Shurrell Wiebe is the TJC Academy Pre-Professional Program Director and dance professor. She has taught full-time at TJC for nine years. In her first year at TJC, she was the artistic director for the “Lion King.”  She shares her journey of teaching and dance.  

Q: Did you go to school for dance? 

A: I did. Yes, I trained in dance all the way through. And I went back to school, so I danced in the dance world for a couple of years and then went back to school for dance. I didn’t even get my master’s until oh, gosh, 2014. So, I went back again. 

Q: Were you teaching while you were in high school?  

A: Yes.  

Q: Have you always wanted to teach? Or have you always wanted to teach dance specifically? 

A: I didn’t know that I wanted to teach dance. At first, I wanted to dance. I knew that. When I was young, I fell in love with it. My entire life pretty much revolved around it. I knew that I wanted to dance on stage. I really didn’t think about teaching. My parents divorced, and then my mom was a schoolteacher. When I was, I guess I was 16. And it was a stretch for her to afford for me to take class at that time, and the teachers that I was taking from had offered me the opportunity to teach classes for them while I was in training, and it was going to pay for my dance classes. So that was my first experience teaching, and choreographing and I found a new love and passion for dance in a different way. Just being able to see the students and what they are accomplishing or what they accomplished. And so that was my spark. That was the first time I even thought about teaching. 

Q: What does your dance background look like? 

A: I started dancing at two. My mom put me in dance classes with one of her good friends, and I fell in love with it. I moved to Tyler, and I started at Marcia Grub studio dance here. After a couple of years there, she knew that I was very serious. And she said she didn’t have the program that I needed to have a profession in dance.   

Q: How old were you then? 

A: I was 11, I think.  

Q: So young? 

A: Yes, I was young. Oh my gosh, I can’t remember exactly. I’d have to go back and look at the exact age. But she said I could go to Dallas, or that there was a new teacher in town that had just opened a studio and she was only accepting students that really were dedicated to dance, which meant I couldn’t do anything else. No drill team, no POM squad, no cheering, no social events. It was dedicated to dance and that’s what I chose. So, I met Pam Irwin and Thereza Bryce Coates at The Dance Factory here in Tyler. They were new to the area and young and fiery and disciplined and they disciplined us into dancers. I think every single one of us in my group of dancers that they were training at the time have all gone into the professional world. So, it really was a blessing, that I was able to do that and that my teacher saw something in me and sent me to them was special. And I commend her for that because many teachers don’t send their students to other places. So, I appreciate that. 

Q: What’s your favorite style of dance to do yourself? What was it when you were younger or your favorite now? 

A: Definitely modern and jazz. I took ballet almost every day of my life growing up when I was young, just to be better at modern, and I didn’t care for ballet at the time. Now I have a love hate relationship. And I mean, I absolutely love it, but it was always just hard on my body, and hard on my feet. I didn’t have the perfect turnout, or the perfect body for ballet. So modern dance was a way for me to still have that outlet of professional dance. I fell in love with it. 

Q: What’s your favorite style of dance to teach? Is it the same? Or is it different? 

A: Yes, it’s still modern, it’s still jazz. I love teaching choreography classes, honestly. There’s just not anything that I don’t love to teach. I love every aspect of dance. And the older, I’ll say more mature, I get the more I find that I love world dance and cultural dance, different aspects of dance, social dance. So, there’s just so many avenues that I didn’t really know about when I was younger. It was all ballet, modern, jazz, tap, you know, that’s what it was. Classical styles, or techniques. And now there’s just a whole world out there that I get to play with and teach and experience and travel to go see. 

Q: What’s your favorite part of your job? 

A: The kids. So just that moment when the light bulb goes off, and they get it, or they’re on stage, and all that hard work pays off. When you see students that you’ve worked with since they were babies dance in the professional world, and you’re just so proud. You know, those are my kids, my babies. So, the day-to-day grind can be taxing, tiring and tough, but the result is special. 

Q: What’s the most challenging part? 

A: Probably the most challenging part for me is the technology now. You know, not just teaching in the academy; I teach at the college, also. And, you know, in the dance world, we didn’t need that. All we needed was our technique and our classes and our studio. Now, it’s a lot of online and technology. There’s a lot of paperwork, I’m not one that loves the paperwork, I just want to be in the studio with the kids. And that part of it, the aspect of paperwork and technology and that kind of thing is tough, it’s just not my expertise.  

Q: What inspired you to pursue a career in dance? 

A: I don’t know. I just did not think that there was anything else I wanted to do. You know, I guess I’m one of those few people that didn’t flounder much. I mean, I pretty much knew it was a part of my life. I tried to ease out into other aspects, especially when your body starts to hurt. And you know you’re not going to be able to do it forever. Because dancers’ careers are very short. I tried other things that I thought I might like, and I was almost depressed, not having dance. So, I had to kind of reinvent, you know, and so, instead of dancing, I started steering toward the teaching aspect. And I think that dance chooses us. I don’t know if we choose dance, I think it becomes us once we experience it. We either love it and we’re, you know, passionately connected to it, or we’re not.  

Q: What’s your goal for the upcoming year regarding your work here? 

A: I have a lot of goals. I mean, we’re constantly growing. We have since the first year that I was here. We have grown immensely. We have new buildings, new theaters, our studios are overflowing with students. My goal is to make TJC the best program it can be to train students to be as professional and proficient as possible. I want to succeed in their dance world and their dance journey, whatever that life may be. And I want to create awareness for the arts. I don’t think there’s enough of the true art of dance. I don’t think there’s enough awareness. I don’t think kids are exposed to it and really know what it’s about, the artistic side of it. So got lots of goals still need to be met. 

Q: Did I leave anything out? Is there anything you want me to know? Any upcoming shows? 

A: Yes, absolutely. I’m doing the artistic direction for our spring production of “Peter Pan.” And it’s so fun. Let me tell you, we’re bringing in a special company that’s flying our dancers. So, we’ll have aerial choreography, as well as flying over the stage and the front of the audience. We have some amazing guest artists coming in that are former alumni. It’s the weekend of the 19, 20 and 21 of April. So, April 19 we have a 7 p.m. show, April 20 we have a 2 and a 7 p.m. show, and then Sunday, April 21, we have a matinee show at 5 p.m. I know, it’s kind of an odd time on Sunday, but it’s not too late for school night. We do have school shows, normally our school shows sell out, which is amazing. And most of our productions, you know, all Nutcrackers sell out and we’re almost there in our spring show capacity, as well. So, state of the art sets, we’ve got amazing set builders and choreographers and set designers and set artists and it’s, you know, something to see, so I hope people will come out and see it.