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DANCING LESSONS WITH GERRY STEPHENSON
Gerry grew up in Kingston, Ontario Canada, next to his best friend Ed, who was Polish and so as not to miss out on friendship on Saturday mornings, Gerry went to Polish Folk dance lessons with his buddy for the next 15 years culminating with Mazurs, Krakowiaks, Polonaises, Mazurkas, and a trip to Poland. He even danced for the Queen of England. While in college in Toronto, he started taking Ballroom dance lessons and was asked to train as a teacher.
This is where he met his mentor Barney Cruickshank and his daughter Mary, International Ballroom and Latin dancers from England. It is there where Barney and his wife Pam were Ballroom Champions. Gerry trained all day on Saturdays and would teach 5 nights a week while maintaining a full-time job. Gerry took difficult exams and passed his Associate Levels in both International Ballroom and Latin styles.
Vera started ballet at the age of 5 and took off with never wanting anything more than to dance! With her teacher and mentor Anna Marie Oliver, she completed 8 levels of Royal Academy of Dance ballet and added Tap and Jazz to her repertoire. Being accepted into the Canadian College of Dance at Ryerson University, she traveled from her hometown Guelph, to Toronto. It is here that she looked into the Russian folk dance group that danced at the Novgorod Pavilion in Toronto’s wonderful Caravan Festival but most notably, this is where Gerry and Vera met.
Together Gerry and Vera danced the days and nights away. Vera danced all day and then they would teach classes in the evenings for Peel School Board, Toronto Public Schools, Scarborough, Etobicoke, and Oakville. Exhausted - yes, but a blast ! Vera and Gerry were engaged and got married with Vera to complete one more year in College. Vera received her Advanced in Royal Academy of Dance ballet and I.S.T.D Modern and National. Two years later the little ballerina, Kalina, came along and kept them both busy! Vera spent two summers at “Canada’s Wonderland” and then got a call from Canada’s gem Alan Lund to do Anne of Green Gables in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. With a National Tour and a stop at Expo 86 in Vancouver, and with Vera’s 40 or more shows in which she danced or choreographed, Vera is a well rounded dancer and teacher.To make a long story short, Gerry was transferred to Virginia in ’88 and then again to Memphis in ’89. That is where the tap dancer, Nicole was born. Vera went back to school at the University of Memphis. In ’96 the family moved to the beautiful Boulder County in the Colorado area and this is when things got serious. Gerry and Vera bought Reverence Academy of Dance in 2002 with partners and their love of production began!
With our school, we have produced 8 years of recitals and we just presented our 5th Annual mega production “Searching for Christmas”.
We guided many couples through the journey of their wedding day at Boulder Valley Christian Church. We continue to teach Swing and Ballroom at Nissis club in Lafayette. We delight in helping you with your special event be it a wedding, a Quincenera, school dance, a cruise, a birthday party, anniversary, private lessons for cruises, and we can DJ your event.
Whatever your event, we can make it happen, have fun doing it, and produce a time to remember. Class, style, grace and care and we do it the way YOU want it. This is what we have to offer!
Gerry & Vera Stephenson Reverence Academy of Dance Instructors www.reverenceweb.com
303-661-0719