First Position Dance Studio

08/25/2026

Several of our wonderful 2026 seniors finished an old mural and added their own to our entry way! Thanks Lilah, Elena, and Lilli! We wish you all the best of luck with this next chapter of your lives! Come back to visit often :)

08/13/2026

Congrats to our FPDS dancers and to all of the talent that competed in yesterday's Talent Show! We have some amazing kids in this county!

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to this year’s Tioga County PA Fair Talent Contest winners!

3rd Place - Emery Snyder taking home $200
2nd Place - Trey Bartoo taking home $300
1st Place - Adalynn Guilluame, Layla Zay & Elliot Spooner taking home $500

Congratulations to all of you — and to every contestant who took the stage!

07/23/2026

We had SO MUCH FUN at Nationals at the East Coast Elite Dance Challenge this week! These kids have the sweetest bond: they pump each other up, support each other when things are challenging, and always share so much laughter!

On top of plenty of water park time (and some yummy food!), these gals attended several master classes, learned and danced in the opening number to the Showcase, and Lillianna learned and danced in the closing dance for senior dancers!

Here's a quick run down of scores and awards--we couldn't be more proud of how hard they worked this season! We love you all and can't wait to see what next season brings! 😘

I'm Cute (Addie, Elliot, June musical theater): High Gold, 1st in Category, and a giant trophy (almost bigger than Addie!) for Most Entertaining.

Before You Go (Elliot, Lillianna tap): Empire Elite Platinum, 2nd in Category, and a Magical Footwork judges award.

Drip (Eva, Gracie, June hip hop): Platinum and 7th in Category.

Lacy (Elliot tap): Empire Elite Platinum and 4th in Category.

Heartbeats (June, Lillianna modern): Empire Elite Platinum and 4th in Category.

That's My Girl (Elliot, Katie tap and pointe): Platinum and 6th in Category.

Falling (Katie lyrical): Platinum.

Changes (Katie, Lillianna lyrical): Empire Elite Platinum and 5th in Category.

River (Elliot, Eva, Gracie, June, Katie, Lillianna tap): Empire Elite Platinum, 2nd in Category, a Total Package Standout Star award, and runner up to the Showcase Grand Champion.

Ends of the Earth (Elliot, Eva, Gracie, Katie, Lillianna lyrical): Empire Elite Platinum, 4th in Category and a Technical Beauty judges award.

On top of that (!!!) Katie won the improv contest and Lillianna received a Premiere Star Award for being such an inspiration to our studio!

Congrats, girls!

07/10/2026

If you don't have tickets to see Hamilton Gibson's production of Big Fish, don't wait! Come see these rockin' FPDS dancers/staff members along with our own Mr. Tim, a VERY TALL past FPDS staff member, several of our dance parents, and many, many of our friends! Shows are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 and Saturday and Sunday at 2:30, at Straughn Auditorium, Mansfield.

06/14/2026

Good Morning Everyone!!!
This may have taken a longggg time but we wanted to congratulate and highlight our Senior Class of 2026! I (Ms Taylor) was lucky enough to watch all our girls graduate! We are so proud of these young humans and wanted to take another moment to give all of them an extra little SPOTLIGHT! Help us in Congratulating Aniyah, Bridget, Elena, Lilah, Lillianna and Maky!
We love you ladies and are so excited for all of you!

05/10/2026

And that’s a wrap folks!!!
I’m going to TRY to keep this post short and sweet, as all of us here at First Position Dance Studio- have been quite emotional of late:)

We (Miss Heather and I, Ms Taylor) would like to thank our amazing staff- Miss Erica, Miss Naomi, Mr. Tim, Mr.Cody, Miss Lillianna and Miss Elliot- for pouring your heart and soul into our students, for all your help backstage and making this season a great one!

We would like to thank all of our dance assistants, all of our volunteers that helped backstage and behind the scenes as well as from the auditorium:) Although we like to think we can do it all, alas we have to admit we can’t! We greatly appreciate you all entertaining our wonderful littles, stepping in when we needed some help, sewing costumes, watching the doors, selling tickets or passing out programs! Whatever you did to help us- we saw you, we appreciate you and we feel so honored to have you in our family:)

We would like to thanks all dance families, audience members for taking the time to come out and watch all our wonderful dancers showcase their talents this year!

