reLIVE Stay the Path Nationals

We are still trying to wrap our heads around Nationals and make sense of what an amazing week it was! A lot of you might not know this, but DanceMakers has been around since 1978. Yes, you are reading that correctly! In our 41 years as a company, this was the largest event we have ever had. Needless to say, there has been a lot of reflection on that fact by myself, and all of our team. DanceMakers was one of the first conventions that I attended as a young dancer. I later got the opportunity to assist the faculty and continued to do so through my teenage years. At this time it was still being run by the founder and director, Marjorie Perry who effected so many young dancer’s lives and presented countless opportunities. After her passing I was given the opportunity to teach alongside of some of my idols that I grew up assisting. This is when Doug Shaffer came into the picture. What I didn’t know is that he would soon become Felicia and I’s biggest mentor, and would begin implementing a new foundation for what DanceMakers would become. We, Felicia and I, were given the opportunity to move to California and work alongside Doug for many years where our lives began to change in ways we never thought possible. Little did we know that another opportunity would be presented to us when we were least expecting it. The opportunity to purchase the company from Doug. 5 years later and here we are. Reflecting back on all of the people before us who were visionaries to the dance world. All of the years of hard work and dedication to make this company what it is today. Sure, we have made countless mistakes and will continue to do so. But what we have done is try our very hardest to continue the legacy that was started out of a little town in South Carolina by a woman who had a vision. And then continued out of a basement in Laguna Beach, CA by a man who saw that special quality in DanceMakers that we all have felt in our hearts and knew it could be bigger. And here we are, back in South Carolina and just a short drive from where this all started, with so much love in our hearts that they feel like they could burst at any moment.
Thank you is not big enough for the amount of gratitude we feel for you all. Thank you for trusting us with such a huge responsibility and undertaking with this special company. Thank you for your support, new and old. Thank you for the visionaries that YOU are in your home studios. Thank you for being a gift to us and to the dance world. The path that we are all on together is important and much larger than the word “dance” could ever hold. Thank you a million times. Until next time…
⁃Brad Taylor

[@kylasworld9132]

Thank you so much dancemakers for letting me have the best week of my life

[@SupernovaDanceCompany]

It was an awesome week!

[@ryanraines1396]

Wow. This just hit different. Amazing videographers capturing amazing moments. Very beautiful