“Homes are where children are. And children are what I need,” Pontecorvo said.
Also, rather than commuting between their Carlisle home and downtown Dayton, the couple will simply have to drive over to the new school and performance space, just east of I-75, from their home in Carlisle.
The couple moved to Carlisle in 1996 after bringing home Titania and Oberon, their Great Danes.
“We needed room,” said Pontecorvo, a principal dancer for the Dayton Ballet from 1981-91.
Pontecorvo opened her classical ballet school in 1991 in Dayton on Wagner Ford Road and moved to First Street in 1996.
Earlier this year, she and Shough decided to move the ballet school and preprofessional performance company from downtown Dayton to 20 Commercial Way in Springboro.
The timing hardly could have been better for Susan Johnson and her daughters, Elizabeth, 11, and Petronella, 8, who live in Springboro.
Johnson began taking her daughters to Pontecorvo after reading of the planned move earlier this year in the Dayton Daily News.
“I didn’t really want to make the drive downtown every day,” she said.
However, she has been commuting after the sale of the couple’s Dayton building fell through, delaying acquisition of the Springboro location by Pontecorvo and Shough.
Limited offerings will continue in Dayton, but the Johnsons will be able to attend lessons and Gem City Ballet performances in their hometown.
“Phenomenal,” Johnson said. “I have four children.”
An open house will be held from 1 to 6 p.m. Jan. 2. Classes will begin Monday, Jan. 3.
For information, call (937) 222-6880 or www.pbstudios.com.
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