Jazz it up with dance class

"I want to teach, not become a billionaire." True to her word, Jenette Diaz-Treissa has kept fees for dance classes lower than her competitors' prices, and the results have been measurable.

"I get to see my students for more hours during the week because they can afford to be here," said the All That Jazz Center for the Performing Arts owner.

"We started with zero students and now have more than 100 since we opened our new location. We'll be adding another room and a third teacher this fall. I couldn't be happier." Treissa strives to keep her students happy, too.

"This is the studio where love and dance go hand-in-hand," she said.

"We teach great technique and skills, but we nurture the children while we do it." To that end, Treissa and her staff celebrate every student's birthday and are devoted to showing students how to encourage each other.

"We want everybody to feel important. Everybody has talent in them," she explains. "We'll get down on our knees to speak to them on their level." But Treissa's clientele aren't all children. With classes in jazz, ballet, modern, lyrical, tap, point and hip-hop, All That Jazz has something for everyone including adults and will be adding Pilates classes, with a certified instructor, just for the grown-up students.

All That Jazz's spring recital, "All About Dance," was a hit, too.

Featuring a kaleidoscope of dance styles from Broadway to Shakespeare, the show was jammed with more than 600 proud friends and family members in the audience.

Photo by DONN BROWN, Collier Citizen

Jenette Diaz-Treissa, owner and instructor of All That Jazz dance studio, offers a summer camp program for all ages.

Extensive technical training and numerous classical dance venues gives Treissa a vast pool of experience from which to draw. She began dancing at age five, and by 12 was invited to perform as a principal dancer for the D.C. Repertory Company of Naples.

Stopping just long enough to have three children, Treissa trained with teachers from the New York City Ballet, the Martha Graham Dance Company and the National Ballet of Washington among others.

She has danced in the Miami Movement Dance Company for Mia Michael, now Celine Dion's Las Vegas show choreographer; performed at the Florida Dance Festival; appeared in Gus Giordano's Jazz Dance World Festival and more.

"We're close to several other dance studios," said Treissa. "It's a high-traffic address. It's a good place to be."