Taking Center Stage
The passion and mission behind Ultimate Dance Center
PHOTOS BY NOELLE GARDINER
At Ultimate Dance Center, located at 2980 Lakeland Highlands Rd., vibes of the big city come alive in a dynamic fashion.
Pushing limits, exploring art, bringing people together.
Whether Freddie De Jesus is smiling at one of his instructors teaching introductory ballet, he is locked in working through intricate choreography with a Florida Southern College student in his role as an adjunct professor, or he is living his best life on a weekday evening in an adult jazz dance class—he wants more.
He wants more studios and larger studios, he wants to further his own education so he can improve as a leader, and he wants to offer (nearly) every kind of dance under the sun so you can become anything from a world class performer to someone who simply enjoys fun aerobic activities under his watch.
It’s the reason the company he founded in 2016 isn’t called “Just Another Dance Studio”—it’s aptly called Ultimate Dance Center.
When De Jesus arrived in Lakeland more than 20 years ago, the Puerto Rican from Brooklyn, NY brought a distinctive New York state of mind to a city that was just starting to grow into what it is today.
He fondly remembers getting off an Amtrak train downtown as he embarked on the adventure of starring in The Nutcracker with Florida Dance Theatre.
“I was like, ‘Wow, what a beautiful place.’ I just walked around downtown with my big old suitcase and backpack and kept falling more in love with it,” the now 53-year old De Jesus says. “And then I walk into Palace Pizza, and I’m like, ‘Is there a slice of New York right here in Lakeland?’ And then I went to Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grille because my ride was running several hours behind…and I met the manager, who is still there today, and she gave me a cup of water and talked my ear off…and we just connected.”
Connecting with rhythm and art in a deeply personal way has been the driving force for De Jesus’s career.
As a young adult he earned a scholarship at the renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. He has been a faculty and guest instructor, as well as a performer, at theaters and studios across the globe; he has rubbed elbows through dance with celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Madonna and Missy Elliott. And for years he worked as the associate artistic director for Florida Dance Theatre.
It was at that point that his big city vision for something more for the local dance community intersected with a young mom trying to find a dance company for her daughter.
Dr. Jennifer Nixon, MD, FACOG at Women’s Care Florida, grew up enjoying ballet and jazz, and she loved dancing at social gatherings throughout college. When her then 3-year-old daughter, Julianna, enrolled in dance locally the road was rocky. The first studio Julianna danced at was “wonderful” but shut down soon after, and the next place she enrolled was not what Dr. Nixon hoped for.
The owner of the first dance studio Julianna attended connected Nixon with De Jesus, and the two hit it off. De Jesus filled the role of creative visionary for Ultimate Dance Center, while Nixon had the mind for logistics and the entrepreneurial acumen necessary for it to actually open.
“We always want to remain solvent as a business, obviously, but we want to make it a place for everyone, regardless of economic background, to experience the joy of dance,” says Nixon, a key investor in the concept since its origin.
That has been easier in some seasons than others. Ultimate Dance Center was hovering around 250 students when the pandemic hit the world—and the dance industry—hard.
Enrollment dipped below 50 at one point, a spot where De Jesus says he realized the business was “up against some really crazy odds.” But thanks to the persevering spirit of leadership, generous donors, and PPP loans, the dream was kept alive.
Dance has long been a passion and a space for personal growth for De Jesus.
Today, Ultimate Dance Center is home to almost 200 dancers, yet it’s still about 100 away from the goal Nixon and De Jesus have set.
Enduring challenges isn’t a new thing for De Jesus who isn’t afraid to share that as a child he survived the impact of an alcoholic, drug-addicted father. His mother did her best, yet a challenging childhood was still his reality.
“Because I came from this sort of insecure, tumultuous home life, I can say that I started healing from the moment I walked into a space that had dance in it,” he says. “I think happiness is really underrated in the world….and most kids want to be seen, they want to be acknowledged, and [dance] can be very healing for a young person that is not feeling seen or heard.”
He and Nixon serve as a complementary pair, in part because Nixon embodies leadership qualities and business sense she attributes to her father who owned a pharmacy and her mother who ran her own outpatient surgical center.
“Honestly, I am humbled by Jennifer’s commitment to Ultimate Dance Center and me,” De Jesus says. “One thing I love about her is that she is not just the person who ‘signs our paychecks’, she comes in and gets dirty and helps fundraise and finds ways to allow us to do what we want to do to provide great experiences for our students and their families.”
The center offers more than 20 different dance classes, including the highly skilled competitive teams, but one of the classes staff are most proud of is their special needs dance class.
“I have a niece and nephew with special needs—one has autistic spectrum disorder, the other one has Down Syndrome—so it is near and dear to my heart that we have a place where anybody can come enjoy dance,” Nixon says.
Nixon’s daughter, now 15, is closing out the competitive dancing era of her life—at least for now—after almost a decade at Ultimate Dance Center. Julianna has experienced the kind of community and camaraderie that the center strives to be known for.
“One benefit of dance, especially for those who stay in it a long time, is the discipline and understanding what it takes to learn something, make progress and take on challenges,” De Jesus says. “I’m also the guy who wants to work the kids hard, but wants them to tell me how they’re feeling.”
Look for the ripple effects of Ultimate Dance Center to continue in Lakeland. De Jesus’s staff continues to add new classes and intensive workshops, he stays busy choreographing shows for local theater and the center loves bringing holiday joy to Lakelanders through a free show every December in Munn Park.
Nixon says she is hopeful that the center will continue to increase its impact and that dance will be seen by more people for what it is—a beautiful melding of sport and dance.
“You can see what they’re doing and it’s obviously athletic, but there is also the art portion of it. There are studies that show dancing is great not only for the body, but for the mind.”
“Most kids want to be seen, they want to be acknowledged, and [dance] can be very healing...”