Dancing to be the best

TEAMWORK: Ginette Guimond credits her “amazing” co-workers at Maple Academy for the school’s success, reflected in winning both an Outstanding and a Gold award at the Best of Vaughan event.

By ANN RUPPENSTEIN

When Ginette Guimond started the Maple Academy of Dance 14 years ago it consisted of two staff members, 80 students and one dance studio.

Today the company has grown to encompass 12 instructors, including several former clients, an office clerk, over 400 students and a state of the art facility home to four studios.

And it has just been named both an Outstanding business and Gold winner in the Best of Vaughan Awards.

“I opened in Maple where it was still a very small community and I thought it would be a good way to begin a business,” says Guimond, who has been dancing since the age of three. “I knew it was expanding so it gave me a lot of opportunity to grow.”

The academy offers competitive and recreational dance classes for children and adults in jazz, tap, ballet, acrobatics, hip hop and musical theatre.

“I’ve been dancing all my life,” she says. “I knew from a very young age I would open up a dance studio one day.”

She credits part of her success over the years to her certified co-workers and building a good reputation.

“They’re amazing and I think we make a great team and I think that’s really important,” she says. “We offer great classes and you know word of mouth is a big thing and we’ve had some really successful shows and some successful competitive years so we’re able to showcase that to our clients.”

Guimond, who has also performed at NBA, NHL and NFL games and appeared in movies like Jail Bait and Half Baked, won the top honours at the Best of Vaughan awards in the dance academy category.

“It means a lot, it really does,” she says after accepting the award. “It just means that people are satisfied with what we’re offering, what I’m offering.

“This award is not just for me as the studio owner but it’s also for my staff, it’s for all the students that are part of it and to all of us and it means a lot.”