I’m so glad you’ve found your way to Bloom. Let me give you the warmest welcome the internet can offer, and if we were in person right now I’d probably greet you with a hug and a smile.  Bloom School of Dance is a passion project for me, and there have been many roads I travelled to get here. 

As a young girl, my parents were not quite sure what to do with my intense, God-given energy. According to my mom, dance was the only solution to my “wiggles.”  I danced everywhere I could, at home in my kitchen, in studio, and even the pom squad in high school. As college came into view, I thought it was time to close the dance chapter of my life, and focus on a career path. You should know that what truly inspires you never leaves you, and so, while attending the University of Oklahoma, it became abundantly clear that I wanted to keep dancing. I auditioned as a non-major for the musical theater department and was accepted into the tap program. It was grueling work, and I LOVED it!  Soon graduation was upon me, and I was left asking myself and praying, “Am I done with dance . . . again?” 

Thankfully, through my time dancing with the musical theater department, I landed my first teaching job at a studio in Norman, Oklahoma. Here I must say what many are afraid to say out loud, simply knowing how to do something doesn’t mean you know how to teach it.  Let me tell you, at 23 years old I had much to learn! The studio owner took me under her wing and taught me how to build a class from start to finish. She opened my eyes to see as a teacher and not just a student.  Through this process, I experienced the joy of teaching and the thrill of watching my students master new skills. I felt that my passions and talents, the way God uniquely crafted me, were aligning in the most wonderful of ways. 

Different seasons yield different fruit, and dance would have to take a back seat to growing a family. Over 8 years, my husband and I were blessed to have 4 children, one daughter and three sons. The artistic wiggles were still smoldering, but I was a busy mom of four, and there wasn’t time to channel them. Without knowing it, I passed the dance wiggles onto my daughter, and it wasn’t long before she was begging to dance too. Watching her dance, I was reminded of the same desire in my own heart and jumped at the opportunity to teach again, but this time it was different. It was different because I was a mother now. I no longer saw the dancers just as students but as treasures like my own children. The beauty of growth, the ups and downs, and not always knowing how God was working all things together for my good finally revealed itself, like when the sun peeks through the clouds on a cloudy day. All of my life, dance has been the background music to my life, and now I am taking a leap of faith and opening a dance studio where I hope all who come will learn and grow with joy. 

Thank you for letting me share my heart!  I bet you’ve learned: I am very chatty, and dance is a gift. Bloom has been imagined with the hope of teaching your child dance in a loving environment with a growth mindset. The world can feel dark, hard, and divisive. I want to push back on that darkness, shine light straight into it, and refuse to turn that light off.  I hope our dancers will do the same because dance is designed to do just that.  Bloom School of Dance is good soil, and we plan to sew good seed.  When watered with love and prayers, I can’t wait to see what God grows out of it.  I know it will be something you won’t want to miss. 

Soli Deo Gloria!

Warmly, 

Ashley Burget