The Dance Conservatory of Maryland (DCM) is pleased to announce it is moving to the Boulevard at Box Hill to accommodate an increasing number of aspiring dancers. The company originally planned to relocate to the former Klein’s General Store in Forest Hill in September 2019, but upon further inspection of the space, more than fifteen columns were discovered that were not shown in the building’s original blueprint. To remove the columns, a ten foot ceiling would have had to be installed, a height of which is not adequate to suit the dance conservatory’s needs.
Since its inception in 1996, the Dance Conservatory of Maryland has trained hundreds of dancers in Harford County. Over the years, DCM evolved into a school that now embraces all dance disciplines and offers classes in all styles of dance with a pre-professional ballet program of the highest quality. The program grew from 75 students in 1996 to just under 300 in 2019, a rate which has outpaced the organization’s current facilities in the Studio Theater Building in Joppa, Maryland.
“Our program is growing rapidly,” says Kaitlin Weber, managing director of Dance Conservatory of Maryland and executive director of Ballet Chesapeake. “But in order to accommodate more students and avoid turning away those interested in participating, finding a new home in Harford County was critical to our success.”
The new building, just ten minutes north east from DCM’s current location in Fallston, will undergo renovations to incorporate office space, lobby/waiting areas, dressing rooms, The Boutique at DCM, as well as four brand-new dance studios equipped with sprung flooring. DCM will continue to be the headquarters for Ballet Chesapeake, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization overseen by an advisory Board of Directors who work with DCM’s artistic director and the company manager to provide administrative support for the Company.
“This new space will allow us to serve at least 400 students, if not more,” says Weber. “Our new studios and facilities will be perfect for our organization and will reflect the high-quality dance education offered by the Dance Conservatory for more than 20 years!”
Located at 3473 Merchant Boulevard, the conservatory is scheduled to open to the public on Monday, September 2, 2019. Until the space is complete, operations will continue out of the Fallston location. For more information regarding the space or future plans for the Dance Conservatory of Maryland, please contact Kaitlin Weber, at 410-877-3281 or kaitlin@
About Dance Conservatory of Maryland
Now under the new ownership of Barclay Gibbs, the Dance Conservatory of Maryland is the premier classical and contemporary dance program in Harford County and the Northern Maryland region. Headquartered at the 40-acre historic Millstad property on Whitaker Mill Road, three miles south of Bel Air, the 5,000-square foot facility houses the conservatory as well as the headquarters for Ballet Chesapeake. A DCM dancer can perform professionally, earn scholarships to major professional schools, colleges and universities, and enrich the artistic and cultural life of the community.
