By Myles Ma
There are no staid recitals for parents to endure at Body Language Dance Center. Its owners, Travis Breen and Eric McCotter, believe in putting on a show for their paying customers.
“Parents get to sit down without their kids and enjoy the show for themselves,” McCotter, 32, said.
The spring concert, held in June at Hopewell Valley Central High School, is the culmination of everything the students learn during the dance season, which mirrors the school year, lasting from September until the concert. For Breen, 34, and McCotter, the concert was a milestone as well, as it marked the conclusion of their first year as owners of Body Language Dance Center, located at 1507 Parkway Ave.
In addition to making it an enjoyable evening for the parents, Breen and McCotter focused on making it a practical experience for the parents. Unlike normal dance recitals, in which the instructors introduce and talk about each class in between acts, the spring concert was more like a Broadway show, with acts running one after the other, interrupted only by a video montage.
Breen and McCotter each have more than a decade of teaching experience, which they collected during gigs. They have each been dancing since they were young.
Breen has a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and was an adjunct professor at Wagner College in New York City. He met McCotter when the two were performing in Atlantic City.
Breen said the faculty have the same real-world experience in their genres that he and McCotter do. They ensure that students are taught more than technique; they also learn the history and background of each genre as well as the vocabulary of dance.
McCotter said the decision to open their own studio in September 2008 was sudden. They had both been teaching regularly, living in New York and had always had inklings of how they would run things if they had their own studio.
Breen said they had both come to a point in their careers at which they had to decide whether they wanted to choreograph, teach or judge. “We came to that point and it was like ‘What do we want to do next?’” Breen said.
The two decided to teach, settling on Ewing because of its central location between New York and Philadelphia.
“There’s actually a lot of arts in this area,” McCotter said.
Many dance competitions are held nearby as well. The Body Language Dance Center’s competition team was crowned grand champion at a national competition sponsored by Dancers Inc.
The most rewarding aspect of the job for the two owners, however, is passing down the knowledge the two have collected over their long dance careers, and watching their students embark on careers of their own.
“It’s nice to see them move on and become something greater and greater and greater,” McCotter said.
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