In Step with Massapequa

In her first year managing A Step Above dance studios, Lydia Magaddino doubled the number of students enrolled at her dance studio by creating “the friendliest studio” in Massapequa.

But if you asked her five years ago, Magaddino would have told you that she never wanted to open a dance studio. A Brooklyn native, she moved to Massapequa twelve years ago with her husband and three children on the recommendation of a family friend. A  big advocate for special education, Magaddino intended to start a business devoted to children with learning disabilities.

When she registered her daughter for dance classes at In Sync Dance & Boutique, a hip-hop studio owned by Gail Sinclair, Magaddino had no idea that Sinclair was related to the friend who had convinced her to move to the area. Over the years, the two women developed a close relationship.

When Sinclair decided to retire, Magaddino couldn’t imagine sending her daughter to another dance school. She suggested the idea of buying the business to her husband. “He looked at me like I had ten heads,” she said.

Eighty percent of Sinclair’s students, most of them between 9 to 18-years-old, continued taking classes at A Step Above, five to six days a week.

“The one thing that they love about it is that its fun. That makes a huge difference,” said Magaddino. “Sometimes, I can’t get them to go home.”

That’s because Magaddino has created a community within the school, which is located at 4877 Merrick Road, that acts as “one big family.”  While the dance instructors teach the right moves, Magaddino says she guides her students to be “the nicest people they could ever be."

“Even if they don’t hang out with each other outside of the school, in here, they’re like sisters,” she said. “They clap for each other. They even do each other’s hair.”

The family at A Step Above now consists of 120 students.

When it comes to dance recitals, she makes sure that “everybody gets a chance.” In the past, students were singled out to start and end the performance, but to Magaddino, “it’s everybody’s studio.” All her students are given a part in the opening and closing.

While having fun, Magaddino’s dancers are also learning and competing. At regional competitions, they’ve performed consistently well. In their first year, her students brought home seven platinum, six extreme gold, and two gold medals. “Parents told me they couldn’t believe the progress their children have made,” said Magaddino.  

Under Magaddino’s management, A Step Above has “has become much more well-rounded.” In addition to hip-hop, the students now take classes in lyrical, jazz, tap, zumba and pop and lock. “They’re all starting to branch out,” she said.

Her pop and lock classes, in particular, have taken off the ground. “I started out with only eight kids, and at the end of the summer, I had 24,” she said.

Five of those students are boys, a first for the studio. In a few years, Magaddino hopes to have enough boys enrolled at her school to make up an all boy class, so that her male students feel comfortable in their environment.

“The only problem is, the rooms are pink and purple,” she said.