Today we’d like to introduce you to Meg Morrissey.
Meg, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up dancing at the Georgia Dance Conservatory in my hometown of Marietta, Georgia. From the age of 3, I began developing a deep love for ballet and passion for dance that followed me to Chicago in 2012, as I continued my training at Northwestern University. After graduating with a B.A. in Dance and International Studies, I was drawn back home to Atlanta to rejoin its vibrant dance community in the professional realm.
Shortly after moving, I began performing, choreographing, and teaching dance around the city, along with co-founding Fuerta, a non-profit modern dance and film company based here in Atlanta. I was teaching classes at several dance studios, including the Druid Hills Dance Center. DHDC was a brand new studio in the Decatur area, and after about six months of my teaching there, a terrible storm caused the roof of the building to collapse.
Following this unfortunate event, the owner, my boss at the time, took me out for a lunch that would quickly change my life. She told me that she was either going to close the studio completely, or I could have it. This left me stunned. As a 23-year-old whose main goal at the time was simply to move out of my parent’s house, I felt a moment of panic that this was more than I was ready for. I had dreamed of owning my own studio in my 15-year life plan, so to see it realized so suddenly came as a shock.
My head told me this was too risky, but my heart told me this was an opportunity I desperately wanted to take. I shook her hand and knew I was about to embark on a wild adventure. I became the new owner and director of the Druid Hills Dance Center, and have had the privilege of seeing it triple in size over the past 4 years. I have seen it grow into a beloved part of the Decatur community, fostering the same passion for dance in our students that I cherished in my own childhood.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As an artist, it can be a struggle to settle on just one dream. Balancing being a studio owner, non-profit director, teacher, and freelance choreographer has, at times, been a bumpy road. Add into the mix being a young, female business owner and it is an everyday fight for respect and equality in the workplace. I have learned to have thick skin and to always stay confident in my mission.
By facing these challenges today, I hope to help women who want to own small businesses in the future. It helps having a job that I love, and such amazing students to keep me motivated.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Druid Hills Dance Center story. Tell us more about the business.
The Druid Hills Dance Center provides quality dance instruction in Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Contemporary, Modern, and Hip Hop styles of dance for ages 3 – 18. We house a student company that performs in annual shows and competitions, as well as a non-profit dance company for professional adults. What sets us apart, are our fantastic teachers, who love to share their passion for dance with the next generation of artists.
At DHDC, we call ourselves a dance family, because of the bond we have with our studio parents and students. It is an environment that promotes confidence and positive body image in young dancers, grows their technical abilities while being a safe space for artistic expression and imagination.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
It would be easy to say that the bizarre luck of a roof caving in played a big role in my becoming the owner of the studio in the first place, but I tend to think that the universe sorts things out in the wash for us. Hard work and positivity can move mountains.
The growth of DHDC into what it is today, I attribute to cultivating a fantastic team of instructors that connect with and better our dance community.
Pricing:
- Pricing starts at $12/class.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3334 North Druid Hills Road, Unit A,
Decatur, GA 30033 - Website: www.druidhillsance.com
- Phone: 678-672-7895
- Email: info@druidhillsdance.com
- Instagram: @druidhillsdance
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/druidhillsdancecenter/
- Twitter: @druidhillsdance
Image Credit:
Jessica White Photography
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