NA Ballet Company founder is not new to the community

October 31, 2017

12:00 AM

Gwendolyn Zaczepinski

The New Albany Ballet Company’s beautiful new building, glistening and classy in white brick, has been housing the company for a year now. With 800 students, the building’s front doors are constantly revolving, its spot on Forest Drive relentlessly bustling and alive with activity.

Though the building is new, the company is not.

In fact, 42-year-old Tara Miller has been the owner of the New Albany Ballet Company from the ripe age of 23.

“I was so young. I was a baby,” Miller says.

In 20 years, Miller has gone from teaching weekly classes at the New Albany Country Club while taking classes at The Ohio State University to owning and operating a company that teaches newcomers of all ages as well as pre-professional dancers. But her background in dance wasn’t an overnight spark in her early 20s; Miller began dancing at the age of 3, and thought for a while that she might go pro. However, her heart pulled her in another direction.

“I always took dancing pretty seriously,” she says. “I would say, very much throughout my childhood, I always liked to pretend to be a teacher. I would practice at home.”

Born and raised in Gahanna, Miller began substitute teaching in junior high school. Her parents told her that, whatever she decided to do in the future, she needed a college degree. Miller went to OSU with a focus in ballet and contemporary dance, still on the track toward professional dance. She worked for a summer at the country club during college, and pitched the idea of ballet classes to a club director.

Gwendolyn Zaczepinski

Gwendolyn Zaczepinski

“At first, she was like, ‘I don’t know if our members would be interested, but we’ll try something,’” says Miller. “Within a month or two, I was adding classes, adding Saturday afternoons, Sundays, older ages. By the end of the first couple months, we did a little recital across the street in the ballroom.”

From then on, her roots, in both ballet and in New Albany, grew exponentially. But they were about to get even deeper. Alisa Bernard, mother of one of Miller’s students, approached to ask if Miller had ever considered opening her own dance studio.

“I’m like, OK, I’m 22 years old. Really?,” says Miller. “I kind of let her go with it. She had all these unbelievable ideas, so we found the Plain Township Fire station, which was for rent. I let her renovate the whole place, and we opened in July of 1999.”

The year-old, 19,000-square-foot building is the New Albany Ballet Company’s third home, and Miller says she hopes it will be its last. With the perfect amount of space, atmosphere and location, Miller says, she’s hit her goal.

“The goal was to get in this place and survive a year,” Miller says. “I’m happy. We have such successful pre-pros, so my goal is to continue to push their training to the next level. But as far as growing? No, I’d be happy the way we are right now.”

And despite the three moves, the New Albany Ballet Company will always remain right here in New Albany.

Staying is a must, she says, because the community gets credit for many of the company’s accomplishments.

Miller's aim is to teach a wide range of students, and beginners of all ages. The company accepts new students of all ages and skill levels, though its pre-professional program is booming as well.

“Why we became successful is because New Albany residents love New Albany. They want to support it,” Miller says. “It’s a family. You’re in class with all your friends who go to school with you, who you see when you go to Starbucks on Saturday; you run into them at the McCoy.”

“Family” isn’t an inaccurate way to describe the company; both literally and figuratively, the company is home. Both of Miller’s children – Bella, 11 and Madeline, 15 – are students at the ballet company, and have grown up in it. With Mom owning their studio, it can come with a lot of pressure, but Miller says they still love ballet as much as every other student.

“I always tell them, ‘You don’t have to do this,’ and they love it. I see how excited they get when The Nutcracker casting goes out,” she says. “Even my husband – I know deep down he loves it. But it’s meant to be that I had girls.”

Miller says she’s shy, and sticks to the sidelines while at work. She admits that many company parents believe that one employee or another is actually the owner, and she doesn’t mind. But don’t mistake shyness for a lack of passion; when asked what she enjoys doing with her free time, Miller laughs.

“I feel like I spend so much time here; we do travel a little bit. But I have family here, and so does my husband, so we spend a lot of time with family,” she says. “I think the best thing I could say is that I always look forward to everything, and I think a lot of people can’t say that about their job.”

Miller can be found most days of the week either teaching or observing classes in the ballet company building. It hasn’t been in use long, but Miller says she knew immediately the building was perfect for the company.

“It was like we were always meant to be here, we just didn’t know it yet,” she says. “We just had to grow up. But this is where we were always supposed to be. Now we’re home.”

Fit Five

Tara Miller shares her wellness habits

1. Which foods do you try to avoid or emphasize?

I am all about enjoying food, but everything in moderation. I have never limited myself to a "diet." I naturally eat well because I feel better when I do. I usually snack on a piece of fruit every afternoon before I teach. I eat well-rounded diet, but don['t obsess at all about food.

2. What are your favorite ways to stay active?

My lifestyle keeps me very active, whether it's teaching ballet classes, running around the studio getting things ready for performances or simply running all my errands. I stay pretty active due to my job and my love for the dance studio. I guess I am very lucky that my job keeps me active and in shape.

3. What do you do to relax?

Relax? What is that? I am trying to make time to relax more now that my girls are getting older. I do go get massages often. I enjoy watching TV with my husband each night. We usually have one or two shows we are both obsessed with watching together. We travel down to the beach a few times a year to get away, and I would say that is where I am most relaxed. For now, I love my busy lifestyle and figure I will make time to relay relax after I retire.

4. What are some of your favorite exercises that help one stay fit for dance?

Just taking or teaching ballet class. I tell all my friends to take our adult ballet or even adult hip-hop, because dance class is by far the best exercise where you don't even known you are burning calories.

5. It's known that dance can be physically exhausting. How do you keep your dancers engaged?

Our pre-professional dances students keep themselves engaged because they are in love with dance. Once they get to the level, they enjoy and need the rigors of dance. I instill this love of dance in our younger students at a very young age so they start to fall in love with the way dances makes them feel. There are so many benefits to dance beyond just learning the steps.