New Bedford Dance Instructor Cheryl McCormack Celebrates 60 Years

Cheryl McCormack opened her Academy of Dance in New Bedford over a half a century ago and recently celebrated a rare milestone.

Ask any one of her thousands of students from over the decades and they will tell you McCormack is a tough but fair teacher with a heart of gold.

Recently, her academy celebrated 60 years of training young dancers. In addition to the foundations of dance, the academy also instilled many important life lessons in them.

Taking home countless awards and garnering national recognition, McCormack's academy was the one where any young local dancer wanted to train. Her style of teaching gave life and energy to the art of dance.

Her passion is evident by just hearing her speak. McCormack has always had a bit of a hoarse voice, and that's because she left it in her dance studio, cueing her students over the music in many of her classes. He passion was contagious.

It's no wonder her studio has been around for 60 years, through several economic hardships and most recently, a pandemic. True passion and dedication and respect for the craft held her studio up.

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Being a former student of her academy myself, I can tell you firsthand the wisdom this woman has shared with so many of her dancers and just how valuable those lessons were to me even today.

She was celebrated recently and a video was uploaded to the Academy's Facebook page catching her reaction, and of course, as she never misses a beat, breaking out into dance as Abba's "Dancing Queen" played.

I think I speak on behalf of so many children, dancers and parents when I say thank you for everything you have done for our community, Cheryl. So many of your former students carry around so many of the important lessons you taught us in your studio on Tarkiln Hill in New Bedford. You have quite the legacy.

The academy will hold its 60th dance recital in the coming weeks and I'm sure it will be amazing.

Congrats, Cheryl McCormack. You are one incredible woman.