For 25 years, Bluffton School of Dance has served the Lowcountry’s young dancers, creating a community around them of support and encouragement.
And it almost didn’t happen.
As hard as it may be to believe, in some alternate universe, Dawn Rosa Miller never came to Bluffton, never took over Bluffton School of Dance, never guided it to becoming the revered institution it is today. In that alternate universe, rather than teaching young dancers the art of movement, she would have joined the CIA, using her forensic psychology degree in the covert world of espionage.
Kimberly Reigert, Dawn Rosa Miller, Katie McIntire, Olivia Roberts
“That was supposed to be my path. I had my contacts, my life was planned in terms of what grad school I needed to go to… but I just didn’t want to stop dancing,” she said. “Everybody thought it was a phase.”
Anyone who has ever felt the stirrings of the terpsichorean muse knows that dancing is never just a phase. It’s not something you do. It’s something you are. And while Miller might have become a great spy, she couldn’t be a spy. Because she was, and always will be, a dancer.
And so in 2002, her muse brought her to Bluffton, where Ashley Bozard had founded the original Bluffton School of Dance just three years earlier. Operating in a tiny room above the Bluffton Rec Center, the original incarnation of the school bore little resemblance to what it would eventually become. But, in the community already formed around this nascent school, Miller saw opportunity.
“The emphasis was really on ballet, with a little jazz and tap. I came in asking, ‘Have you heard of competition?’ So we just dove in to really train in those styles to put the focus on versatility,” Miller said. “And because I ‘go big or go home’ all the time, I decided to take six families to Vegas, of all places, for nationals that first summer. And it blew their minds.”
Tumbling coach Leo Henderson
In the spirit of going big or going home, Miller began expanding the school to an entirely new level.
“We just started growing from the bottom,” she said. “We just had to start teaching them this new world of dance where you had jazz and tap and musical theatre and all these other things, in addition to ballet, to grow as a versatile dancer.”
And while Miller shifted the focus to point students toward dancing on the national stage, she didn’t pursue that dream with the kind of fanaticism you see on reality TV dance mom shows.
“We teach humans. Of course, we teach dance, but our focus and everything we’re teaching is to help them be good human beings, because 98% of the kids we teach won’t wind up in the arts industry as adults,” she said. “We’re a part of that kid’s childhood, and so we say that we’re partnering with the parents to help them raise good humans.”
That approach – never sacrificing a kid’s enjoyment of dance on the altar of improvement – has built in its students a tight-knit community that lasts long after their final class. If they don’t end up dancing professionally, they’ll always carry the lessons they learned and the memories of the fun they had. And if they do wind up dancing professionally, they’ll enter that world with an undeniable head start.
The Big Jump: 2024 grad Aiden Miller leaps, Summer Instructor Tatum Sandlin looks on.
“I started in the recreation program at just 2 years old and later joined the competitive team at 8. It was from that moment that I knew I wanted to make dance a career and would never have been able to do it without the support of Ms. Dawn,” said Sammee Schirmer, a graduate of Bluffton School of Dance. “Not only has she contributed to my growth inside the walls of the studio but she has been a mentor in most aspects in my life ever since she has been it. In a lot of ways, it feels like we have grown together and it has been the most rewarding experience to continue to watch the studio thrive in the community I call home.”
And that community has been key to Bluffton School of Dance’s longevity. Partnerships with the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, Main Stage Community Theatre, and the Sun City Sundancers have not only given BSOD students a pathway to dancing professionally, they have also helped elevate dance as an art form across the Lowcountry.
In Sun City, for example, BSOD not only lends out its studio space to dancers from the 55-plus community, they also bring their instructors behind the gates to lead classes.
“It’s a wonderful relationship and it’s gone on for as long as I’ve been here,” said Kathy Philips, a member of the Sundancers. “They come to our show in April and they dance with us here and we give scholarships to Dawn’s students. … It provides us with top-notch, high-quality, experienced teachers that we wouldn’t normally have within our Sun City community, and it gives us an opportunity to encourage young dancers to further their dance education.”
Building community has been one of the school’s cornerstones since the beginning.
Students take a ballet lesson at Bluffton School of Dance in late July.
“It’s wild to me to hear the level of respect we have built in the community in 25 years, and I think that is something that we as a team protect very tightly,” Miller said. “We’ve gotten to that loop where the kids who were four years old when we started, are now in their 20s and teaching on conventions.”
Some alumni are also coming back to the school with their own kids. Elizabeth Provo began training under Miller in high school, quickly taking her on as a role model who challenged her, taught her perseverance, and encouraged her to find her confidence. When her three children began showing their own aptitude for dance, there was no question where she would send them.
“We quickly fell back in love with BSOD,” Provo said. “All three of my children now attend her studio. My two older daughters are in the performance/competitive program and my youngest is in the preschool program. Dawn has created a studio that has become their safe haven. They are challenged, nurtured, encouraged, and loved every time they walk through the doors.”
That kind of multi-generational loyalty can be rare in a dance studio. But then, Bluffton School of Dance isn’t just a dance studio. It’s a community.
“Do we have amazing teachers? Yes. Do they have amazing backgrounds? Absolutely,” Miller said. “But I don’t hire people who just create dancers who want trophies. Because life is collaboration, life is community.”
