Daily Inspiration: Meet Nina Wheeler

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nina Wheeler

Hi Nina, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have taken dance all of my life, since age 3. I was asked in 1972, at 16 years old, to teach dance for my local studio in another nearby city, Roxboro, N.C…. I took the invitation and went every Thursday night to teach ages 3-18 years old. I was actually teaching children older than myself. The one-day-per-week studio was thriving and reached 60 students. I made $1.00 per child per week. $60.00 in one night, in 1972, I was considered rich with this part-time job. I continued with the job, and the next year, the studio had grown to 100 students. The other teacher (my dance teacher’s daughter-in-law) would drive us there and then leave. She was leaving me to do all the work; juggling all the students and their age difference was a nightmare. However, It taught me many things. It taught me management, teaching with different tactics, responsibility, and that I must rely on myself if the job were to be done. The very next year, I told my teacher, the daughter-in-law, and all the students that I was taking over the studio, and it would become Nina’s School of Dance and Gymnastics, Inc. I still cannot believe I did this at age 18. At the time, I was attending North Carolina State University full-time and would have to drive Monday through Thursday to Roxboro, N.C., from Raleigh, N.C., because the studio now had an enrollment of 400 students. I was able to rent from the National Guard Armory; they had a huge facility with two dance rooms and a huge gymnastics floor that you could drive 4 Army trucks in. I bought tumble mats, a balance beam, uneven bars, and parallel bars; I sought out more dance training in New York City, as Dance Educators of America offered a 4-week intensive training session to become a dance teacher. Many Broadway stars and famous teachers, such as Peter Gennaro, Gower Champion, Charles Kelley, Ann Reinking, Gus Giordano, Frank Hatchett, Paul Draper, Fred Benjamin, Cherie Bower, Skip Randall, and Joseph Levinoff., taught our classes. These classes taught me skills and material and taught me how to teach all levels of dance and all styles. We worked from 8:30-5:00 daily for four weeks, with only Sundays off. It was intense and extensive. The education was priceless. I also attended USGF (United States Gymnastics Federation) certification classes.. This gave me knowledge of all apparatuses and specific tumbling. Unlike Acrobatics, gymnastics had criteria, techniques, and skills that had to be followed. There were compulsory routines and optional routines. It was all very strict, and it became too much to tackle. When I was made to leave the Armory because of another dance teacher in the town, there was no space big enough to house my equipment, so I focused entirely on tumbling.. As if this was not enough, I also opened a dance studio in Butner, N.C. In my early years, my dance teacher had carried us to perform for the children and adults with disabilities at Butner Murdoch Center. The challenging audience was such an eye-opening experience. Little did I know these performances would influence me later on by my choice of always giving back to my community and the less fortunate. I stayed teaching in Butner for four years. Eventually, I purchased a 10,000 sq ft building on Main Street in Roxboro, N.C. I hired more teachers and had two rooms dancing at all times. After marriage, I lived in Raleigh and still had to travel from Raleigh to Roxboro.. I got pregnant and knew things had to change. My parents lived in Durham, and I needed the help. So, I opened my 3rd dance studio in Durham, N.C. It was located in a mall, and I outgrew it in one year. i moved to another mall with a bigger space. All the while, two more dance studios opened in Roxboro. This was changing my enrollment in Roxboro. I scaled back to two days per week and closed Butner studio. Durham was now 3 days per week and growing! I needed a permanent space; Durham was now the biggest studio. We bought a home with a building (possibly a studio) in the back of the house. This way, I was always at home. But first, we needed to repair it. and prepare it. A suspended dance floor needed to be added, the goat room (a small room where goats had been kept) needed to be converted into an office, and the smaller back room into a waiting area. It all worked out perfectly. 3000 sq ft and plenty of dance space! Nina’s has lived in this space for 43 years.
