RICHMOND, Va. -- The music never stops inside a nondescript brick building off Broad Street in Richmond. But the children at Anoshi Studios on Westwood Avenue learn more than just ways to cut a rug. Studio owners and friends Yoshi Toler and Bre Horne said they believed fancy footwork can change students from head to toe and inside and out.
"I think it is something positive and constructive for the kids to do," Horne said. "We have a lot of kids who come in and say, ‘I don’t know how to dance.’ And that is their flat out answer. 'I can’t dance.'"
"It has been a dream for so long," Toler added. "That is what I wanted to bring to this studio. This gives them that outlet to learn a sort of art. Expressing themselves."
Bre Horne and Yoshi Toler
At Anoshi Studios, life skills matter much more than dance skills. Students develop discipline and hone their communication in a worry-free environment.
"They never get mad at you when you mess up," nine-year-old Makayla Robinson said. "There is no judgment."
The loving environment helps bashful students like 11-year-old De Shayla Robinson. “
All that shyness that builds up in my body it just goes away,” Robinson said. “I can’t wait to get here. I’m so excited in the car.”
Classes are offered three nights a week for kids big and small.
"They’re absolutely dedicated to these children," Latoya Perkins said. "Definitely. It is definitely more like a family. I believe it builds their confidence and self-esteem tremendously."
While some dance studios charge an arm and a leg for lessons, the costs here are intentionally kept low, at $25 a month. The low cost makes the world of dance within reach no matter a family’s income level.
"The fact that it is working. The fact that so many kids are touched by coming here," a proud Toler said.
Money made does not line Bre’s and Yoshi’s pocketbooks. In fact, they don’t get paid. Their earnings pay rent, keep the lights burning and the music thumping.
"Just seeing each child’s progression and each child learning and getting something out of our classes that is payment enough for me," Horne said.
Two left feet? No rhythm? No problem at this dance studio. What fuels these instructors? Watching their students blossom on the dance floor - of life
"They’ll keep coming and coming and coming in each session. And in each session they grow more and more and more and that is what we like to see."
The founders of Anoshi Studios are hoping to turn their two-year-old venture into a non-profit in the coming months.
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