General News
9 February, 2023
New dance studio already a success
With her entrepreneurial dancing shoes on, a new Maryborough resident waltzed into town last year — now she has opened a dancing school for children, and the community is supporting her at every step. Located at Highview College, the brand-new...
With her entrepreneurial dancing shoes on, a new Maryborough resident waltzed into town last year — now she has opened a dancing school for children, and the community is supporting her at every step.
Located at Highview College, the brand-new Dance Station Maryborough opened its door this week, welcoming around 85 students, which is a significant number of enrolments according to owner and founder of the venture, Jessica George.
“Initially, I made a Google form for people to get information about the school and register their interest and within the first day, all the junior classes pretty much filled up. We’ve been full from then on and it’s quite big,” she said.
“I feel like the community wanted it because when I started this everyone jumped on board.”
Ms George moved from Perth a year ago along with her husband and two kids for a change of pace — after living in Maryborough for a year, the family has no plans to relocate.
“We moved because we wanted to have more ease in our life and while it was an adjustment moving to a town from a city, I feel like [it became easier] because everyone was really welcoming,” she said.
“Maryborough has everything you need especially if you have a young family and it has a community feel.
“I think that when you involve yourself with the community, they support you and that helped me start the school and so I’m here to stay.”
Backing from the local community has been extremely important in setting up the dance school — and while she’s received crucial support, Ms George is also trying to help other small businesses grow alongside her studio.
“The community, they advertised the dance school amongst each other — they’ve shared it to their friends or it’s all been shared just through Facebook from within the community. I haven’t paid for any advertising and they’ve been really integral in that,” she said.
“All this support is huge because it’s not like everybody knows me but they’re still supporting me by joining the school.
“One of the values I have around my business is that whenever I need something, I try to see if I can do it through other local businesses first. We’re working with shops in town to do the dance shoes, the leotards, the signage and other things.
“Where possible, I’m trying to improve small businesses as well in the community.”