Gallery Goals

Foundational to any dancer’s technique are strength and flexibility. It’s one of the primary emphases of Dance Gallery of South Dakota’s Cecchetti method of dance instruction, and it also happens to mirror the organization’s own path as it moves to its next phase.

Perhaps no one knows this better than studio owner and director Jackie Pederson-Kriens.

Jackie Pederson-Kriens

“We started with 40 students in one studio and since then it grew to 500,” she said of the organization, which began in downtown Sioux Falls in 1999. And though the COVID-19 pandemic reduced numbers by about a third, those numbers are rebounding, according to the owner.

“It’s just been kind of a winning combination of things that have happened over the years that made Dance Gallery really successful,” she said. “From great teaching staff to a really fun, interesting sort of location with a New York feel and the ability to take people from training into production.”

This mentality has been at the heart of Dance Gallery’s work for the long haul—an emphasis on training and craft before competition. “The trend in dance studios is to go all competition 100 percent,” Pederson-Kriens said. “We have a little on the competition end of things, but it’s not the thing we’re living and dying by.”

With a goal-oriented pursuit of training toward a production, staff at Dance Gallery are able to hone in on solid technique in areas such as ballet, jazz and modern dance, while preparing for works such as The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Coppélia and La Fille mal gardée.

“We’ve done a lot of different ones that maybe Sioux Falls or South Dakota haven’t been able to attend,” she said. “But we’ve kind of gotten a following over the years, and people trust what we’re putting on stage.

“People who are really, truly interested in the art of dance and ballet, specifically.”

This love of the artform is certainly not new to Pederson-Kriens, who got her start as a child in a Grand Island, Neb., dance school, eventually finding herself at the South Dakota School of Ballet here in Sioux Falls, under the tutelage of instructors like Carolyn Westfall and Lynne Campion. But the school closed at a pivotal point in Pederson-Kriens’ training.

“It closed when I was a junior in high school, and so, for two years of what would be my intense dance training years, there was not a ballet school I could attend.”

In the years following, she attended college to become an elementary and special education teacher, first in Bridgewater, S.D., and eventually finding herself back in the Sioux Falls School District—occasionally dabbling in some dance instruction on the side.

“I went to part-time teaching and decided to open up my own dance studio on Main Avenue,” Pederson-Kriens said. “I ended up just building form there and locking into a method of dance called Cecchetti.”

Through credentialing by the Cecchetti Council of America, the Dance Gallery owner has been able to differentiate the type of instruction her staff provides students from many others in the region. The practice at Dance Gallery includes emphasizing perseverance, using corrections and criticism as fuel for improving and an environment of kindness and generosity toward fellow dancers.

“It’s certainly a large part of why the program has grown, along with a group of teachers who are amazingly dedicated,” she said. “We all want the same things for the kids—that’s hard to find in a staff of dance teachers.”

The tenets of the program lend themselves to students who eventually may become career dancers or dance instructors, but Pederson-Kriens is quick to emphasize the importance these skills can have in a variety of future careers.

“A small number of kids actually make it in the industry—it’s so small and incredibly competitive,” she said. “But the kids that graduate from our school, probably three-fourths end up in the medical field or go into teaching, because they’ve been so impacted on how a teacher can affect their lives.

“It definitely helps everyone in different ways—just from caring about other people to caring for your body, being healthy, staying active.”

So what’s next for the studio as it moves into its third decade? A much-delayed expansion. The organization had a plan to build a new and larger space before the onset of the pandemic, when the pause button was hit.

But with land scoped out and plans in place, it’s an inevitability that Dance Gallery will find a new home in the coming years, including a seven-studio facility with main-level access and free parking, a major pro for students and families in Pederson-Kriens’ eyes. In addition, the team has plans on developing a youth ballet company comprised of existing students seeking professional experience.

“Our teachers are really challenging kids to go way beyond what they ever thought they would be. I kind of like how everything sort of fits together and there’s a place for everybody in a really happy environment, with teachers there to support them 100 percent of the way.”