Joey Rodgers
A couple of years ago, I sat in the audience of Dancing in the Streets' Nutcracker production. There was something different from the beginning of the holiday show that stuck out—this was a dance school that made a place for everyone. In the midst of the Nutcracker dances were several dancers who some physical limitations, who also happened to have huge smiles on their faces like every other dancer on the stage. The show was seamless, and I left feeling like this was a dance school worth supporting because of the very fact that it made a place for special-needs dancers that other schools and programs might reject.
Sitting in the South Tucson dance studio with founder Joey Rodgers and his wife, Soleste Lupu, I discover that nothing has changed and that some of those dancers remain in the school.
Rodgers, who grew up in Tucson's South Park neighborhood, opened the school in 2008 with the idea of reaching out to students like him. Life wasn't always easy for Rodgers, but once ballet entered the picture, it certainly saved his butt.
Before leaving Tucson to start his career in ballet, he spent two years in prison on forgery and counterfeiting charges. Prior to that, he'd been learning dance with Maria Morton of the Tucson Dance Academy, at the suggestion of the school principal.
In prison, he subscribed to Dance magazine, which probably made the guards wonder about him. And in his cell, he put on tapped ballet music a friend recorded for him and he practiced—every day. When he got out he was able to get an audition with John Paul Comelin, who was starting a new ballet company in Tucson. From there he went on to dance with Ballet Arizona; Hartford Ballet in Connecticut; Feld Ballet in New York City; Ballet Chicago; and the Milwaukee Ballet.
When he returned to Tucson he taught ballet at Tucson Parks and Recreation, and he and Lupu started the dance studio with money they received from their wedding. Lupu says the students come from all walks of life, but they have made a place for many special-needs students. Both say its obvious that dance helps, in particular students they have with autism who naturally connect with the music and the ballet story.
"When we start to rehearse for a show, we tell the kids that this has to be important to them," Rodgers says. "They have to commit the time to make this happen. We see ballet become an important part of their lives."
—Mari Herreras
Dancing in the Streets Arizona's The Nutcracker (El Cascanueses) is Sunday, Dec. 27, at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave., 3 p.m. For more info, go to
