By Aila Boyd
The Floyd Ward School of Dance is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Botetourt Office this year.
When it originally opened in 1999, the school only took up one unit of Botetourt Plaza. It has since grown and is preparing for a remodel.
To celebrate the anniversary, the school will be holding an open house on September 7.
The school, founded in 1928, is owned by Elma Layman, Carlton Moses, and Valerie Moses. Its main office is in Vinton. Open to students between the ages of 3-18, the school teaches ballet, clogging, hip-hop, jazz, liturgical, lyrical, modern, and pointe dance. The school’s Botetourt location started with 500 students and now has roughly 700 students. In 1999, there were four teachers. It now employs 10 teachers.
One of Ward’s original mirrors currently hangs in the dressing room of the school’s Daleville location.
Valerie Moses, who is also the director of the school, said that throughout the years the instructors have become a family— bonding over their shared love children and dance. She added that she doesn’t think of the instructors as being employees, but rather as co-owners because of the vested interest they have in the business.
She explained that she decided to buy the school when her daughter was a clogging student there. “She kept saying that she wanted to be a dance teacher, so we primarily got the studio so that she would have a job after she went to school,” Valerie Moses said.
Jill Graybill, the artistic director for the school, explained that the student bodies of the Botetourt and Vinton locations are “interwoven.” Graybill holds an undergraduate degree in physical education from Easthampton College/University of Richmond, has been on the faculty of the school since 1976. She teaches ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, and liturgical.
“When my mother and I bought the studio, I could not have done it without Jill,” Valerie Moses said. She went on to describe Graybill as “the root” of the school.
Tara Gallimore, who holds an undergraduate degree in dance education from Birmingham-Southern College, was a student at the school from 1999-2003. After college she returned to the school to teach. She’s now in her 13th year as an instructor. She currently teaches modern, lyrical, and ballet. “I came back to teach because of the family atmosphere,” she said.
The school is currently enrolling students for its fall season, which starts on August 19. Gallimore noted that the school will continue to take late registration through the beginning of October. The following classes will be available: ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, modern, tap, hip-hop, clogging, and ballroom, which is the newest addition.
