Dance Studio

The master class is under way and Stephen Greenston roams through the small dance studio, his eyes intent on finding tiny flaws in the students' posture and technique."

Last year, Morton Street Dance Center found that its annual spring concert was overflowing its banks. There were simply too many children in too many groups for its co-directors to maintain order backstage.So the Baltimore dance studio and performance company decided on an open space policy. It moved to the Jim Rouse Theatre for the Performing Arts in Columbia, which worked out so well that Morton Street will repeat the experience for this year's spring concert, which is Saturday."We needed to have the space where we could keep tabs on everybody," said Stephanie Powell, co-founder of the dance center with Magira Ross and Donna Jacobs.

They stand tall, with perfect posture, poised young ballerinas until -- for no apparent reason -- they dissolve into giggles and hugs as their teacher and mentor watches with a smile.For 40 years, Edna Lee Kuhn has watched girls blossom into young women. She celebrates that milestone for Edna Lee's Dance Studio with a dance gala today at Anne Arundel Community College.Since 1957, Kuhn has prided herself on the standards she sets for her dancers. She is a teacher, not a promoter."I don't want to be known as a competition studio.

When Adrienne Canterna was 2 1/2 years old, a neighbor gave her a pair of used ballet slippers. Now, the 14-year-old Linthicum dancer and her younger sister, Ashley, are supporting each other in a quest to become performers with American Ballet Theater in New York.It's not as far-fetched as it may seem. Their resumes include performances with the Maryland Ballet and Dance Impressions, in Michael J. Fox's film "Life With Mikey," and solos at the international Jazz World Congress at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

WITH 11 institutions, the University of Maryland system has constructed literally hundreds of academic buildings and more than a few theaters.But it has never built anything quite like the $107 million Maryland Center for the Performing Arts, for which administrators will break ground Saturday in College Park.Set to open in 1999, this sprawling "campus within a campus" will be a magnet for performing artists of various disciplines, students and professionals. It also will be the third-largest facility at the University of Maryland College Park, behind the McKeldin Library and the Chemistry Building.

For 25 years, Bob Hofmann from Perry Hall went fishing. Betty Hofmann went bowling, or tended her garden.In 1975, on the occasion of their silver wedding anniversary, Bob decided they should do something together."

PEOPLELori Pryor opens Dance FoundationsLori Pryor of Ellicott City has opened Dance Foundations, a dance studio for youngsters, at 9602 Old Annapolis Road in the Columbia Gymnastics building.Ms. Pryor was a preschool director and assistant to the director at area studios.& Information: 788-2624.Opal Technologies promotes LugarOpal Technologies has appointed Daniel Lugar general manager of the company, a distributor of computer components.Mr. Lugar worked for eight years as international sales and marketing manager for two divisions of Intel.

Sharon Mech has found paradise in Katherine Nakamura's basement in Pasadena, where she learned the hula and other Polynesian dance forms. The 48-year-old court reporter from Severna Park says the dances help her to relax."

Ellicott City has a new school of dance, the Blizzard Dance Studio, offering classes in ballet, tap, modern and jazz dance styles for children, teens and adults.For more information, call Bruce Taylor at (410) 997-4803.*On Sept. 27, Cub Scout Pack 361 will hold its first pack meeting of the year outside at its regular meeting place, the First Presbyterian Church on Route 108 in Ellicott City.The theme of the month will be "Explore Your Neighborhood."Also that evening, the Cubs will be given instructions on the pack's annual fund-raiser, its candy sale.

Count almost 300 pairs of dancing shoes tapping, whirling, leaping every week, and you'll be in the midst of the dance program of the North Carroll Recreation Council.The dance program opens spacious new quarters this fall in the North Carroll Shopping Center. The new air-conditioned studio takes the place of a pet shop between the Eastern Chinese Restaurant and the former Ames department store."The location is very good, between Hampstead and Manchester," says dance program director Michelle Stricklin.