Tumbling Tumbleweeds K.C. Tumbling & Dance Studio Thrives in New Home

Back row (left to right): Angela Pagano, Jessica McEntee, Marty Barritt, Sabrina Pagano. Front row (left to right): Chrissy Barritt, Diana Turvey, Kaylee Mekay.

By Jim Evans

Change has been good for K.C. Tumbling. The studio's new location at 1905 Main St. in Ramona - the site of the old Payless Shoe - in September 2005, has afforded the additional space to expand its program to include "all disciplines of dance in addition to gymnastics," according to owner Kelly Conaway and expand its name to K.C. Tumbling & Dance Studio. The studio now offers classes in jazz, ballet, tap, lyrical, hip-hop and creative movement to complement its nationally recognized tumbling program.

More than 130 students from 2 to 18 years of age are currently enrolled at the studio which employs seven teachers, three office staff and several assistant instructors - several of whom are previous students under Conaway. Typical of her qualified staff is instructor Sabrina Pagano, a student at Chapman University majoring in liberal studies with a minor in dance, who has been teaching for four years.

"My goal for all students, is (to develop) a sense of pride, self-confidence, and a sheer joy of dancing and tumbling," Conway said. Since we teach both competitive and non-competitive students, what I want my students to achieve is two-fold: for my competitive students, we like to install discipline, hard work, teamwork, good sportsmanship, respect for other teams, self-improvement and creativity; I want my non-competitive students to have fun, learn and improve, and gain pride, self confidence and creativity."

A native of New Orleans and a graduate of the University of New Orleans, Conaway has been teaching gymnastics for 23 years. She started dancing at the age of 2 and tumbling at age 6. She began competitive gymnastics at age 11 and competed through high school in addition to cheerleading in junior and senior high school.

"Gymnastics became my passion," she said. "I began assisting and demonstrating to the younger-aged classes by age 15 and...came to love the excitement of the children accomplishing new steps and tricks."

By the time she was 17, Conaway was given full responsibility for teaching classes and taught for two studios in Louisiana where she first began choreographing routines for dance competitions. She moved from New Orleans to Seattle where she started the gym program for Backstage Dance from scratch before moving to the San Diego area in 1996. She started K.C. Tumbling in Ramona in 2003.

The studio has earned national recognition for both its tumbling and dance programs, capturing first- place honors for overall soloist in the Dance USA National competition in Las Vegas last July and received several judges' awards during the 2005 season. The current competition season has already started with a recent seventh place overall finish in the local Starbound competition in December.

Conaway has had other duets and teams that have won top honors in local and national competitions, so students have the opportunity to learn from someone who has "been there...done that," and wants to help others be "the best that they can be."

K.C. Tumbling & Dance Studio is currently accepting new students. The studio is open Mondays and Wednesdays from 3 to 7 p.m.; Thursdays from 4 to 7:30 p.m.; Fridays from 4 to 8 p.m.; and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. For more information, call (760) 788-0089.

Photo By Jim Evans