By Hector Flores
Students from her school, Dorothy's School of Dance, have even achieved professional status by appearing in music videos, joining dance companies and performing in Broadway and off-Broadway shows. Perhaps most important, a few of her students have become dance instructors or educators, a calling that Medico says has enriched her life immensely.
Raised in Bellmore, Medico graduated Mepham High School. You could call her the quintessential Bellmorite -- a smart, tenacious businesswoman who loves to give back to her community. She's volunteered for numerous local causes. And right now, she's serving as co-president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores.
Medico, who's been named in Who's Who Among American Teachers, credits her success in running Dorothy's School of Dance to the joy she feels when teaching. It's a love she discovered when she studied dance with Rita O'Grady, a local instructor who taught dance for 50 years.
"I started dancing at the age of 5 with Rita O'Grady," Medico said. "She used to teach dance in the basement of her house on Oak Street ,and I studied with her through high school. When I was 16, it was Rita who gave me the opportunity to become a student teacher. It was then that I fell in love with the teaching aspect of dance. At around the same time, I had tried out for the Rockets, but I found that I didn't enjoy it as much as I did teaching."
Medico said she didn't set out to own a dance school; she just wanted to teach dance to anyone who wanted to learn. After graduating high school in 1977, Medico began teaching students who couldn't afford regular classes in the basement of her parents' house, between Bellmore and Chapman avenues. Back then, she charged students $5 a month. Eventually, the basement classes snowballed into a business.
Medico taught from her parents' basement for about three to four years until her dance class outgrew the space. In 1981, she met karate instructor Jeff Lovering, who offered to share his instruction space with her.
"After my parents basement, I moved into the Goshinkan Dojo, a karate school on Grand and Bellmore avenues," she said. "The arrangement was good for the both of us; girls who would take my class had brothers who would enroll into the karate school."
As was the case with her parents' basement, Medico eventually outgrew her space at Goshinkan Dojo and decided to open a second school on Charles Court in North Bellmore. She operated the two schools until 1991, when she opened a new school with two classrooms on Bedford Avenue. In 1999, she moved the school to its current three-classroom location at 2815 Merrick Road.
"Today, we have about 400 students, 10 instructors, and we put together four shows a year," she said. "I don't teach as much as I used to. My role has now changed, and I act more like a principal. I check on our four classes and make sure that we are still teaching our students the best techniques."
Medico and her instructors continue to take dance classes and attend seminar conventions to keep up to date about today's dance styles and teaching techniques. This continuous study of dance allows the school to offer top-notch classes in ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical (expressive) and modern dance.
"With dance, you never stop learning," Medico said. "It's like in every performance art, someone is always elevating the art into new levels. That is why we try to stay current with the dance trends of today."
Her endeavor to teach the best dance techniques has garnered Medico's school top honors and championship titles, such as this year's National Championship at Walt Disney World. But the best honor Medico has received comes from the gratitude of parents.
"I always recommend parents to take their children to Dorothy's school," said Agnes Watson, of Merrick, whose 10-year-old daughter, Christina Marie, attends Medico's school. "The staff is amazing and professional. They are all about the students. Children that attend the classes have fun and learn at the same time."
Echoing Watson's sentiment was Susan Butterworth, of North Bellmore, who has two of her three children enrolled in the school. "Dorothy has a great philosophy when it comes to dance instruction," Butterworth said. "While most instructors are all about competing in competitions, Dorothy is more about having fun and learning. Dorothy will never push her students during a competition; that is not learning. She is more about children gaining self-confidence and being able to perform in front of others. These skills are vital because they are essential for a child's future."
Butterworth added that her oldest daughter Kelly, 14, has also been given the chance to become a teacher aide at Dorothy's. The job, she said, is a good experience for young people because it gives them an idea about teaching dance, and they can use that experience to decide whether to pursue teaching as a career.
"The great thing about what I have done is that most of my students have turned out to be instructors or teachers," Medico said. "Two of my former students have gone on to become instructors and now have opened their own schools. We also have success stories of former students joining dance, Broadway and off-Broadway companies. But what is most impressive is that they all have become great people."
