
To help commemorate the 30th anniversary Russell and her mother Bunny Murray will put together a Where Are They Now booklet so people can see where students of the Enchainement Dance Centre have traveled with their careers.
"People are everywhere doing everything and so many are dance educators, which makes me very proud because that's what mom and I are," said Russell. "If they thought that was a worthy thing to be that makes us very happy. That means a little piece of us is teaching all over the place - there's people in Europe, Canada, New York and other parts of the States."
Russell said when people are in the dance world it's always about being in the moment and looking to the future isn't really where the focus is at all.
"You're not looking down the road at what may happen," said Russell, who has held about 140,000 classes over the last 30 years with more than a million kids attending those classes. "It's just what's right in front of you. It's about the child right now and how you can help them be the best they can be at that moment. So it sort of sneaks up on you."
Right now dance is the most popular it's ever been and over the last few years television shows have focussed on all genres.
"It's the most in-your-face it's ever been with all the big dance shows and it's evolving in so many different ways so you have to get on board and maybe the way a studio has operated for the last 20 years has to change," said Russell. "We're moving in different directions and there's more change going on in the facility - like offering Zoomba, a Latin-based dance-party style."
The whole purpose of moving to a bigger building was to be able to branch out into a centre, offering all modes of dance.
"We are encompassing other styles and we have invited others to use our facilities - so we have Dance North and the ballroom club, Nia classes, belly dancing classes, boot camp - you know it all needs to be there and it needs to be that kind of centre," said Russell. "Prince George is really lucky we have all these styles available to us."
