​A Collaborative Passion For Dance

Beginning around 6:45 a.m. each morning, and sometimes during morning station duties at both high schools within the Jackson County School System, the phones of Ashley Ware and Kelly Loggins are going off. The two high school dance teachers are most likely communicating about a variety of topics.

The two are good friends, colleagues and enthusiasts for dance. 

“If someone saw the amount we texted each other, I am not sure what they would think,” Loggins, the head dance teacher and coach at East Jackson High School said. “We are very good about talking to each other, like ‘how would you handle this? Or what would you do in this situation?’”

The reality is Loggins and Ware are the dance teachers at the high school level within the school system and rely heavily on one another to continue building their already strong dance programs. 

It doesn’t hurt that the two have been friends for a long time, dating back to working and coaching at a dance studio together over a decade ago. 

It is that friendship and trust in one another that has helped both make their dance programs, with Loggins at EJHS and Ware at Jackson County High School, successful. It is also what brought Loggins back into education, taking the open dance position at EJHS when it became open in 2015 when Ware stepped aside. 

“I was caught off guard because I was staying at home for 10 years with my kids,” Loggins admits. “I was doing a work from home job, a very high-stress, not flexible job. So when I got the call, I kind of was like ‘no, I am staying at home.’ And then I talked with my husband and he said ‘you get to do what you love all day.’ 

“So I came up to Dixon, who was the principal at the time, and talked with him. I really loved him and everyone I met and I loved the fine arts people, so that is how it happened. I literally started during the pre-planning week. I was thrown into it.”

Ware later returned to education in Jackson County, coming to JCHS in 2020 to oversee distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. She soon started having conversations with then principal Mr. Jason Wester about growing a dance program at JCHS. Ware was told to see how many students would sign up for the classes and go from there. 

The response was overwhelming. 

“Once we got back into this building, we were on the A-B schedule, Ms. (Kendra) Philips and Mr. Wester said we will do one dance class and see how it cooks,” Ware said. “I did ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) the rest of the time. And by the next year we needed a space. So I went to Wester, and he and I cooked up the idea of the studio being in the auxiliary gym.”

Ware has experience establishing dance programs. When East Jackson opened in 2007, it was Ware who helped kickstart the theater and dance programs. Ware said she felt like the coordination between the performing arts teachers at EJHS was robust and students were heavily involved with multiple facets. 

“I started as an ESOL and language arts teacher, and I had one drama class,” Ware said. “They said build the program, so we did. We found out about a year or two into it that our kids couldn’t dance in musicals and they can’t dance in color guard on the field. We had to do something. So I threw it out to the administration and they said recruit, get people to sign up for dance. So the first year we put it out there, we had 120 kids sign up, like overnight. So that is how dance at EJHS got formed.

“It was great, then we did musicals back then, it was a full curriculum effort. I would go to construction and say ‘here is the set. I need you to build this.’ And he would. I would go to Tamara Manchester and say ‘I need this backdrop’ and she would create it. The orchestra was in the pit and it was just this beautiful harmony of everyone’s wheelhouse working together at the same time.”

The coordination Ware experienced back then is why she loves being able to communicate with Loggins about various things on a daily basis. One of the major things the two communicated about this year was competitive dance, something EJHS has been doing since 2019 but JCHS got into for the first time this year. With Loggins having experience, Ware said she picked her brain often.

“She taught me a great deal because she was in the competitive part of it,” Ware said. “She taught me a lot because she knew the rules and I knew nothing really about it. She has been an incredible resource for all of that. I would have not known what to do this first year without her.”

Both competitive dance teams qualified for the state tournament this year, a huge accomplishment for both high schools.

“It is high-energy, lots of changes, super competitive,” Loggins said. “We are competing against some of these teams, before the GHSA competed competitively, who competed nationally. So we are competing against teams that have been dancing since they were five years old.”

The dance programs at both high schools are in great shape. Loggins and Ware have so many students they teach an entire day of dance, both admitting they love being able to work with students on something they are passionate about. Loggins said the commitment shown by students is ultimately what makes the program successful. 

“I have great kids, and they come in excited and work really hard,” Loggins said. “If they were dancing at a studio they may dance two nights a week. Here, I have them five days a week for 90 minutes every day. So as soon as we begin, we do some kind of conditioning…and then we do choreography.

“Right now, our recital has 22 dances….They know, at their age, I teach a combo and it is their job to remember it the next day. It is their responsibility to add on to it. They are incredible.”

Ultimately, Ware and Loggins both admit that dance has multiple teaching moments for the students that can be transferred to their adult life. 

“It teaches teamwork, resiliency and I think it teaches them to be comfortable with being uncomfortable,” Ware said. “I tell them that all the time, ‘if you’re not comfortable with being uncomfortable, you’re not going to grow.’ My job is to push them to do that. I have a poster that is plastered in our space up there that says ‘you can do hard things.’ I think it teaches them to take risks and they want to do that.”

As Jackson County continues to grow at a record-pace, Loggins said the one key difference from her early years in Jackson County to now is that dance is much more popular and respected. There is buzz surrounding the programs at both high schools.

“When I started we had very little space, we danced on the stage and I had a tiny office and then from there we shared a room with wrestling,” Loggins said. “It was very interesting as we moved wrestling mats in the morning and afternoons. So when I heard construction was moving to Empower, the first person I talked to was Ms. (Chanda) Palmer (the former EJHS principal) and said ‘I would love to make this a dance studio.’ 

“We are definitely growing. Dance is definitely more recognized in the community. I think with social media and television, with all these TV shows, I feel like dance is more popular. Kids that they didn’t really think were possible in school before know it is an option.”