We would like to thank all the dance parents- this is a big one…… we are so thankful you chose First Position! Dance and/or Musical theater has always been a significant part to every single instructor’s life. And to think we get to share our passion for this art with future generations is not a gift we take lightly. We are honored to have been entrusted with your children’s dance education! Whether this is a recreational activity or a serious path, we are thankful to be able to participate in all of our students lives:)

Last thank you for now is of course our amazingly talented and wonderful students! We stinking love you so much!! Through all of the technique, the strength work, the hours and hours of choreography and cleaning….. we hope you felt that love! We continue to push you, because we SEE YOU! And we want to bring the YOU we see out for everyone to know and love as we do:) What a great season this was, rest up and we hopefully will see you next season!!!

- Below are all the pictures I was able to capture backstage at the show and at the rehearsals. I wish I got more….. but alas I tried when I could:)

-Ms Taylor and Miss Heather

05/10/2026

Every year these moments get harder and harder…… this year in particular hit everyone that much harder as we had 6 Graduates that have all been with us for most of their lives! I (Ms Taylor) have personally had all 6 of them from 3-5 years of age up through their senior year. Miss Heather has had most of the graduates through their more advanced years and took a few for their first pair of pointe shoes! Although Miss Erica has taught them only a few years, she used to babysit Aniyah! Miss Naomi has taught these seniors for two years but prior to that has shared the stage with most of them! Mr Tim and Mr Cody may not have taught them, however have watched them take the stage for the past several years and helped backstage with them! We are immensely proud of all of our graduates and we know that they will continue out into the world and make the world a better place- with their kind hearts, their beautiful spirits and and their vivacious energy! Look out world- FPDS is sending out 6 fully bada$$ women your way! Jess Witmer Leslie Clifford Sarah Rodriguez Hazelton Christine Lellis Wilson Angela Folcarelli Kennedy

04/28/2026

Well, the whole day went by without me acknowledging the wonderful goat smuggling, toe tapping, five-bag toting, “arabesquing” (yes, I made up that word)spreadsheet queen that is my business partner Miss Heather and the fact it is this beautiful souls BIRTHDAY TODAY! Can everyone help me wish this lovely human a happy birthday! (Also, although she makes a great Cruella- she actually loves her some dogs)

04/12/2026

Phew! Back home after days 2 and 3! Everyone did fantastic and an absurd amount of clowning around ensued...along with a few tears for our dear friend Lilli's final competition! Here's a summary of Saturday and Sunday:

Layla and Amelia's modern duo scored elite sapphire, placed first in category, and won the Mesmerizing Movement judge's award.

Hanna And Sarah's hip hop duo scored elite sapphire, 1st in category, and 2nd overall.

Our large-group-turned-small-group hip hop number scored elite sapphire, 2nd in category, and 10th overall.

Our small group tap placed elite sapphire, 3rd in category, and received a Creative Concept judge's award.

Our small group lyrical dance scored diamond, 1st in category and 7th overall, plus Miss Taylor received a Groove Standout award for Ends of the Earth (small group lyrical) based on the overall impact it had on the judges!

And last but not least, Amelia's hip hop solo scored elite sapphire, 3rd in category and received a Dynamic Diva judge's award.

04/11/2026

Yesterday was day 1 of our LAST competition of the season! It was jam packed with all of our teen and senior solos, duos and trios! Our girls did so well, despite some crazy late performances!

Junie B placed diamond for her vocal solo and first in category, and elite sapphire and 2nd in category for her jazz solo.

Eva scored an Elite sapphire for her jazz solo.

Gracie scored elite sapphire and second in her category for her jazz solo.

Elli and Katie received a Perfect Pair judge's award for their pointe/tap duo but they won't receive their score and placing until Sunday because they got bumped up to the advanced category.

Lilli and June's duet scored diamond, 1st place in their category and 3rd overall.

Elli, Layla, and Addie's musical theater trio placed elite sapphire, 1st in category, and 6th overall.

Gracie and Eva's jazz duo scored elite sapphire, placed 1st in category, and 5th overall.

Elli and Lilli's tap duo scored diamond, 1st in category, 2nd overall, and received a convention scholarship for next year.

June and Layla's hip hop duo placed 2nd in category, 2nd overall, and received a convention scholarship for next year.

Eva, Gracie, and June's hip hop trio got elite sapphire, placed 3rd in category and 8th overall.

Lilli and Katie's lyrical duo placed elite sapphire, 2nd in category and 4th overall.

Elli's tap solo scored diamond, 1st in category and 8th overall.

Lillianna's jazz and modern solos both scored diamond. Modern solo was 1st in category and jazz was 2nd in category and 5th overall.

Katie's lyrical solo scored diamond, 2nd in category, and 6th overall.