Beth Fowler School of Dance Celebrates 40 Years of Teaching Students in Kane and DeKalb – Shaw Local

Beth Fowler School of Dance celebrated 40 years of service in Kane and DeKalb Counties in June, and founder Beth Fowler has no plans to slow down.

Fowler founded this award-winning dance school as a high school student in 1983 and built it into a nationally recognized dance academy that teaches hundreds of dancers and thousands of graduates each year, many of whom have successfully developed professional dance careers.

Fowler was born and raised in Genoa, where she began dancing at a young age. At age 13, she was the youngest professional dancer with the Rockford Dance Company, and at age 15, she was teaching studio classes in her parents’ home.

Fowler said that being one of the few dancers in a small town meant that everyone knew about her efforts, and as a result, many families asked her to teach their children. Her teaching career began by giving free lessons to neighborhood children. Eventually she placed an ad in the newspaper and the Beth Fowler School of Dance was born.

After high school, Fowler danced at the Milwaukee Ballet School and Academy while also running her own dance school. She said she always knew she wanted to be a teacher and recalled that in Milwaukee she often took notes on what her instructors did so that she could be the best teacher and principal for her students.

“The reason I can continue this indefinitely is because of my amazing staff and the support of my family. My husband has been by my side for every dance since we were teenagers.”

— Beth Fowler, owner of Beth Fowler Dance School

Fowler married her high school sweetheart, Bob Fowler, and in 1990 they built their first house together in Genoa City with a dance studio in the back. In 1993, Fowler had been teaching dance classes for ten years and decided to expand her school, purchasing a studio in Sycamore, and a year later opened a third location in Marengo.

In 1996, Fowler purchased a large facility at 303 W. Main St. in Genoa and consolidated the school in one place. At the end of the 21st century, it had about 60 students in each class and this number was constantly growing, so in 2009 it bought a facility in St. Charles at 3720 Illinois Ave.

Fowler still works every day at the dance studio, teaching or supervising, and said she has no thoughts of retiring.

“The reason I can do this forever is because of my amazing staff and the support of my family,” Fowler said. “My husband has been by my side for every dance since we were teenagers.”

While running the school, Fowler continued her own professional career for over 30 years, dancing for several professional companies. She performed the role of the Queen of Arabia in performances of the ballet “The Nutcracker” until 2017, just before her 49th birthday.

“Once a dancer, always a dancer,” Fowler said. “It’s in your blood”

All kinds of dance

Fowler has taught thousands of students throughout her career, and her school currently enrolls 300 to 400 students a year. The school employs 10 instructors who teach at both locations and train many styles of dance, including ballet and pointe, contemporary, jazz, lyrical, tap, hip-hop and acrobatics.

The school has three different programs that dancers can participate in; dance school, Beth Fowler Dance Company and competitive dance program.

The dance school is a beginners training program consisting of dancers aged 3 to 18. Beth Fowler Dance Company, for which dancers must audition, is the school’s pre-professional and professional program, taking more than 30 dancers from eighth grade through college. People belonging to the dance team have the opportunity to dance professionally and teach at a dance school.

“The best thing about teaching for 40 years is all the people and families that become our extended family,” Fowler said. “We have a unique dance family, and I mean literally family because I have watched these kids grow up.”

Fowler said she is very picky about her staff, and 100 percent of her instructors are BFSD graduates, whom she has been training virtually her entire life. She said that once her dancers graduate from high school, many of them earn college dance degrees, some dance professionally and some stay to perform in the company and teach at the school.

“Because we are 100 percent graduate, our staff is very close-knit,” Fowler said. “They perform together, they grow together, they support each other, and because this is the school where they grew up, there is a special level of commitment and loyalty to the students and the program.”

Shows and performances

The two locations work together, and the school hosts three performances a year at the Egyptian Theater in DeKalb, featuring company dancers and students from both locations. Theatrical performances are led by the company’s dancers, who play the main roles, and the children’s roles are performed by students of the dance school.

In preparation for theater performances, young students are paired with company dancers, often called their older sisters. Fowler said having a mentor who dances on stage with young students helps make their first performance a positive experience and prevents stage transport.

“Children bring so much color, fun and energy to shows,” Fowler said. “Even our 3-year-olds have the opportunity to dance during these performances, and I believe that being able to have fun on stage with their teachers and mentors is very beneficial to their development.”

The competition program was started in 2013 by Fowler’s daughter, Brooke Fowler-McDonagh, who directs and choreographs the program. The competition team consists of approximately 50 dancers aged 9 and over, whose selection is based on auditions and instructors’ evaluations.

Fowler said ballet is the foundation of all styles of dance, and her school has always focused on fundamentals and technique rather than competition. She said she was hesitant to start a competition program, but since they started competing, they have been national champions every year since 2013.

Fowler said the school does not force dancers to compete and auditions for the competition program are completely optional. She said students are encouraged to compare themselves only with themselves and monitor their personal progress, rather than compete with each other.

“There’s not a competitive atmosphere in the studio, it’s very supportive,” Fowler said. “I think we do so well in competitions because we are essentially a technique-focused ballet school.”

Dance family

Fowler said what she loves most about her job is seeing so many children grow up, often from the age of three to adulthood.

“They are like my own children and I watch their progress year after year with great gratitude,” Fowler said. “It’s very satisfying.”

Every five years, the Beth Fowler School of Dance hosts an alumni performance open to all current and former students. She said these performances are always emotional, but they are a godsend for her because they help her deal with the high school seniors who graduate and move on to college each year – knowing it won’t be the last time they dance together.

“Even when they graduate from high school, they never graduate because they know they are welcome back and they always come back,” Fowler said.

Fowler credits the commitment of his staff and family support for the school’s growth, success and ability to operate for 40 years.

“They are home-grown, loyal, dedicated, hard-working and care deeply about the studio and its students,” Fowler said. “My employees are the reason I can do what I do. Thanks to them, the school, company and competition program have reached the level they have.”