Applause, Applause
© Jesse Worley/The Herald
Classes offered Tap |
RIDGELAND | If Jim Frechette had not become a dancer, he would probably be working on computers or tinkering with electronics right now.
But the 41-year-old owner of The Applause Dance Factory on Industrial Drive in Ridgeland believes he has found his artistic calling.
For the past 12 years, Frechette has been teaching dance classes to local students. His life proves that things don’t always happen the way you plan.
After graduating from high school in Forest, the New Jersey native decided to enroll in college and study electronic engineering.
When he couldn’t come up with enough money to pay for tuition, he joined the Navy to continue his educational pursuits. But during his stint as a military man, Frechette became interested in another field of study.
Influenced by his mother, who had begun taking a variety of dance classes, Frechette decided that he, too, would begin to learn the art form.
“When I got out of the Navy, everyone was an electronic technician,” said Frechette, who began searching the Virginia Beach, Va., classifieds for employment. When he couldn’t find any openings under the letter “E” for “electronics,” he looked further down the page and discovered that “dance instructors” were needed under “D.”
“I had already taken dance classes, so I decided to start training with the Fred Astaire School of Dance,” he said. “At the time, when I started, I was very shy and had been that way all my life.”
While a career in electronics appealed to Frechette’s shy nature and was something he saw as a quiet, comfortable occupation, dancing was a career he knew would help bring him out of his shell.
“What I like about dancing is that it has a structure to it and a person only has to know the basic steps to do it well,” he said. “It never gets boring because there are more varieties that you can learn.”
Frechette was an instructor at three locations in Madison County prior to purchasing Applause four years ago. The dance studio offers classes five nights a week and has one afternoon session for senior citizens sponsored by the Ridgeland Recreation and Parks Department.
Ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, pointe, hip hop, acrobatics, cheerleading, creative movement, competition dance, ballroom, Latin, swing and country and Western are all offered.
“The most popular things right now are the Latin dances,” said Frechette, who offers bolero, rumba, cha cha and salsa. “Everyone seems to be interested in that.
“Salsa is the one we hear about a lot right now. It’s a modern take on an older dance called mambo.”
Said Frechette: “The tango is dramatic and people love to watch it. Shakira did a song called ‘Obsession Tango.’ At the beginning, it had tango music, but the rest wasn’t.”
Swing is also very popular and Frechette said it can be done without acrobatics and stunts.
Students, who range in age from 3 to 90-something, are enrolled at Applause. They perform at different charity events throughout the year and compete in dance competitions.
Jo Ann Heath became an Applause student two years ago. Her husband, Charlie, eventually followed her lead.
“I started a few years before he did never thinking he would ever get there, but he is loving it is as much as I am now,” she said.
Learning to dance is something Heath had always wanted to do, so after seeing an ad for a Thursday afternoon seniors dance group, she felt there was no time like the present to pursue a new hobby.
“I decided I would give it a try,” she said. “I have just thought, I don’t know how many times, that is the best thing I have done. I wish I had done it years ago.
“It’s absolutely the most joyous thing I have ever done and it is hard to put into words how wonderful it is. It has meant the world to me.”
Barbara Thames is the Heaths’ ballroom dance instructor.
“I was introduced to it in New Orleans almost 20 years ago,” said Thames, who keeps notes on all her students the same way a physician would his patients. “This is just about the only activity for exercise that you can do well into your 90s.”
Valerie Miller, another Applause instructor, has been Frechette’s professional dancing partner for four years.
“I started competing when I was 18 or 19 years old in the disco era,” she said. “I had a partner in Michigan for three years.”
Miller moved from disco into jazz and ballet, and when she came South, she decided to begin taking ballroom dance classes, which she has done for the past nine years.
Other instructors include Sandee Raker, Martin Bozone and Dave Swope.
Applause offers private lessons, group classes and dance parties every Friday night for all students. Guests are also welcome.
“A lot of people take jobs just to make a living and they can’t wait to get out of work to go do something else,” said Frechette. “Dancing is a recreation of mine as well as a career.”
For more information about dance classes Frechette can be reached at 856-6168.
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