Today we’d like to introduce you to Jere’ James.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started dancing when I was four years old at Palm Beach Ballet Center in Palm Beach, FL, under the direction of Joan Miller. Thirty-six years later, I still love my craft. I danced with that studio until I graduated high school. I was blessed to have an opportunity to go to A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, FL as a dance major. So, I danced during school and after school. During my summers in High School, I would spend my entire summer going to New York City to train with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s summer intensive. My senior year, they asked me to stay and continue training during the year. I decided to continue my collegiate journey at attending the University of Central Florida and obtained a BS in International Business. After I was done, I gave my degree to my parents and went back to my first love, DANCE.
Over the next 16 years, I would perfect my craft in a different way. I started teaching at a phenomenal dance school, Orlando School of Cultural Dance, under the director of one of my dance mother’s Julie Coleman. I would teach at over 15 dance schools through Central Florida, finally making my way to Director of Dance at the Center For Contemporary Dance. It was there that I became the teacher and director I am today. Six years ago, I felt it was time to branch out again but this time as the Big Boss. In 2016 I opened my very own studio, Inez Patricia School of Dance, named after my deceased mother, who I wanted to pay homage to her for all of her sacrifice and investment into my passion. Fast forward six years later, we are a household name teaching over 500 students in the past six years and watching them graduate and go on to Professional Dance Companies and Collegiate Dance Programs. I’m one blessed dance teacher
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely NOT. My first nine months opening my studio, I had no students because we had to do an extensive build-out, and was still responsible for all overhead. We lost students and gain them back. It’s definitely not for the weak. And with COVID, we had to change our platform to all virtual and then transition back to the studio to put in our annual dance concert in four weeks. Talk about Hard work… but we did it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I absolutely love my students and teaching dance. It is my purpose on this earth. I’m able to teach beautiful babies that look exactly like me the love and passion for dance. We are a training facility that prepares young dancers for a professional or collegiate journey in dance. If they don’t continue dancing, they have obtained tangible life skills to prepare them for their journey.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I have always had a super strong personality filled with love, sass, and sunshine. I’m definitely a girly girl who still loves all things PINK.
Contact Info:
- Email: jere@inezpatriciadance.com
- Website: www.inezpatriciadance.com
- Instagram: inezpatriciadance
- Facebook: inezpatriciaschoolofdance
Image Credits
TC Productions
