Fabulous feet: ‘We're just dancing for the love of dance right now'

Editor’s note: At our deadline, COVID-19 restrictions were reinstated and the studio is again temporarily closed.

- SUSAN LAGSDIN

Nobody needs to remind veteran Wenatchee dance instructor Melissa Miller-Port that Pandemic 2020 meant her Fabulous Feet studio was shuttered for seven months, class attendance plummeted, and annual stage shows were all canceled.

Or that she’s sometimes in pain only weeks past a full knee replacement.

She’s aware of all that and says with a smile, “I couldn’t wish for my life to turn out any differently than it has.”

This year, she’s gained a new appreciation of “we’re in this together.”

Parents of her dancers and her teachers have pitched in to make things close to normal at the studio, and daughter Trisha has stepped up to teach full-time. Her husband, Real Homes builder Jon Port, and the owner of her multi-building dance facility, generously carried the beloved business over the summer.

Now multiple small classes in groups of 10, not 30, meet COvId standards though it means juggling spaces and 12 instructors’ schedules. It’s totally worth it, said Melissa.

The sense of family that dancers experience is strong and, “The kids who’ve returned are excited to be here — they appreciate the whole experience of the rigor, the music, the exercise.”