Perry Woodard Has Helped This Community Dance for 50 Years
City Honors "Miss Perry" With Key to the City & Proclamation
June 18, 2008
By: Chelsea Anderson
This Document Declared May 14th Perry Woodard Conway Day
The Key to the City, Inscribed with Miss Perry's Name
On May 14, 2008, Bay City Mayor Charles Brunner proclaimed it Perry Woodard Conway Day. And it's no wonder. Celebrating 50 years of dance this year, the Perry Woodard School of Dance (PWSD) has become something to marvel at in the community.
Miss Perry (as she's known to her students) opened her dance school in her basement at the age of 11, teaching nine students for a dime each. She held her first recital at the Masonic Temple, where she later taught.
After that, she moved to a building on Madison Avenue with one room and eventually ended up where she is now, on Lincoln and Columbus, with three rooms. She continued to take classes around the tri-cities while she taught.
PWSD now instructs about 600 students per year, from the ages up three to upward of sixty. Miss Perry has 12 instructors and two office staff to help her, ages 15-44.
They currently teach tap, hip-hop, jazz, acrobats, ballet and lyrical. In the past Miss Perry has taught Irish dance and is familiar with such styles as the Cecchetti method of ballet.
Over 20,000 students have tapped and danced across the floors of PWSD since 1958. PWSD is something our community can be proud of. Though many expected Miss Perry to retire this year, she says she will continue to teach.
Her past and future students are (and will be) very grateful for that.
This photo appeared on the cover for Perry Woodard's 50th Anniversary Dance Recital.
