One and Two and Step

The Racquet Club on Amwell Road. Hillsborough Pool, Racquet and Fitness. Hillsborough Racquet Club. HRC. Hillsborough Dance Academy. Premiere Dance of Hillsborough. For the sake of you googlers out there, these are all of the names for the studio where my daughter has taken dance lessons for the past six years. I think they prefer Premiere Dance of Hillsborough nowadays - but still require checks to be made out to HRC, so, go figure!

In a town where children's dance studios are ubiquitous, Premiere Dance stands out for its size, longevity, variety of course offerings, and quality of instructors - dedicated professionals with years of experience.

Over the years my daughter has taken classes in ballet, jazz, tap, and lyrical dance, and enjoys dance class primarily as a recreational activity. Which is not to say that she doesn't get psyched for the annual recital.




A Premiere Dance of Hillsborough recital (actually recitals - the school is so big they have four shows over the course of a weekend) is a wonderful thing to behold. The event, which takes place at the Raritan Valley Community College theater is a model of organization and entertainment.

I have been to various dance recitals and other student entertainments over the years, but no one beats Premiere Dance for their professionalism and honest-to-goodness entertainment value. I have seen other shows beset by all sorts of problems - curtains not opening or closing, wrong music being played, terrified children frozen on stage or running off in tears, delays between dance numbers of 2, 3, 4 minutes or more. None of these problems plague Premiere.

Eighteen dance numbers in 65 minutes - every one of them perfect, a joy to watch.

Premiere Dance of Hillsborough - one of our worst kept secrets. Whatever you call them!