Cathy’s Dance Studio Celebrates 50 Years

Surrounded by teachers, parents and students, City Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. cuts the ribbon to reopen Cathy’s Dance Studio, which has undergone renovations since a fire last October.

Musical Director/Owner Michelle Koutsoubelis, teachers, parents and students at Cathy’s Dance Studio, 33-19 Crescent St., Long Island City, had a lot to celebrate last Friday, February 10. After a ribbon cutting ceremony with City Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. doing the honors, for the first time since a fire gutted the studio this past October, the studio dancers gave a performance. On the same occasion, Cathy’s Dance Studio celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Generations of dancers, many of whom continue to pursue a career in the art. first stepped onto a dance floor at Cathy’s Dance Studio. The present troop of Rockette-like studio dancers, although overjoyed by the completion of the studio renovations, could not match the feelings of Koutsoubelis, known to her students as Miss Michelle. Koutsoubelis expressed her gratitude to the many members of the community and the families of the dancers who helped rebuild the studio, where their dance legacy will continue for many generations to come.

Vallone Jr. is shown with the Cathy’s Dance Studio dancers after their first performance in the studio on Friday, February 10. The studio underwent extensive renovations following a fire last October. Photos Diana Sanders

After the late-night fire last October, the studio moved temporarily to the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens while the studio was being rebuilt. Luckily, the studio archive filled with 50 years of photos, music and programs was retrieved from the fire, preserving its history even as the studio resumes providing dance education in Queens.

Koutsoubelis is a student of the Lee Strasberg School of Theater and Film Technique and has a wellearned reputation for providing a proper, clean, disciplined dance education for her students. The studio grants scholarships for lessons, as well as a special scholarship for children of firefighters and those who have lost a parent, named for Christopher Santora, a 23-year-old New York City firefighter who died at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

The studio, established in 1956, not only rose above tragedies but celebrated a milestone at the same time, proving not only that “the show must go on”, but that, given drive and determination, it will.

-Diana Sanders