For forty-three years, countless students climbed creaky, wooden stairs to the second-floor dance studio at 110 E. Main Street, Morrison, IL. You could consider it a warm up, for legs too used to sitting during the school day. Boys and girls climbed those flights to experience the physicality of artistry in motion. Some were as young as 2.5; serious dancers took classes through 12th grade. Even the Morrison High School basketball team added to their skills in balance and agility through dance maneuvers.
The studio was owned by the late Anne Petersen for 33 of those years, until she retired. For the last ten years, LeAnn Schaefer has owned LeAnn’s Dance Connection. This fall, however, she will move her classes to a newly-built, one-story studio at 107 Sawyer Road, just south of U. S. Route 30.
Adam and LeAnn Schaefer are in construction mode this summer. She stated on Thursday, August 1, 2013, that “the steel is up now. Windows and exterior doors” are next.
When these photos were taken the following day, most openings were installed. Local contractors Deerview Contracting and Morrison Blacktop, Inc. are developing the building and site.
Move-in times are always tentative, but she hopes to relocate in October or November. Classes will continue until then at Schaefer’s current 110 E. Main Street studio. Her business continues to grow.
“This May was our 10th anniversary,” she said. Also gratifying is, “I have ten seniors” as dance students for the upcoming season.