So many things have happened over the years. In my second year in business, I carried a student and my best friend to NYC to compete in a dance competition. He won the title, I was shocked, as was he. He had improvised the entire dance.! After opening in Durham, dance competitions were being held regionally. Showstoppers, Dance Troupe, Dance Caravan,, and Dance Educators of America. We went, we won! Many awards, many top scores, many national champions. We were asked to perform on a kid’s show on local Saturday morning television. These dance competitions brought many other moments to our dance family. Many children were selected to be in 3 dance costume catalogs. This was an amazing opportunity and education. Dance Caravan was always Thanksgiving weekend, so the sacrifice was made. One particular time, Dance Caravan auditioned dancers for a spot to be a Miss North Carolina Scholarship Pageant Dancer. We had 5 of our students chosen. When I went to the Pageant, which was on television, I could not believe how wonderful. It was,In Raleigh,, N.C., the dancers would stay a week, performing 5 nights in Memorial Auditorium. It was like a dream. Little did I know just one year later, I would be asked to do the choreography for the pageant, and just a mere 3 years later, I was asked to be the pageant’s producer. This lasted for 17 years. Many responsibilities! The dancers, vocalists, contestants, music directors, stage managers, script, costumes, seamstresses, emcees, lighting designers, and set designers were all of my responsibilities. Many successful years of meeting so many unique and intelligent people across North Carolina!
We performed for many community events. Then, we made our own community event. Multiple Choices for the Children is a jazz dance benefit show, and all proceeds go to Duke Children’s Hospital. We had two students who allowed us to witness what we could do to help sick children. We are fortunate to live so close to the greatest research hospital in the world, Duke Hospital. Multiple Choices is 35 years old, and we have raised more than 1 million dollars, all given to research and parents of sick children. It is “Children helping Children.” It is about loving, caring, and giving to others. It is all about teaching my dancers to give back and to recognize those less fortunate. In the 90s, my summers were spent at ADF, American Dance Festival, here in Durham. This is where I met the most influential teacher of my lifetime, Jose Maier. Jose was the jazz master for Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. After attending his class, I was asked to join the dance faculty at Elon University! Teaching jazz dance has been my life’s passion, and I was known in our area. for this. Duke University also offered me a job teaching jazz dance when I was not at Elon. I accepted and to this day, I am still employed teaching jazz dance at both universities.
I have been blessed with a huge support group! My biggest supporters are my husband, mother, father, grandmother, aunts, uncles, and numerous parents. I have been blessed to meet, teach, and mentor thousands of students. There have been so many success stories. Today, all the dance teachers in Roxboro were Nina’s students. When I left Butner a few years earlier, a student from Nina’s Butner Studio opened her own studio there. Many former students are studio owners across North Carolina, Durham, Swansboro, Hillsboro, Greensboro, Roxboro, Butner, Garner, Apex, Raleigh, Wilson, Jacksonville, and the nation, California, Texas, Virginia, and New York. Many former students are also affiliated with dance; They are public school dance teachers, participants on college dance teams, Broadway performers, NFL dancers, NBA dancers, Cirque de Soleil dancers, Las Vegas performers, BFA majors, cruise ship dancers, theme park dancers, Disney performers and more. I am 69 years old and will dance as long as I can. I am productive, happy, challenging, resourceful, and driven, and I will always aspire to be better tomorrow than I am today. I will continue to learn! Learning new things expands your knowledge, tackles challenges, and discovers passion. ” The moment you stop learning is the moment you start dying.” Albert Einstein

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There is always a struggle when you are responsible for everything about your business. Whether it was teaching while sick, traveling an hour there and back, collecting money, disgruntled/complaining parents, or meeting expectations when dealing with the extracurricular events that do not pay, but take your time. One huge struggle for a family is that I had to teach until 9:30 or 10:00, Which is a late time to get home. That is the worst, not spending enough time with your family. A struggle is the hours in general; I never got to attend their school activities, cheering, or soccer,

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a dance instructor and owner of Nina’s School of Dance in Durham, N.C. I specialize in dance education from ages 3-18. I am proficient in tap, ballet, jazz, modern, lyrical, and gymnastics. I am mostly known for exceptional technique.and quality dancers. I am proud to be a good dance teacher who cares about what my students have learned.. I am also very proud of my own children, who both have their own successful businesses with BFA and MFAs in dance, with choreography and jazz concentration. I think I am different from other teachers because of my effort I offer So many opportunities for my students: Christmas shows, Jazz shows, Two Recitals with different themes and speaking parts, all new choreography throughout the year. Never doing the same dance all year.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I advise developing a curriculum that you stick to and learn all you can about teaching all levels. I wish I had been better with the business side of things. It is hard doing it all.

Contact Info:

• Other: [email protected]