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Date: 9/1/2021
SOUTHWICK – Julianne Wendzel began taking dance classes at The Dance Slipper when she was 10 years old.
Now, she is taking over for her former teacher, Brenda Barna, the owner of The Dance Slipper for the last 36 years.
Wendzel began her dancing career at The Dance Slipper, and later moved on to get a degree in dance from the Palladino School of Dance at Dean College in Franklin. After earning her degree, Wendzel danced professionally as part of the dance team for the Westchester Knicks, development league affiliate of the New York Knicks.
Growing up, Wendzel learned a variety of different dance styles, including jazz, tap, ballet, acrobatic, hip hop and modern dance. She teaches modern, jazz and acrobatic dance.
Wendzel then went on to get her dance teacher certification from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and for the last seven years has been teaching at different dance studios, including The Dance Slipper itself. When Barna decided she was ready to retire, Wendzel was ready to take the reins.
“I was in the right place at the right time. She was ready because she had done it for 36 years,” said Wendzel, “She wanted to give it to someone she knew and trusted. It just worked out perfectly.”
Wendzel said the regular dancing season will begin soon, with classes in general beginning on Sept. 7. She has been conducting private lessons in the meantime, as the studio also undergoes some renovations. Next summer, Wendzel said summer camps will make their return to The Dance Slipper.
Barna bought The Dance Slipper in 1985 from its previous owner. She started taking dance classes when she was just 5-years-old, doing a similar variety of dance styles as Wendzel. She said that her time teaching Wendzel has left her feeling like The Dance Slipper is in good hands.
“She has a lot of my teaching techniques and a lot of my ideas. She is an extension of myself and that makes me comfortable,” said Barna.
Much of Barna’s last two years running The Dance Slipper was made complicated by COVID-19. When the world shut down in March 2020, Barna had to get creative in order to continue teaching, even when in-person classes were not an option.
“During the last two weeks of March we did online classes,” said Barna, “We usually close in the summer for two months, but we chose to close in April and May, hoping to come back in June.”
When the June return looked like it was not going to be able to happen, Barna did free online classes in May, 2020 to keep the students on track. In June, she taught some of her classes in the large field near her house. Ultimately though, the 2020 students weren’t able to have a formal dance recital, so Barna hosted a free outdoor recital at her house so that they could have a bookend to their classes.
“I just wanted the kids to be able to finish,” said Barna.
Barna has been helping Wendzel as she begins her career not only as a dance instructor, but the owner of a dance studio. Some competition classes began Aug. 25, which Barna was helping Wendzel prepare for. She will be assisting Barna as she becomes acquainted with her new role.
“I trust her, if I didn’t I wouldn’t have sold her my business. I hope it is successful, I know she has all the tools,” said Barna, later adding, “It is one thing to teach, it is another thing to own the dance studio.”