Valley Forge Dance School

Specialties

We teach all dances to all ages: Ballroom, Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Musical Theater, Bollywood, Classical Indian Dance, Scottish Highland Dance, Bellydance, Pilates, and Zumba. Our teachers are degreed, with many years of teaching experience. Our studio is highly accessible, just minutes from the King of Prussia Mall, with easy parking in our front lot.

We’re fast, fun, flexible, and affordable, with no contracts to sign and no mandatory costly uniforms; you can start/​stop at any time. We have performing groups for our annual Nutcracker Ballet, and our showcases include well-​known productions, with free admittance — no tickets to sell. We also invite our students to participate in an annual nearby «All American Talent» Competition, at no additonal cost.

We specialize in First Dance for Wedding Couples; just $ 100 for 2 private lessons, including a FREE trial lesson. We’ve taught over 600 couples, custom-​choreographed even last minute, and no one has ever needed a third lesson!

History

Established in 1980.

Valley Forge Dance School was founded over 30 years ago by Sharon Atkinson, who also incorporated her Valley Forge Dance Theatre, as a non-​profit performing company. For almost 20 years, VFDT staged over 70 Nutcracker Ballets at the nearby Valley Forge Music Fair, and on tour to its sister theater, The Westbury Music Fair, on Long Island. After this venue was closed in 1997, our Nutcracker continues its tradition every December at nearby theaters.

Upon her retirement in 2003, Mrs. A sold her dance school to her long-​term company member, Maria Jacobs, who trained professionally at the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet in Narberth, and performed locally. Ms. Jacobs has an MBA from Drexel University and was a corporate computer consultant for decades, while moonlighting as a dance teacher for several studios. Maria’s passion for dance has taken her around the world for summer intensives in London, Copenhagen, Rome, Chicago, NYC, Mississippi, Virginia, and the Vaganova School in Russia.

Meet the Business Owner

Maria J.

Business Owner

Maria Jacobs is working to keep the Valley Forge Dance Theater a low cost family-​friendly, semi-​professional dance company, performing in the thriving King of Prussia corridor, for another 25 years. She is following in the teaching footsteps of her father, Benjamin Tartaglia, who was a self-​employed piano teacher in Philadelphia for over 50 years.

Maria continues to expand her ballroom expertise and recently attended a «Superstars of Ballroom» weekend in California, where she was personally coached by Corky Ballas, the top pro on «Dancing with the Stars.» She attended classes with Tony Dovolani, Cheryl Burke, Kym Johnson, and Chelsie Hightower.

In addition to the Norristown Senior Center, Maria has been teaching large ballroom and line dancing classes for the Cheltenham Adult Night School for over five years. She is licensed in Zumba, Zumba Gold, Zumba Toning, and Zumbatomics for kids. In the summer, she runs a very popular Musical Theater camp for Upper Providence Parks & Rec.