Business Profile: Dance Expression, Peekskill
Photo credit: Neal Rentz
Philipstown resident Arleen Grafer said last week dancing has been a passion for her two daughters, Peekskill resident Jessica Grafer and Cortlandt resident Christine Ferreria, since childhood.
That passion was translated into a vocation for the family when they opened Dance Expression in Peekskill in 2004. Grafer said last week there was a simple reason why she agreed to co-own the business. “Because my daughters wanted to,” she said. “They’ve danced all their lives.”
Jessica was a New York Knicks City Dancer in 2005. Christine danced for the Nets when there were playing in New Jersey in 2004.”It was the best year ever, very exciting” she recalled.
Ferreria said, “My sister and I were dancers when we were young and our mother loved watching it. Once we graduated college we decided that we wanted to open a dance studio.”
Grafer said unlike her daughters, she has never danced professionally. “I only dance socially,” she said. “I was never trained as a dancer. I do the business end. My daughters are the primary dance instructors and directors of the studio.”
Grafer said she and her daughters chose to open Dance Expression on John Walsh Boulevard because there were no other dance studios in the city.
The family opened a second location in Fishkill five years ago.
Dance Expression offers a wide range of classes, including a class for children one and two years old with their parent or guardian through programs for adults. Some of the dance styles taught include ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop and theatrical dance.
Dance Expression has competition and performance teams. The competition team began when the Peekskill dance studio opened. “It could be pretty expensive for the parents with the additional classes and fees,” Grafer said, adding that the team participates in a few regional competitions every year.
A few years later the family created a performance team, which performs at such local events as the Peekskill Celebration and the Cortlandt Town Day and at local nursing homes.
A tradition is scheduled to continue at Dance Expression on Sept. 16 when two of the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes will teach a free class. This will be the third tine in which the dancers will have come to Peekskill. “They just called us and asked us,” Grafer said. “The girls get so excited. Of course they would love to be a Rockette some day themselves.”
Last year, Dance Expression sponsored a dance competition at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Peekskill in November 2013 and a second event is scheduled for January 2015.
Grafer said her family business has thrived due to positive word of mouth. “At the recitals the parents do see the progress,” she said. “They see the kids who were starting with us at three years old and they can see what they are going to look like in 10 years.”
The Dance Expression Peekskill location is located at 8 John Walsh Blvd. For more information call 914-736-3100. The Fishkill studio is located at 982 Main St. For more information call 845-765-2009. The Dance Expression website is DanceExpressionNY.com.
