Much has changed in the world of competitive dance since the early 1970s, and the mother-daughter tandem of Claire and Tracy McLaughlin have pretty much seen it all.
As the pair prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Claire’s School of Dance, an undertaking they have shared through five decades of dance passion, they do so knowing that for as much as things have changed, the core values that were paramount in starting the studio initially have and will live on forever.
“She (Claire) always taught with the same mindset, from having a love of her students and wanting them to have a love of dance,” said Tracy, a former student who took the reins of the school initially at the tender age of 19, her mother having suffered a heart attack – and accepting the baton in the family endeavour on a more full-time basis about 10 years later.
By then, thankfully, the die was cast for success, enjoyment and countless memories, the business having grown from the tepid first steps of the founding mother, a one-time dancer with Ida Sauvé who decided to fly on her own at the urging of her husband, then boyfriend/fiancé.
“When I danced, there wasn’t nearly as much competition,” Claire reminisced, now 70 years young and still living next door to her parents’ house in which she first offered lessons in a basement room. “It came in right near the end of my dancing.”
Stepping aside at the age of 18, McLaughlin would return just a few years later, her interest in teaching too strong a lure to ignore.
“I was talking to my boyfriend and he suggested opening my own studio. That’s how it started, with 22 students,” she said.
The year was 1973, the month, September. For two years, her new venture gained a foothold as a home business – until the province started to clamp down on the granting of Home Occupational licenses. Moving for a bit to a venue off Jerome Street, McLaughlin settled by the mid-1970s in the Montrose Mall.
And while she and Tracy have shuffled themselves from pretty much one end of the mall to the other, the idea of Claire’s staying put while the Lasalle Drive-In came and went a short distance away and new businesses have sprung up left, right and centre remains constant.
For as much as young students and their parents will fixate on all that is a dance competition, that was never the driving force behind the woman who kick-started her dream.
“In competition, I never cared if you didn’t place; I just wanted them to love dancing,” said Claire.
“You liked to build them up and then someone else can take them,” added her daughter, who apparently is living proof that the apple doesn’t fall from the tree – though the two might debate exactly to what extent that statement holds true, typically with much laughter.
“I will still teach some competitive groups but to me, my joy is with the recreational kids that don’t know how to dance,” Tracy said. “That gives me pleasure, to see them come from not being able to stand on their toes to double a double pirouette.”
Understandably, every single dance instructor on the planet will have their areas of expertise, their trademark strengths that are often a mere evolution of the styles they enjoyed most as dancers themselves.
“You always have your favourite,” Claire said. “I just love acro; it’s so natural – and I was very flexible when I was young. Hip hop – that wasn’t me at all. I can’t teach that. I just couldn’t work it. It is so much the opposite of ballet and the basic skills that we learned.
“I just couldn’t get into it.”
Like most disciplines, dance has seen certain core tenants deviate very little over the years, including the importance of a strong core of ballet skills, regardless of where the young athletes wish to stray later in their dance careers.
Ballet “is the basis of everything,” said Claire. “I can’t explain it, but without ballet, you won’t have the grace, the strength, and the technique.”
Mother and daughter walk in lockstep on this topic.
“In order to land properly, you have to be able to land gracefully on your leg, knowing when to bend your knee and how your knee has to stay over your toes,” Tracy said. “With ballet, at the bar, you learn all of your positions.”
The transfer of knowledge from mother to daughter was clear.
“That’s what made it easy for me to let go,” said Claire, her voice softening, her eyes becoming damp. “I am so proud of her.”
“The studio is a family,” Tracy said. “I loved the friendships that were being built, saw how loved my mom was. I remember thinking: I have to do this (when the time came for the natural transition).”
With more than 70 years of dance teaching between them, Claire and Tracy McLaughlin and all those involved with Claire’s School of Dance will have plenty of reason to celebrate this winter.
Randy Pascal is a sportswriter in Greater Sudbury. Pursuit is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
