The Beverly Review
April 30, 2008

by Caroline Connors

As she celebrates the 10th anniversary of her Beverly dance studio this month, Dance Gallery owner and artistic director Marylee Sinopoli need only step inside the front door at 10628 S.Western Ave. to take a walk down memory lane.

Dance shoes she has worn throughout her career and props and costumes from past recitals are mounted on the walls, intermingled with large paintings of dancers created by her mother, Beverly resident Barbara Majeski, whose painted furniture, floral arrangements and sculptures grace the sitting area.

Framed drawings and paintings created by former and current students line a corridor separating the two dance studios, with some pieces dating back to 1998, the year Sinopoli and her family transformed an empty warehouse with cement floors and hanging light bulbs into a state-of-the-art dance studio and gallery of original art.

“I always wanted to have art on art,” Sinopoli said. “So I just took a deep breath and did it.”

Ten years later, the studio has approximately 400 registered students from pre-school age to seniors and 30 different classes--19 of which are taught by Sinopoli--in yoga, fitness, ballet, pointe, jazz, modern, tap, ballroom, hip-hop and Latin/salsa/social dancing.

“I feel so blessed when I open the blinds in the studio everyday,” Sinopoli said. “I love my job; it keeps me young.”

According to Sinopoli, most of her students come from the immediate area, but there are students who travel from the city neighborhoods of Midway and Hyde Park and from the far southern suburbs of Park Forest, Matteson and South Holland to attend classes.

“We are really a diverse school,” Sinopoli said. “It’s a family-oriented business and I think people are very comfortable here.”

In honor of its 10th anniversary, Dance Gallery is opening its doors to the community with a series of special events in April and May.

A special master jazz class on April 19 drew approximately 50 enthusiastic dancers to the studio for 90 minutes of instruction under world-renowned choreographer Randy Duncan, whose award-winning work includes ballet, theater and Hollywood film productions.

During the week of April 28 through May 3, aspiring dancers are invited to experience the art of dance firsthand by attending a class with a registered Dance Gallery student.

The studio is also hosting an open house from 1 to 3 p.m. on May 4 for all former and current students to share memories of their dance experiences, Sinopoli said. Students are encouraged to write essays describing their favorite, funniest or most inspirational dance moments to be read aloud at the open house.

“Many of our students have had the wonderful opportunity of performing in Dance Chicago or in the Joffrey Ballet’s annual production of the Nutcracker Ballet,” Sinopoli said. “Others have received scholarships to the Chicago Academy for the Arts High School, been in the American Girls Revue or modeled for Leo’s Dancewear catalog.”

Like her students, Sinopoli has fond memories of her experiences as a dancer.

“I grew up playing all the parts in the Nutcracker at the Arie Crown Theatre with the Ruth Page Foundation. I can still remember all the music—it gives me chills to this day. It’s a magical time.”

Sinopoli took her first ballet lesson at three years old and began dancing at the Ruth Page Foundation during elementary school, earning a scholarship at the iconic arts center at the age of 11, she said. She continued her dance regimen while attending Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights and added classes with Lou Conte, whose studio is the home of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.

“I took the 2:25 train downtown after school everyday and my dad would pick me up at 7:00 and drive us home to Crete. On Saturdays I was at the studio from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.,” Sinopoli said. “I was lucky because I was a very versatile dancer; I could go from wearing a bun and pointe shoes to doing jazz and modern. I just loved dance; just loved being in the studio.”

Marriage and motherhood followed a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Barat College in Lake Forest, and Sinopoli moved to Beverly with her husband Frank and two daughters. A chance meeting with an old friend at a local store led Sinopoli to the Beverly Arts Center, where she served as director of the dance program for 15 years before opening her own studio.