Joy

My heart is still full from our 40th Anniversary Open House and from seeing so many past and present students, families, teachers and friends who have helped make Pegasus such a special place over the past 40 years.

One thing I heard from several former students and faculty was how much joy they felt walking back into the building. A few described Pegasus as a place of joy for them.

I can't quite explain how much that meant to me.

Pegasus has always been my happy place. It is where I have spent much of my adult life doing the things I love, teaching, creating, learning, watching children grow and being surrounded by people who believe, as I do, in the power of the arts.

But to hear that this place, which has brought me so much joy, had also become a place of joy for others was incredibly meaningful.

Maybe that is one of the greatest gifts of reaching a milestone. You get to look back and discover that something you created meant more to people than you ever really knew.

As we head into our 40th season, and as I reach another milestone birthday (70!!), it feels almost impossible to write those numbers. Forty years of Pegasus. Seventy years of life. Both have given me reason to reflect on where I have been, what matters to me, and what I want this next chapter to look like.

Over the past few years, I have been slowly stepping away from the day-to-day operations of the studio and passing the leadership to my daughters and the incredible team who teach, influence and make Pegasus what it is. Like many studio and business owners, I imagined this season of life might be called retirement.

But I discovered something.

There are still things I love too much to leave behind, teaching dance, growing young leaders, supporting families and sharing what I have learned over five decades as an educator.

One of the projects that kept calling me back was Childhood Expressions™.

Forty years ago, my mother, Lynda, and I created Pegasus and a small preschool arts program with a handful of children and a simple belief:

Children learn best through movement, music, visual art, storytelling and play.

Over the years, that little program quietly became the heart of so much of my teaching and reminded me, year after year, that teaching dance is about so much more than learning steps.

As I stepped back from the day-to-day running of Pegasus, and with time for reflection, I realized I wasn't quite finished with this work. Instead, Childhood Expressions became part of my next chapter.

I have been pouring my time and heart into documenting my teaching beliefs, philosophies and practices I have developed over the years and sharing them with the Pegasus faculty and with dance and early years educators across the country through workshops, masterclasses and a certification program.

Along with that, I am still dancing, teaching, mentoring young leaders and finding new ways to stay connected to the work and people I love.

And all of it brings me joy.

Interestingly, that word keeps showing up for me lately. So much so that my weekly Childhood Expressions email for Educators is called Joyfully Creative. I have started a daily journal called Noticing Joy, and now this October blog is simply called Joy.

Maybe I am noticing it more because I am looking for it.

Or maybe, at this stage of life, I am finally understanding just how important it is.

At our Anniversary Open House, I asked former students and alumni whether they were still dancing, or whether dance had played a part in who they had become and what they were doing today.

The answer was a resounding YES.

And perhaps that is the greatest joy of all.

The little dance and art studio that began 40 years ago with a dancer, an artist, a handful of students and a belief that the arts have the power to shape lives has grown into something we could never have imagined.

I know that long after our students have forgotten a particular step, exercise or dance, they will remember how they felt when they were here.

My hope is that they remember the friendships, the music, the laughter, the performances, the challenges they overcame and the people who believed in them.

And now, after hearing the stories shared at our Open House, I know something else.

They remember the joy.

As we enter this season of gratitude and Thanksgiving, I am deeply grateful that you and your family have chosen Pegasus as a place to learn, grow, create and find joy through the arts.

May you notice joy in the simplest pleasures this month, and feel both a song in your heart and a dance in your feet.

They remember the joy. May we never forget to create it.

Here’s to a joyful 40th season!

With a joyful heart,

Jane