{"id":3743,"date":"2023-09-01T09:23:19","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T13:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=3743"},"modified":"2026-02-01T14:40:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T19:40:30","slug":"inspire-mary-pat-speno-dance-school-director-reflects-on-40-years-of-teaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=3743","title":{"rendered":"Inspire: Mary Pat Speno – Dance school director reflects on 40 years of teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alyssa Dearborn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

After 40 years of owning the Syracuse School of Dance and acting as the artistic director of the Syracuse Contemporary Dance Company, Mary Pat Speno is retiring. Over the years, the school has expanded the different dance styles offered to students, but the school has remained dedicated to offering classes to all who want to learn how to dance. In her career, Mary Pat has helped thousands of students of all ages and levels of talent find artistic expression through dance, many of those students becoming life-long dancers themselves.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was a principal teacher for a woman, Lorain, 40 years ago and she was going to retire,\u201d she said when asked about the school\u2019s beginnings, \u201cSo she approached me, and at the time I had three little babies, and I said \u2018Oh, Lorain, I can\u2019t take on all this.\u2019 And she said, \u2018Well, get a partner!\u2019 So a good friend of mine, Patricia Brandage, who also was a principal teacher at Lorain\u2019s school, I approached her and she said, \u2018Yeah!\u2019 So the two of us bought the school from Lorain. Then Patti retired and I continued on and now it\u2019s my turn.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On the school\u2019s website, it says that the school\u2019s philosophy is \u201c…that one can train a dancer, mind and body and that people thrive in a positive and nurturing environment.\u201d Mary Pat emphasized that this philosophy applies to people of all ages, taking pride in the fact that no other dance school in the Syracuse area offers dance classes for adults.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe cater to all ages and a really big part of our school is our adult division. There\u2019s no other school in the city of Syracuse or surrounding areas that offers classes for adults,\u201d she said. And yes, the emphasis for all those schools is the kids. And by the time they\u2019re seniors in high school, they graduate and they\u2019re gone, never to be seen again.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mary Pat said many of her students return during and after their college years and continue to progress in their dance, or come back later as a family with kids.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo the adult aspect I\u2019m very proud of is that we give these adults a chance, for whatever reason they wanted to dance,\u201d she said. \u201cFor exercise, for relaxing, for stress relief, for performing. We have adults that have started in adult division classes, they end up performing with us in the Syracuse Contemporary Dance Company. So they get performing opportunities. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mary Pat plans to sell the school to a fellow dance school owner and friend, Kathy Falcone of Ballet and Dance Center. The two schools have shared teachers and other resources in the past, but most importantly, the two schools share similar philosophies.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Kathy wanted to expand and I wanted to retire,\u201d she explained. \u201cSo this was the perfect opportunity to be able to have all the students continue on with this, because her philosophy\u2019s the same as ours except they do not have an adult program. So she\u2019s very excited about having an adult program.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

No matter the age group, she said, a good teacher displays concern and empathy for the challenges her students face, and watching the development of her students and how they overcome life\u2019s difficulties has been one of the most rewarding aspects of her career.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the feelings you get through the years, that you are totally aware of how much you\u2019re helping these students. The little ones that some of them are afraid to walk in the door of the studio and they\u2019re afraid at that age to be away from their parents. Then slowly they build confidence and slowly mold their bodies into these awesome little dancers,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be in tuned with all these different levels of live challenges, for all these different ages,\u201d she continued. \u201cBut that in itself, the discipline of that, is what is totally helping them go through in a positive, nurturing way. And it\u2019s helped me for sure as an adult having young kids and owning the studio and being in charge of the teachers that I hire\u2026We\u2019ve done it and we\u2019re going to continue on.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Although her years running a dance studio and directing a dance company have brought her joy, Mary Pat is looking forward to a little downtime.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, owning a dance studio has been 24\/7,\u201d she explained. \u201cAnyone who really owns a business, whether it\u2019s a restaurant or whatever, you take it home with you. You\u2019re always in front of your computer, or on the phone or if you\u2019re not, you\u2019re trying to relax and you\u2019re thinking in the back of your head of such-and-such.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mary Pat said she and her husband plan to do a lot of camping and they also enjoy triathlons, which she will continue on in retirement. While she\u2019ll miss the students and the classes, the less glamorous parts of the job \u2013 mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms \u2013 she\u2019ll gladly leave behind. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to leave everything open and see where things fall,\u201d she said. \u201cBut no big plans, which excites me the most.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alyssa Dearborn After 40 years of owning the Syracuse School of Dance and acting as the artistic director of the Syracuse Contemporary Dance Company, Mary Pat Speno is retiring. Over the years, the school has expanded the different dance styles offered to students, but the school has remained dedicated to offering classes to all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1473,1480,1479,1481],"class_list":["post-3743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-special-feature","tag-august-2023","tag-ballet-and-dance-center","tag-dance","tag-syracuse-school-of-dance"],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/mary-pat-speno-H-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":540,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=540","url_meta":{"origin":3743,"position":0},"title":"20 Years with Syracuse City Ballet","author":"Staff","date":"February 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Syracuse City Ballet. 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