One Last Dance: Flint’s Dance Studio set to close after 64 years

MISHAWAKA, Ind. (WNDU) - Dance is an art form that connects deeply with many.

At Flint’s Dance Studio, that connection has happened between the teachers and dancers for the past 64 years.

Over the next few weeks, those involved with the studio are preparing for one last dance because the oldest dance studio in Mishawaka is set to close in early June.

To Sheri Flint Gordon, teaching dance is more than just a job. To her, it’s everything.

“It’s something that has been a part of my life forever,” Gordon said. “It’s what I love to do, it’s who I am, and it was just a natural thing I wanted to continue to do and give to our community.”

And for the past 64 years at Flint’s Dance Studio in Mishawaka, Sheri and her dad, Jerry, have been teaching dance forms of all kinds to the community.

“The studio opened in 1960, ‘61 was the first season, and I appeared that summer,” Gordon said. “So, I was born in it, it’s what I’ve done all my life. And we teach a variety of dance ballet, tap, dance, modern — you name it, we’ve done it.”

And done it they have, with the studio having taught generations of families in the Michiana area.

“We have three sisters that studied with us, the Courtier sisters, over the course of 25 years,” Gordon said. “We’ve got the students we have here, all high schools in the South Bend, Michiana area. I taught Penn and Clay, Stanley Clark. I’ve choreographed things outside the area, so I can’t even go there.”

Their outreach means a lot to the dancers who have been coming here each week for the past six decades.

“This has meant the world to me, to meet Sheri and Jerry, to dance here and create so many memories,” said Caitlin Douchette. “It was just such a time for me as a teen, when I started here and even now, I look forward to it every week, and they’ve created that culture of joy and sharing the arts.”

Yet as all good acts know, that curtain call comes for everyone, as Flint’s Dance Studio is having its final rehearsals on June 4 and 5. It’s a decision the family is hurt to make — not for their sake, but because of the dancers they’ve taught for the past 60-plus years.

“ I feel the fact that we have done what is in our heart and soul and shared that with the people that opens the mind to the realm of possibility,” said Jerry Flint.

Those sentiments were the same for Anna, whose been coming to Flint’s Dance Studio since she was 4 years old.

“It’s always been a safe space for me to go to and let out my emotion,” she said. “I really appreciate Miss Sheri, she’s like a second mom to me. And I just really appreciate her, and I’m never going to forget her and the times I’ve had here.”

Flint’s Dance Studio will be holding combined classes for all its dancers on June 4 and 5 at the studio before capping off with a final dress rehearsal at the Battell Community Center in Mishawaka on June 6.

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