The space at 125 High Street in Ipswich will soon be a renovated studio for community and creativity. North Shore resident Jenny Carlson, owner and director of the studio, hopes to provide the community with a venue for rehearsals, workshops, after school programs, lectures, art shows, rentals, and dance classes for people of all ages.
The space will include two large studios, garage doors to roll open for airflow, a removeable wall, and accessible entrances and bathrooms. This fall, they’ll offer over sixty adult and youth classes in ballet, modern, hip hop, jazz, creative movement, and more, limiting class sizes for now to ten dancers or less, in accordance with CDC regulations. All students and staff will be required to wear masks.
Since receiving her BFA in Dance from Emerson College, Jenny Carlson has danced and taught in the Boston area for almost twenty years, most recently as director of the Ipswich Moving Company School of Dance.
As she looked to expand the company’s class offerings, she decided to open her own studio on High Street, with many of the same familiar instructors from the Ipswich Moving Company.
“Every town needs more arts organizations and a place for community,” says Carlson. When the opportunity to open up this new space presented itself, Carlson said she had to go for it. “Making this decision to open a new business during this time was difficult,” she says, but she did it “from a place of optimism for the next twenty years.”
The studio aims to be accessible to the whole community, offering a free after school program three days a week and donation-based community dance classes twice a month. This “after-school energy shift” program for middle and high school students provides a space for kids to talk or meditate, dance or play music, be silly or be serious.
“We want students to leave our school with a creative sense of themselves,” says Carlson. She hopes they learn to “value the importance of movement in their lives and in the artistic community at large.”
High Street Studios is also available for rentals, lending itself as a venue for performances, meetings, workshops, and more. “Beyond movement, this space is a studio for the community,” says Carlson. “We hope conversations, performances, celebrations, and much more fill this space.”
Dance faculty, both new and from Ipswich Moving Company, include Angelina Benitez, Lissa Geggis, Ali Hoerzer, Jeff Jean Phillipe, Julie Pike, Tabitha Rodger, Elizabeth Silveira, Molly Tupper, and pianist Elaine Hamill.
Meet the teachers, see the new space, and pick up studio merchandise at their open houses on Friday, September 11 from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m., or September 12 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
For more information and to see the full class schedule, visit highstreet.studio.