I began taking dance classes when I was 6 years old and from that time on that is all I ever wanted to do. I studied at various studios in NJ until I was about 12 years old and then continued studying in New York City with now dance legends, Matt Maddox, Luigi, Jack Stanley, Paul Draper, Henry La Tang and many others. As a child I appeared on a few television shows and as a teenager toured the country during the summers with the “Manhattan Rockets”. This was a group of young women sponsored by Radio City Music Hall and based on the Rockettes. This was a wonderful experience and I still have friends I made to this day. I also began teaching for Jack Stanley in New York City and on my own in Secaucus where I lived.

After graduating from high school I danced with several professional groups in the New York/New Jersey area. I married and then settled down as a mom and homemaker. I joined the Junior Woman’s Club in Hasbrouck Heights and made a lot of new friends with daughters. They asked me to start children’s classes and we fixed up the basement of our home and I began teaching in 1973 with 11 students. We had a small recital at the Methodist Church in June 1974 and that was the beginning of what was to become Edie’s Dance Factory. The number of students grew by word of mouth and after several years (and the basement becoming too small) we moved the studio to the Episcopal Church on Terrace Avenue. After being there for a few years I rented a small space on Marlboro Road in Wood-Ridge, gave the studio the name Edie’s Dance Factory, and hired my first teacher. Up until that time I taught all classes myself. I stayed at the Marlboro location for 5 years and then found our present location on Hackensack Street. I have been there 12 years, since 1995, for a total of 17 years in Wood-Ridge.

Edie’s Dance Factory began to grow and we started the Competition Team in 1992. Since then we have grown substantially and our competition team has grown also. We started competing with 3 seven year olds and now have a team of 37 students ranging in age from 6 to 16. We are very proud of the accomplishments and improvements the team has made over the years. Our students come to us mainly from Wood-Ridge. Hasbrouck Heights, and Secaucus, but we do have students from Rutherford, Lyndhurst, Little Ferry, North Bergen and other towns. We now have a staff of 7 wonderful teachers. Our teachers come to us with many years of professional and teaching experience and we try to pass along to the students our love of dance. We opened our second location in Secaucus in 2004. Our competition team has performed on a Carnival Cruise Ship, in the Magic Kingdom in Disney World, the N.J. State Fair, and National competitions in Atlantic City and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We have performed for Moonachie Recreation and Wood-Ridge’s Family Fun Day for the last 4 years, and for the Wood-Ridge Senior Citizens Christmas Party at the Fiesta.

I am very proud of all of my teachers and students and am very thankful for the path my life has taken. I have met wonderful children and their parents through the years and it has been a pleasure watching them grow both personally and in their dancing. My hope is to continue giving my students a love of dance and skills that they can use not only in their dancing but in many other parts of their lives.

This past year I was very fortunate to be chosen to be part of the first “Netsational Senior Dance Team”, performing hip hop at Continental Arena during time outs of the Nets Basketball games. We were all over 60 years old and proved that you are never too old to learn something new and have a great time while doing it. We also appeared on many TV shows including, Good Morning America, the Today Show, and several others. It was a great experience, lots of fun, and an opportunity to meet an entire group of new people interested in dancing.