Lynn native realizes longtime dream with new dance studio

LYNNFIELD – Dance and fitness instructor Danielle Roback decided it was time to stop running around and settle in one place.The 28-year-old Lynn native, who has been teaching for the past five years all around the North Shore, opened her first studio, Studio Poise, in Lynnfield on May 1.Prior to Studio Poise, Roback said she would be going anywhere from Salem to Wilmington to Danvers to teach a class after her full-time job as a marketing coordinator for Weston & Sampson in Peabody, a job she still holds.?It got to a point where I was like, ?I need to centralize.? And this was just the next step. It only made sense,” she said.After signing a lease for the Salem Street space in Kernwood Plaza on April 15, Roback, who now lives in Beverly, started working with her family and fiance to get the studio ready for sneak-peek classes at the beginning of this month. Roback said her fiance, Brett Belleville, who owns his own Beverly plumbing and heating business, installed the entire laminate flooring in those two weeks.The studio had its grand opening this past weekend.Studio Poise offers a variety of dance and fitness classes, including Zumba, which mixes dance and aerobics, and Barreworke, a toning workout that integrates elements of ballet.Roback also teaches the studio signature class called “Poise,” which combines Pilates with conditioning exercises used for dancers, cheerleaders and athletes. The class was inspired by Roback?s love of Pilates, and her experience with sports, cheerleading and dancing.There are four instructors who will be coming in to teach children?s dance classes, she said, in addition to three yoga instructors. Roback said she wants to build up the yoga program because most of the clients she is bringing in are interested in her dance and fitness classes.?I?m a little too intense to be a yoga instructor,” she said.There is flexibility in trying out and taking classes, Roback said. Customers can pay a drop-in fee for a single class, purchase a monthly unlimited package or buy a 10-class or 20-class series, she said.Roback got her start in dance when she was 4, taking classes at LeAnne Leslie?s School of Theatrical Dance in Lynn and aspiring to one day have her own studio. She then joined the cheerleading team for East Lynn Pop Warner, and, at 9, won a national championship with the team in California. Roback said that victory was an inspirational moment that set a standard to which she has always strived to meet.?It?s just a level of perfection and endurance and drive and practice. I?ve applied it to everything from that point forward,” she said.Roback also participated in the travel team for Lynn Youth Soccer and the Greater Lynn Babe Ruth softball team, while continuing dance and cheerleading through high school.When Roback went on to attend Merrimack College in North Andover, she said she was burnt out from all the physical activities and focused on her studies, majoring in English with a double minor in business and economics. However, Roback said she still kept in shape by going to the school?s gym.After graduating in 2006, Roback said she got a gym membership and soon had a major revelation about her career path.?I think within my first 10 minutes of my first group fitness class, I was like, ?Oh, I could do this, and I could do it better,?” she said.In addition to her full-time job and running Studio Poise, Roback is also the head coach and choreographer for the Beverly High School cheerleading team. Because she has always juggled multiple activities since she was young, Roback said she will be able to balance the three jobs. If anything, she said, it will be easier because she only has to teach dance and fitness classes after work in one place.Besides the “Poise” class, Roback said her studio is unique in that it offers many dance and fitness disciplines in a small and comfortable space.?This studio is definitely a welcoming environment. It?s not judgmental at all. It?s very fun and supportive. Anyone who