Associate Director of Enrollment Kim Brueggemann will soon take her passion for dance and drama past the stage and classroom.

Starting in September, JC will offer dance and musical theater classes to the general public in a newly renovated area of the Music Conservatory.

According to Brueggemann, who is currently working out details of the program such as a title and pricing, community members who enrolled in the classes would take three, 12-week sessions throughout the year.

Five classes offered to those between the ages of seven and 20 will be held each week, consisting of ballet, jazz, hip-hop, tap, and musical theater. According to Brueggemann, students would not be able to pick which classes to take. Rather, it would be offered as a “package deal.”

Brueggemann is scheduled to teach the tap classes, while Guidance Counselor Larry Hensley will teach the musical theater classes. Hensley previously taught a similar class at Harford Community College. Teachers would be brought in for the ballet, jazz, and hip hop classes.

The classes will be held in the Music Conservatory, where new flooring and mirrors have been installed for the program. Currently, the Master Facilities Plan calls for the demolition of the Music Conservatory in order to relocate certain offices and create more parking.

According to Brueggemann, the flooring and dance bars are portable and could be moved to the stage if needed.

“If the former convent does ‘go away’ in time, we would have to provide for the location of the program through the renovations planned for the main building,” President Richard O’Hara said.

Brueggemann is currently unaware of how many students would enroll in the classes, but is “positive about a decent enrollment.”

“There is a demand for this type of thing in the county,” Brueggemann said. She noted that many students at JC leave immediately after school to take the same classes at other studios. With the new classes, Brueggemann hopes to “keep them right here.”

“I share Mrs. Brueggemann’s expectations regarding the interest the program will generate in the larger community. We will have excellent instructors, providing the program at a reasonable cost, and in a convenient location,” O’Hara said.

Collin Hoofnagle is the News Editor for “The Patritot” and jcpatriot.com.