Dance Studio

Hot off the presses comes the Rhythm in Shoes Dance Studio's stage show, "A News Sensation," at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and Friday at North Carroll High School in Hampstead.The Footnotes Dance Company, a troupe from the studio, combines popular rock, children's tales and newspaper stories from its award-winning production numbers as part of the show.There are even bits of advice from lovelorn columns set to popular songs with a twist, such as "Little sister, don't do what your big sister has done" and "Get a haircut and a real job" set to jazz.

When Kathi Ferguson opened Aesthetics Dance Studio in 1990, she hoped the Pine Orchard location near U.S. 40 would tap into a need for dance instruction in western Howard County.Another studio opened at the same time, in the same part of the county, followed by several others in other parts of the county.Four years later, however, Ms. Ferguson can claim a distinctive portion of the market: adults. Her clientele is usually almost evenly split between children and adults, unusual in such a child-oriented service.

Medora Lynn's dance students will offer their blood, sweat and tears so others won't have to.About 200 students from The Ballet Slipper dance studio will participate in recitals today, tomorrow and Sunday at Westminster High School to benefit the Carroll County Chapter of the American Red Cross.Ms. Lynn, who owns the Westminster dance studio, has organized the benefit program every other year since 1968.She choreographs the dances and selects the music and costumes. The Red Cross is a special organization to her."

Dani Knight wants everyone to know that dancing is not a racial thing, it's a rhythm thing.Ms. Knight, 24, and her partner and friend Jeffrey McDonald, 27, own Knight Moves: Studio of the Arts at 695 Hanover Pike in Hampstead. The studio offers what may seem like an unlikely combination of classes: hip-hop dancing, line dancing, aerobics and martial arts."Martial arts is nothing but a dance," said Mr. McDonald. "It's choreographed fitness."Hip-hop dancing is usually perceived as the dancing style of young African-Americans.

The Columbia Association plans to rebuild the Bryant Woods Neighborhood Center, destroyed by a still-unsolved arson fire last summer, for an estimated $60,000 more than the $250,000 insurance coverage reimbursement.The razing and construction project will include the replacement of the adjoining Bryant Woods pool bath house and pump house.The association aims to start construction early next year and complete it in time for the pool opening in late May, said Dennis Mattey, the association construction manager.

Directors of a dance studio and a preschool displaced by the Aug. 2 fire at the Bryant Woods Neighborhood Center say they are determined to bounce back quickly."

The co-owner of a closed dance studio has sued her former lawyer, contending that his mishandling of her divorce caused an "unrelenting legal battle" with her estranged husband.Debra Jo Clifton claims in court documents that attorney Michael Reuter advised her to take half of the property from the couple's home and all the equipment from their studio without informing her husband.Ms. Clifton, a resident of Pasadena, is seeking $500,000 in damages from Mr. Reuter and his Columbia firm, Reuter & Tuma, according to documents filed in Howard Circuit Court last month.

Wally Saunders, a choreographer who taught dance to DTC thousands of Baltimoreans and others for 38 years, died Saturday at his Pikesville home of liver disease. He was 61.Mr. Saunders, whose legal name was James Sanders, operated the Wally Saunders Dance Studio in Pikesville, one of Baltimore's oldest, teaching jazz and tap dancing and ballet to students who ranged in age from 4 to 76.His most famous student was actress Goldie Hawn, who traveled to his studio from her Silver Spring home in the 1960s.

Award-winning design brings dance studio to lifeWhen word got out this week that the new dance studio at Bryn Mawr School has been named Baltimore's best building, the students who take classes there were not surprised.They've been dancing with delight since the building opened in September.Now their enthusiasm has been affirmed by three out-of-town architects, who served as judges for the 1992 design awards program sponsored by the Baltimore chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

The operators of a closed Ellicott City dance studio don't mind if a former instructor continues to teach her own classes. They just don't want her giving lessons within a 40-mile radius of their former company.Raymond Clifton and Debra Jo Clifton, owners of the former Starlight Ballroom, filed suit in Howard Circuit Court on Oct. 5 against Debra Lilly Pabon, who operates That's Dancing, a studio in Dorsey.The plaintiffs seek $100,000 in damages from Ms. Pabon. They also want the court to determine the amount of money the defendant made as a result of her "wrongful actions."