About Dance 101

 Opened in 2004, Atlanta's Dance 101 is the largest adult only (16 and up) dance studio in the country, with over 12,000 students, 33 professional teachers, 120+ weekly classes and located intown in a massive 10,000 sq foot space surrounded by paintings by well-known artists and chic furnishings. As a testament to the studio's singular offerings, students frequently drive hours, from as far away as Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee just to take classes at Dance 101. Dance 101's imaginative approach to dance as fitness as well as performing arts, distinguishes itself as the most unique dance studio in the country, let alone the southeast. Drawing ideas from the best and celebrity favorite dance studios in the nation - The Edge Performing Arts Center and Millennium in Los Angeles and New York City's Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway - Dance 101 with both its innovative approach to dance classes and sophisticated aesthetic has introduced accessible hip-ness to the Atlanta fitness scene where too often the exercise community has only generic gyms or bare bones studios to welcome them. Just as Atlanta's music, shopping, restaurant, hotel and nightclub scene has evolved over the last few years, Dance 101 has introduced that level of urbane sophistication to fitness and dance in Atlanta. Furthermore, Dance 101 inspires adults who have long since given up the dream of dance, to see themselves differently and allow their lives to be transformed in discovery of a new or rekindled passion in life. Like studios in LA and NYC, Dance 101 brings top talent and pioneering classes to its students. They range from innovative Atlanta-influenced A-Town Funk to Great White Way-inspired Off Broadway classes and tap the city's highly accomplished dancers and choreographer's including for the first time ever in Atlanta guest stints by famous visiting dancers like Mandy Moore, choreographer for So You Think You Can Dance and Celine Dion's tour, and highly acclaimed Matthew Rushing, principal dancer with The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Unlike studios in NYC and LA, Dance 101 opens these classes to the public at large, making it the only dance studio in the country to offer experiences of this caliber to the non-professional dance community. "It can be a real 'Fantasy Island' experience for a recreational dancer to take a class from a celebrity performer. Imagine taking voice lessons from Pavaroti, or playing guitar with Jimi Hendrix." says Ofelia de La Valette, Dance 101's founder and owner. Television, film and music video dance star and Cher's personal tour choreographer, Bubba Carr, was recently named Dance 101's artistic director and relocated from Los Angeles. Bubba, along with Ofelia develop new classes monthly as well as produce two sold out student performances a year. This year's performance, Transformotion, debuts June 13 at the Alliance Theater. Because of Dance 101's size, location and elegant aesthetic, the studio is frequently tapped for castings and television and film tapings including So You Think You Can Dance and Beyonce's World Tour audition. Ofelia de La Valette is the owner and founder of Dance 101, who fifteen years ago at age 35, after years as a successful owner of an insurance brokerage firm, decided to become a professional dancer and instructor. Dance 101 is the fulfillment of her lifelong dream to own the largest and pioneering dance studio in Atlanta, offering innovative classes and drawing world reknown talent previously unexposed to the Atlanta dance community. Dance 101's most popular classes: Dance Fitness, Latin Jazz, A-Town Funk, Ballet Basics, Weighted Stretch, Afro Lyrical Fusion, Hip Hop Ballet, Weighted Barre, Dancer's Stretch, Modernity, Clubbin 101, Ballet Kinetics, Off Broadway, Fluidity, Hip Hop Underground, Hip Hop Flow, Music Video Funk, Organic Phrases, Vintage Ballet, Mechanix, Physical Expressionism