New dance school to carry on a legacy

EVERETT – The only thing that won’t change are the brown stairs.

And the most significant thing that will change is the name.

It will no longer be known as the Betty Spooner School of Dance. When classes begin in October, the school will be called simply the Dance School.

That’s what the board of directors of the Dance School wanted. They knew they couldn’t replace Betty Spooner or Michael Jordan. But they knew the community of Everett needed a place where high-quality dancers could develop.

“We feel that we’re inspired by Mike, what he did. But we can’t fill his shoes, and we can’t replace him,” said Clare Hausmann Weiand, president of the Dance School board.

Jordan, who for 37 years taught tap, ballet and jazz dance to thousands of Snohomish County children, died May 6, 2004, at age 69. The Betty Spooner Creative Arts Foundation Studio in downtown Everett, where Jordan taught, was the second-oldest dance academy in the state, and was named after Jordan’s mother, who opened it in 1925. Jordan took it over upon her death in 1967.

After Jordan’s death, the school shut down. The building has sat in disrepair since then, until a group led by Hausmann Weiand, Everett City Councilwoman Brenda Stonecipher and dancer Marianne Roberts formed the beginnings of the Dance School’s new board.

Today, the board has six members total, including Karen Newland, Holly Pohland and Morrie Trautman, who bought the building on Rockefeller Avenue.

Trautman’s daughter danced at the Betty Spooner school, as did his sisters, mother and grandmother. But his connection isn’t the only reason Trautman wants the school to continue.

“There’s been such an outcry in the community for this ever since (Jordan) passed away and the studio left,” Trautman said.

Remodeling on the building already has begun, Trautman said. The architect is Sandra Alder, and the construction is being done by Newland Construction in Everett. The building has been appraised at $1 million dollars, and anticipated construction costs are roughly in the $300,000 range, he said.

The school will remain on the second floor. A women’s center will be the street-level tenant.

To help raise the money for the remodel, board members will hold an open house at the Betty Spooner building on Tuesday.

As a nonprofit organization, the school will be somewhat dependent on grants and donations. But board members decided early on to declare the Dance School as nonprofit because the concept of the school was not about profit, Hausmann Weiand said.

“Dance is something that should be celebrated,” she said. “It doesn’t need to make money or be competition. It is just about participating. That’s why it’s a nonprofit and that’s why it’s a community thing, because it just is for everyone.”

The board has already hired its new artistic director.

Among his many credentials, Steve Casteel, 38, has danced with the Houston Ballet, where he performed many classical works as a soloist, including “Swan Lake” and “Don Quixote.” He has a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Arizona.

Another big change for the new Dance School is installing professional-quality floors, in part to attract high-quality instructors, said Roberts, the board’s vice president.

“We’re not going to spend money foolishly,” Roberts said. “But it’s not safe, and it’s not healthy to dance on a floor that isn’t sprung.”

Also new: The school will run two studios, not just the one. The board hopes to reach new audiences by offering basic movement classes for 3- and 4-year-olds.

Board members noted the two big things that won’t change:

* The old Betty Spooner sign. “I would be run out of town on a rail if I changed it,” Trautman said.

* The old brown stairs that dancers climb to reach the second floor.

“Everybody’s memory of this building,” Trautman said, “is walking up those brown stairs.”

The Dance School will hold an open house from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the future school, 2821 Rockefeller Ave., Everett.

For more information, watch for the new Web site at www.thedanceschool.org, which should be up and

running soon, or e-mail clareweiand@hotmail.com.

Arts reporter Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.

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