Dancing Away at Stephanie's Academy

Stephanie Clay's dance studio at 2230 Cornell Ave. in Montgomery is filled with trophies, plaques and facsimile street signs—the latest in dance contest awards. 

But it's kind of telling where the trophies are displayed: in the cafeteria/backroom/play area of the converted warehouse off of Orchard Road.

There are a lot of shiny trophies, but they're not the first thing you see when you enter the studio. What you see when you walk through the front door are photos of smiling costumed children in frames on the walls. 

"Our focus is teaching technique, and we like to compete," says Clay, 40, a professional tap dancer and owner of Stephanie's Academy of Dance. Clay emphasizes that although competing is nice, it is the dance education that pays off. 

Clay, of Oswego, has been dancing since she was four years old. She was a student, and later a teacher, at the renowned Bonnie Ardelean Dance Studio in Aurora. When Ardelean closed the studio to retire, Clay started her own in 2003. 

Stephanie's Academy of Dance, which features three studios and a staff of 11 instructors, has become the place to take dance lessons in the Fox Valley area. Clay says the difference is that her instructors are all current professional dancers.

"That's really important to me," she said of hiring dancers as teachers. "It enables us to give our kids a lot of opportunities in the dance world."

Speaking of opportunities, Clay has had lots of them. She trained in several styles of dance, but tap was always her favorite. It was tap that brought her to Helsinki, Finland, to dance in one of the top festivals, for example. She spent several years dancing with Especially Tap Chicago in Evanston. She recently taught tap at Northern Illinois University, and she is the vice president of Inaside Chicago Dance.

"(Dancing) is all I've ever done," Clay said.

This fall, Clay started sharing her love and passion for dancing with a handful of children with Down Syndrome who spend time at GiGi's Playhouse on Sundays. She takes a group of dance students with her, so each child has a partner. 

Clay was thrilled when, after a class, one of the children started skipping. She explains ballet as being "really beneficial" and great therapy for special needs children. She said ballet helped her own son, who has a sensory disorder, to balance and skate. 

Clay emphasizes the benefits of ballet to parents, and encourages them to "always stick with ballet. It's the best thing you can do for them."

Stephanie's Academy of Dance offers classes in ballet, tap, jazz, modern, contemporary, pointe, hip hop and pilates. They have five performing and competing companies that dance locally, and travel as far as Las Vegas and Orlando. 

In 2009, dancers participated in the halftime show at the Orange Bowl in Florida. 

It all goes back to those hundreds of trophies. Clay reiterates how beneficial dance is for everyone. "We groom dancers," she says. "If that's the world they choose."

Contact Stephanie's Academy of Dance at 630-896-8277 for information on classes.