public access television on Saturday nights,” said Jennifer,
James and Christine’s daughter and only child.
They moved to Vidalia in 1975, and James established
an optometry practice. By 1976, Christine had started a
new dance school called the Vidalia Academy of Ballet.
For over three decades, she poured her heart and soul
into her students. In 2003, after forty years of teaching
ballet, Christine decided to retire. In order to give young
people in our community the same opportunity Christine
had given them, “Four women whose children took from
my mom started Vidalia Ballet,” said Jennifer. By 2009,
Brii Tyson was owner of the studio.
It may have seemed as if Christine’s daughter had
taken a completely different path with her life than the
one her mother had chosen, but owning a dance school
was actually her childhood dream. “I just thought I might
get the opportunity later in life,” said Jennifer. After high
school, she obtained a degree in business and a masters in
higher education administration. When Brii Tyson called,
she was working at Optometry Associates as an Optical
Tec.
“Brii asked if I would teach a tap class at Vidalia
Ballet. I agreed,” said Jennifer, “since it was only once
a week for thirty minutes.” She had grown up in her
mother’s ballet studio but took tap and jazz at Southern
Dance Connection in Swainsboro, Georgia, from Melanie
Thompson while Christine taught the studio’s competition
students ballet.
106 Toombs County Magazine