This is part of WTOP’s continuing coverage of people making a difference from our community authored by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.
When Linda Chaney opened her dance business in 2019, she had a goal in mind: “What we’re trying to do for the community is take kids off the street and put them into art.”
Chaney is the owner of Evolution Dance Studio, at the Beltway Plaza Mall in Greenbelt, Maryland. Chaney said she started the business in 2019 online, then relocated to Beltway Plaza Mall in 2023 after the pandemic.
Chaney, who said she claims both North Carolina and D.C. as her homes, spent most of her youth dancing in the basement of her D.C. home. She called it her studio, where they taught the neighborhood boys how to dance and she says, in turn, the boys taught them how to play football.
When dancing, Chaney said she always felt like she was “in the zone,” a place where she felt the freedom to express herself.
As an adult, she wanted to give others that experience.
Chaney said she wanted to open a premiere international dance studio “where students could grow physically and mentally.” And, she wanted to help children who wouldn’t normally be able to afford dance classes.
The studio offers a wide variety of classes to children of all ages and skill levels that include ballet, jazz, hip hop, lyrical and modern dance.
“This is more than dancing,” Chaney said. “We try to get into their psyche. We try to let them know that we are here for you.”
Her classes don’t just teach dance techniques, she said, they teach life lessons.
“They learn empowerment, enhancement, they learn how to talk to one another, how to treat one another,” she added.
The studio also offers classes for adults looking for exciting ways to workout, including hand dance and dance fitness classes, like Zumba.
“You know, as we get older, we need to keep moving,” Chaney said.
