Chris Collins never wants to retire.
For 50 years, the Alexandria native has taught tap, ballet, jazz and pointe to thousands of aspiring movers and shakers at his private company, the Chris Collins Dance Studio. The studio at 5408 Eisenhower Avenue is a second home for Collins, who works there with his wife, Vickie, and daughter, Tiffany Hopper.
Dozens of trophies from dance competitions line the walls of the studio, along with pictures of his award-winning dance teams. In his office are black-and-white pictures of famous dancers like Shirley Temple, Gene Kelly with Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli in Cabaret, and a young boy in a dancing costume with tap shoes: Collins as a six-year-old.
“In some ways it seems like forever. In other ways, I went by like that,” Collins told ALXnow, snapping his fingers. “In the late 60s, my brothers and I had an act together. My older brother played the accordion, my younger brother was a singer and I was a dancer, and we performed all over the area together as the Collins Brothers.”
The son of a trumpet teacher, Collins was inspired to dance by watching performers at the Old Virginia City theme park in Fairfax in the early 1960s, where his older brother played accordion.
“I was at home dancing, and my dad said, ‘I guess you need lessons,'” Collins said. “I started at one studio. Changed several studios over the years, but I think from from ages six on, I was taking dance classes.”
Beginning as a teenager and continuing into his early 20s, Collins performed in Atlantic City, N.J., and was the assistant director of the Children’s Theater on the Steel Pier amusement park. When he was 21, Collins opened his first of many studios, renting space in an empty classroom at Blessed Sacrament School.
“What I really wanted to do was teach,” Collins said. “I love working with kids and sharing the joy of dance with them. It’s very rewarding to me. Right now I’m teaching the children of children, and that’s amazing. It’s very rewarding to me to see these kids grow, some of them from ages three to 18 and beyond, and you see them grow through the years. They become like family.”
Members of the Chris Collins Dance Company have performed throughout the region, in local and national dance competitions, and at Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and Hershey Park, Collins said.
These days, Collins doesn’t do much dancing — opting for rubber Crocs over stiff tap shoes. His knees are shot, he says.
“I just finished teaching a couple private lessons this morning,” Collins said. “I have a great, great certified staff of teachers, and I teach only a few select classes myself. After years of banging my feet and tapping, even though I still have it and can choreograph and plan it … sometimes my knees prohibit me from doing as much as I want to do.”
Earlier this month, Collins and his team were honored with a proclamation from City Council at City Hall, recognizing his 50 years of teaching.
“The plan is to carry on, to keep the dance school open,” Collins said. “The fun part is the teaching and working with the kids. The business side of things are running the whole business and dealing with the paperwork, the landlord, the insurance. The fun part, the part that keeps me alive and young, is staying in the classroom and working with the kids.”
