About Florida Dance Workshop
A fun, family-friendly, nurturing environment, where the experience is positive and the quality shows!
Susan (Labousier) Kickbush & Michelle (Labousier) Mandile are the mother/daughter team who founded the Florida Dance Workshop in 1991. FDW quickly became the forerunner in dance education and has repeatedly been named Charlotte County’s Best Performing Unit and voted Best Dance Studio by the Charlotte Sun.
Florida Dance Workshop is a place where the efforts, abilities, and varied talents of all students are respected by their teacher, and all fellow dancers. It is our goal to make classes and rehearsals fun, but we are serious about helping each child become his or her own personal best. We teach that hard work produces results and we help our dancers to achieve the genuine self-esteem that comes with mastery of technique. These important lessons also apply to life’s future challenges. We believe in seeking, not perfection, but excellence from all students, with the understanding that it be appropriate to their age level, ability, and interest. Florida Dance Workshop will never aspire to be the biggest school, but we will always strive to be the best!
Studio Philosophy
Florida Dance Workshop provides a fun, nurturing environment where the experience is positive and the quality shows. All dancers that come through the doors of FDW are part of our family. For the last 27 years students have enjoyed bonding over the love of dance, and we are blessed to have many alumni who return to our studio as parents and teachers to continue the tradition. Below is a video of current and past FDW students, followed by our studio philosophy. Enjoy!
Teaching Philosophy
Florida Dance Workshop is a place where the efforts, abilities, and varied talents of all students are respected by their teacher, and all fellow dancers. It is our goal to make classes and rehearsals fun, but we are serious about helping each child become his or her own personal best. We teach that hard work produces results and we help our dancers to achieve the genuine self-esteem that comes with mastery of technique. These important lessons also apply to life’s future challenges. We believe in seeking, not perfection, but excellence from all students, with the understanding that it be appropriate to their age level, ability, and interest.
Dance Competition Philosophy
Nurturing development of the arts can also build character in dancers. Although competition may bring out the best in products and services, it CAN bring out the worst in people. This is why we limit our involvement to 3 competitive events per season. Too much involvement in competition can make children view others as “someone to be better than”.
Even though our competitive involvement is limited, our Student Accomplishments page shows that Florida Dance Workshop students do consistently leave with top overall, gold, platinum, titles, judges choice, and scholarship awards. However, our dancers are encouraged to compete to achieve their own “personal best”.
We do not condone programs that utilize “negative motivators” or deliberately instill a sense of superiority in any students. Individuals excel in different areas and possess different gifts. We do not wish to build self-esteem in one child, at the expense of another. It is our goal to motivate dancers to achieve their personal best, by assuring them of their self-worth with or without the award.
Dancers should be taught to come together, in cooperation, toward the task of mutual accomplishment. Our dancers are not urged to defeat others, but to support, assist, and encourage all fellow dancers, to improve and achieve alongside each other. We stress balance and compassion, while teaching all dancers to foster friendship and mutual success. Here, mastery of technique is a shared mission, for the good of all, to rejoice in everyone’s achievements. We hope you agree.
