Dance Studio Showcasing Beauty of the Art

Summer is approaching, and —a Somerset County-based dance studio with locations in Martinsville, Warren, Basking Ridge and a home base in Branchburg—is preparing for its usual slate of summer programs.

The studio, which has been operating for 21 years since studio owner Jana Belot opened the Branchburg location, offers programs for young, dedicated performers looking to reach their dance potential over the summer months.

“For the young campers, our goal is for them to have fun and sort of ignite this joy of dance and this excitement of dancing, singing and being artistic,” said Kathleen Beatty, speaking on behalf of Gotta Dance. “For our older campers, it’s about really honing in on their technique and exposing them to various styles of dance and fostering their already existing excitement and love of dance.”

Gotta Dance starts its campers early, offering a program called “Minnie’s Summer Workout” to those ages 2 ½ to 5. The camp, which will run in late July and early August at various Gotta Dance locations, will occur in 2-hour daily installments for $140 per week.

“It’s a ton of fun for the kids,” Beatty said. “It’s basically imagination, excitement, dancing, singing, storytelling and arts and crafts.”

For the slightly older set, the Summer Arts Adventure is offered to boys and girls ages 4 to 7, and varies in theme and location while being “infused with every facet of the arts,” according to Gotta Dance’s official website. This camp costs $210 for a week’s worth of 4-hour sessions.

For 8- 10-year-olds, the “Lights! Camera! Action!” program is another co-ed, weeklong program centered around the production of a video. For a weekly cost of $250, campers are involved in all aspects of the production of the video, which is debuted to guests at the end of the one-week camp.

For more experienced dancers, the two-week “Summer Dance Plus” and “Summer Dance Experience” programs offer comprehensive skill-building instruction to campers for $600 apiece.

No matter the age of its campers, Gotta Dance hopes that it builds a love of dance that helps them grow as performers and as people.

“Basically, our philosophy is to develop young dancers physically, and basically inspire them to grow a love of dance for many, many years,” Beatty said.

It is that love of dance, combined with the performance experience the dancers of Gotta Dance are able to accumulate through community events, that helps them to succeed. Beatty said that several of the company’s dancers and instructors have embarked upon professional dance careers in high-profile productions, including the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in New York City.

“We’ve been taking dance classes to Warrenbrook Senior Center and Manville Senior Center,” she said. “We try to reach out to different centers so kids get another chance to perform and, I think, it’s nice for people to see what young kids are doing in the community and it’s nice for them to share that passion with others.”

The public performances haven’t stopped there. With regular, annual performances at Basking Ridge Charter Day, as well as a performance by the company’s select Dynamite Dance Team at Hershey Park just last year, the mission of Gotta Dance to spread the joy of dance has become even more successful over time.

“We’re basically trying to get our students out there and get more performance opportunities for them,” Beatty said, “and showcase dance to people who ordinarily wouldn’t go see a dance show or who aren’t aware of the beauty of dance.”