About Us

Unity Center of Dance started in Ellensburg, WA as Ellensburg Community Dance, a community dance program for the youth who wanted a different option other than a traditional studio setting. ECD transformed over the years into Unity Center of Dance with the help of amazing parents, staff, and students. All staff members worked on a volunteer basis, parents invested where they could, and students worked hard and fundraised for most of the fees. UCD had two main programs, the performance program and the competition program. Both had various levels of dancers but strived to meet goals, be inclusive, and build an environment of learning in a fun and encouraging way. With the help of parents and two amazing coaches, the Director, Samantha Grover was able to watch the program grow. 

After eight amazing years, Samantha's husband took a job across the state and her family moved. While her two coaches opened the doors to their wonderful new studio, the doors to Unity Center of Dance closed. 

 After many years of continuing dance education, managing and working for other studios, working in T.V. and Film, adjudicating, and now working toward her Masters in Business Management and Administration, Samantha wanted to be able to have her business open again in some capacity. 

We are excited to be opening our doors to a full studio that will provide dance and arts education classes. These classes will be available for ages 2+ and hold true to our Mission Statement. At UCD, we aim to provide arts to all, regardless of their socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, religion, ability, and race. At Unity Center of Dance, we focus on creating an environment that helps build confidence, self-respect, respect for others, work ethic, responsibility, unity, and skills that apply to the arts, and enable students to be successful in life. By creating fundraising and sponsorship opportunities, providing scholarships, and supporting our community, we aim to create an environment of unity and civic engagement. We are committed to hiring and supporting knowledgeable staff who have integrity and are held to high standards. Our students will learn valuable skills and tools that not only apply to dance, but also their lives as contributing members of society. 

Teachers at our Studio are trained in Cecchetti, Balanchine, and Vaganova ballet methods, Acrobatic Arts, Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, Hip-Hop, Theatre, Modern, Ballroom, Tap, Kinesiology, Dance Therapy, Pre-School curriculum,  Stretch and Conditioning for Dance, Pageant Training, and more.  Any instructor over the age of 18 must pass a background check and be CPR-certified within 3 months of hire.

For studios looking to improve their students' showmanship and performance quality, we have a "Performance" clinic where students can come to or hire our Theatre and Performance Instructor. This clinic teaches fundamentals of acting while implementing them into dancing.  For the Performance Clinics, depending on the studio and students, we use two methods, the Stanislavsky Method and Method Acting (which is based in the Stanislavsky Method) methods. 

GOOD NEWS!

Our Grand Opening is projected to be October 26th! We have had a few renovation setbacks, but as we teach our students... continue to persevere! While we continue to renovate our space check out the rest of our website.

 Registration for classes is open and we look forward to seeing you in class!