Creating a sense of home at Pat’s Dance

Before Melanie Vaughan moved her desk into her office at Pat’s Dance Studio in Baldwin, it was a table in her aunt’s kitchen. The marble tabletop is now crowded with studio student paperwork, bills and invitations to community events — but there is also glitter, remnants of Vaughan’s engagement party from years ago.

Bringing the table to her office was the first decision Vaughan made when she took over as director of Pat’s Dance Studio, succeeding her aunt Pat Randazzo, its founder. “It’s about creating a sense of home,” Vaughan said of her decision to use the table as her desk. “Here, we literally do business around the kitchen table like you would at home.”

That homey feeling extends outside the office and into the rooms where students watch TV, do homework or eat dinner when they aren’t dancing. Yamileé Toussaint, a Uniondale native and a studio alumna, said it’s hard to find that setting in the world of dance.

“The dance world is known for being very strict and rigid, so to be in an atmosphere that was the opposite of those things is what I think kept me coming back for years,” Toussaint said. “Looking back, I felt more comfortable there than when I was at school.”

This year, Pat’s will celebrate its 40th anniversary, and it has been in Baldwin most of that time. Randazzo said she believed there were many reasons why it has stayed in business for so long, but the chief one is that it feels like home to so many, including her.

“Parents who move often ask me what they should look for in a studio,” she said. “I tell them you have to walk into a studio and you have to get a home feeling . . . If you don’t get that feeling, walk out.”

That home feeling was easy to achieve when Randazzo started the studio 40 years ago, because she first held classes in her Oceanside home’s basement. Randazzo was surrounded by dance as a child — her parents danced and continued to do so into their later years. “At weddings, people would clear the dance floor for them,” she said. “It’s in my blood. The dancing is in my blood.”

She also took lessons from a family friend who was a Radio City rockette. As an adult, Randazzo danced in shows for the Oceanside, Rockville Centre and Island Park theater guilds. “I thought, I’m pretty good at this,” Randazzo said. “I think I’ll start a little business in my basement.”

As the business grew, the basement became too crowded, and a bigger space was needed. Pat’s moved to a storefront on Brooklyn Avenue in Baldwin for a few years, before relocating to its Church Street location in the early 1990s.

Pat’s Dance Studio has had many accomplished dancers pass through its doors. One graduate, Vaughan said, appeared in a Meghan Trainor music video, and another opened a school that uses dance as a form of physical therapy. Several have joined professional dance companies, and some have opened studios of their own.

In 2012, Toussaint founded STEM from Dance, a nonprofit that uses dance to get young girls interested in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. Girls not only learn dance moves, but also how to create projections on stage, mechanical props and costumes that light up. “It all happens through the hook of dance,” she said.

Toussaint said she tries to run her studio like Pat’s in many ways, mostly by creating a sense of freedom in her students. But perhaps the biggest way she honors her alma mater is by emphasizing the annual recital. “That’s something we center the experience we create for our girls around,” Toussaint said. “From day one, we start preparing our students for this performance because I know how much of a fulfilling experience it can be.”

Unlike most dance studios, Pat’s students do not participate in competitions. Instead, instructors prepare students for recitals hosted throughout Baldwin. “It’s not about a trophy or putting a ribbon around your neck. It’s not about that,” said Randazzo, as she pounded her fist on her old kitchen table. “It’s about family and the love of dance, making the kids feel like they have a safe haven.”

Toussaint said she still has fond memories of the shows. “I’m smiling right now thinking about running backstage in between scenes,” she said. “You’re 100 percent scared and nervous, but at the end of it you’re 100 percent so grateful.”

Randazzo added that she does not mind if students make mistakes in class or at a recital. For her, dance should be used to build confidence in children. She recalled one class at which a student had trouble completing a difficult move. “I said, ‘Look at the clock. It’s 10 after 7. By 20 after 7, you’ll be able to do this,’” Randazzo recalled. “And she was able to do it. It’s about making the kids feel good about themselves.”

Vaughan said dance is one of the best confidence builders. “For me, it’s always been about accomplishing goals,” she said. “You work toward something, and when you finally accomplish what the teacher gave you, it’s a great feeling.”

Although Randazzo, 68, is no longer director of Pat’s Dance Studio, she can often be spotted at classes. “They get excited when they hear Ms. Pat is coming in,” Vaughan said. “They start running around and can’t contain themselves.”

Randazzo said dancing, whether in the studio or in the car, will always be a part of her life. “It’s absolutely freeing,” she said. “It’s all about the movement and getting out there and just shaking your booty.”