05-21-2023 Harford Magazine - Flipbook - Page 13
Long taught dance part time until she opened Dimensions Dance Center in
Abingdon.
“I loved being on stage,” she
said. “I felt like I became another
person. I was more carefree.”
She danced off and on through
college. Though Long didn’t realize it at the time, every obstacle
thrown in her path, every dismissive comment from an instructor,
helped her become the teacher
she is today.
“I don’t tell my dancers what
they cannot do, and my dancers
are not allowed to tell me that they
cannot do something,” she said. “I
teach them to say, ‘Miss Tania, I’m
having trouble with this,’ or ‘Miss
Tania, I need your help.’”
After graduating from the
University of Maryland, Baltimore
County in 2010 with a bachelor’s
degree in dance, Long married her
high school sweetheart. For the
next six years, she was a stay-athome mom.
The couple’s daughter is now 11,
and she and her husband also are
the parents of a 1-year-old son.
During her stay-at-home years,
Long taught dance part time. But
she began to dream of owning
her own studio so she could teach
dance the way she thought it
should be taught, an ambition she
kept tucked away in the back of
her mind.
“One day, a lovely lady told
me, ‘As long as you are part of
someone else’s dreams, you’ll
never have dreams of your own,’ ”
Long said.
In 2014 she enrolled in an
online business school through
Northcentral University in
Scottsdale, Arizona. Two years
later, she had a master’s degree in
business administration — and her
own, 1,200-square-foot studio in
Abingdon.
Now, she has four part-time
instructors who teach ballet, jazz,
tap, acrobatics, hip-hop and modern dance to children ages 2 to 14.
Tuition starts at $60 a month for
one class per week, and goes up
to $425.
Dimensions also offers a
seven-week summer camp that
combines dance instruction with
field trips, from swimming to
bowling to movie nights, at a cost
of $165 a week.
“My goal isn’t just to prepare
my students for the dance world,”
Long said. “It’s to give them the
tools they need to become great
human beings. Maybe they’ll grow
up to be nurses or teachers or
bakers.
“I’m just a small part of their
lives, but I hope to make a big
impact.”
Dimensions Dance Center
3709 Pulaski Hwy # 5, Abingdon.
443-515-7130.
dimensions-dancecenter.com
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harfordmagazine.com | Summer 2023 |
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