Next Level Dance Pirouettes Onto Main Street

After sending two daughters off to collegiate dance teams and coaching dance team for eight years at St. John Vianney, Laura D'Urso decided it was time to open her own studio.

D'Urso reached out to Gina Cichorz, who recently graduated from Townson University and is the assistant coach for the St. John Vianney Dance Team, and asked if she wanted to start a dance school with her. Cichorz, who said she has always dreamed of owning her own studio, agreed and the women started Next Level Dance, located on Main Street in Matawan.

"Gina is very well rounded. She has experience with choreography and teaching children," D'Urso said. Cichorz has coached dance for seven years and has nineteen years dancing experience, including four years on the Townson University Dance Team, which has won the national championship thirteen times.

The women didn't want to open just another studio in the mix, however. They realized that there was a need for a school that focuses on college dance team skills to help train young women for those opportunities.

"Colleges are now offering scholarships for dance team," D'Urso said. Instead of offering a slew of dance styles, Next Level Dance on Main Street in Matawan focuses on the three elements central to collegiate dance for their All Star competition team - jazz, pom and hip hop.

D'Urso said she focuses more on the business aspect of the studio while her partner, Cichorz, focuses more on teaching and choreography.

The studio has also helped the high school team, according to Durso. St. John Vianney buses their team there twice a week so they can practice with their coaches, D'Urso and Cichorz, in a proper studio rather than a cafeteria.

D'Urso and Cichorz celebrated the grand opening of Next Level Dance on Saturday with a ribbon cutting. A Michael Jackson impersonator, who lives in the area and will be teaching a class at the studio, also demonstrated his skills at the ceremony.

Over 100 people attending, according to D'Urso.

"We're having the time of our lives; it's amazing," she said.

D'Urso originally searched for available space in Hazlet for Next Level Dance, because it is closer to St. John Vianney. However, while getting her hair done in Matawan, she came across the space for rent at 237 Main Street.

"When I came over here and I saw it. Sometimes you just see it all happening," she said.

The studio also offers fundamental dance classes to three and four-year-olds, boys break-dancing, and adult yoga, prenatal yoga, zumba, boogie box and break-dancing.