Flat River Dance Company
5469 S. Greenville Rd.
Greenville, MI 48838
Flat River Dance Company was founded in 1998 by Marci Anne Leysen. In June 2008 Joseph Curry and Miranda Haywood became the new owners of Flat River Dance Company. Because both Miranda and Joseph worked and came up in the professional world of dance, they wanted to bring that new sense of professionalism to the dance school. This ushered in a new era for Flat River Dance Company and created a new mission for Flat River Dance Company.
The school was then expanded and created new classes to offer the students like Pointe, Partnering, Variations, Contemporary, Choreocomposition and Hip Hop.
For the first time, full length ballets were introduced and a summer program was offered. FRDC dancers began to perform at summer festivals such as The Danish Festival and Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts.
Because FRDC believes in community involvement, the staff began working with and performing for the local schools and churches. Both the directors have spent their time to choreographing for the High School musicals and help raise funds for the Educational Foundation of Greenville’s through the annual “Our 3 “ fundraiser by having FRDC students perform on the program each year.
Guest artist from Grand Rapids Ballet, Grand Valley State University, and Nashville Ballet were brought in to dance and teach the students. Visual artists were sought out such as, Debbie Bell and John Hoke to create art live on stage. Actors such as Matt Gilbertson and Larry Moss joined the company to act in performances that go beyond just dance steps but instead creating Multi-media, Multi-discipline performing arts events.
FRDC brought in live musical collaborations with Grand Rapids Blue Grass band the Faux Grass Quartet, The Kent County Philharmonic Orchestra, The Rockford Community Orchestra, and the Rockford Civic Symphony.
FRDC established a semi annual all school field trip to Detroit, MI or Chicago, IL to see professional dance company’s such as American Ballet Theater, The Bad Boys of Dance, Dance Theater of Harlem and the Barcelona Ballet of Spain.
All these changes have brought great results for FRDC. Students have participated in world renowned summer dance programs like American Ballet Theater, Ballet Met, Grand Rapids Ballet, Blue Lakes Fine Arts Camp, and the Joffrey Ballet.
Many of FRDC students have continued their dance education in college programs such as Marymount Manhattan College, Grand Valley State University, Western Michigan University and Interlochen. A few FRDC alumni have returned to become teachers at Flat River Dance Company.
Miranda and Joseph have brought to Flat River Dance Company quality dance instruction to the students at FRDC. They have expanded the over all understanding of what dance is and can be. All of the instructions have given Flat River Dance Company a respected voice in the Greenville promoting arts education to our community at-large.
Offering quality dance education for students from ages 3 - 19 years old and ballroom and yoga classes for the adults.