By Kathy L. Collins
The Theatre Arts and Dance Alliance locally known as TADA is celebrating its 10 year anniversary. With over 20 years of experience, Mitsie Kraack, owner and artistic director, along with her dedicated staff including Amanda Keeney, TADA’s school director and artistic director of Tampa Bay Dance Theatre (TADA’s dance company), offer quality training in all art forms of dance as well as children’s theatre.
Kraack said, “TADA has a state of the art facility with quality educators who care for our student’s well being as well as their dance, music and theatre education. Our staff either has a degree in dance, music or theatre and/or have performed professionally in the industry.”
TADA offers dance classes in ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, Tap, hip hop, acrobatics and creative movement. Private music instruction in piano, voice and guitar is also offered. Kraack added, “We offer theatre classes to students from Kindergarten to high school. Our theatre program produces six to eight shows a year, and we produce a main stage summer theatre musical each year in July.”
Over the years, TADA has grown.
“We began with only two dance studios and two private music rooms. We have now expanded to four dance studios and a small black box theatre. Our teaching staff is the best in the area. We have former students and teachers dancing and performing throughout the United States and Europe,” said Kraack.
New this year, TADA will offer a home school musical theatre class for Families Instructing Students at Home (FISH).
“We plan to offer more home school classes next semester. Our long term goal is to have our own theatre so we can produce shows that would house our resident dance and theatre companies,” said Kraack.
Kraack added, “TADA would not be the quality program without Amanda Keeney. She is the school director of TADA and the artistic director of our dance company, Tampa Bay Dance Theatre. We have been teaching together for over 20 years. She is such an asset and large part to the success of the school. Her dedication and passion for dance is evident in all that she creates and choreographs. She has created the ballet curriculum and trains the teachers how to teach and deliver the curriculum to our students.”
TADA will present The Nutcracker on Saturday, December 6 and Sunday, December 7 at Blake High School in Tampa. For tickets and times of the performances, call 571-0901 or visit www.tadance.com.
