The generational impact of a Detroit dance studio

At the nonprofit Detroit-Windsor Dance Academy, Debra White-Hunt has been a mother figure for generations. 

Throughout the 10,000-square-foot New Center studio, photos of White-Hunt’s dancers from years past decorate the walls, going as far back as the early 2000s – ballerinas in pink tutus and jazz dancers adorned in blue costumes. 

“We’re in our fourth generation of students here,” the co-founder and artistic director said of her more than 30 years at the studio. “Grandmothers who brought their kids, their kids brought their kids and now, their kids are here. It’s amazing.” 

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After teaching thousands of children and adults across metro Detroit and the Windsor area, White-Hunt is spending 2024 celebrating the 40th anniversary of the dance academy – one of the oldest dance studios in the city. The first event of the year is the nonprofit’s annual Black History Month concert. Titled “More Precious Than Rubies,” the performance will showcase the dance genres the school offers: contemporary, modern, tap and samba. 

The concert, which takes place Thursday at the Detroit School of Arts, will also include the unveiling of seven local visual artists whose works will be displayed in the studio. A reception for the artist unveiling will take place at 5:30 p.m., while the concert begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 on the academy’s website and $25 at the door. 

White-Hunt said the inspiration for the show’s title came from two sources–ruby is her birthstone and the ruby anniversary for married couples is 40 years. Plus, there was the religious connection in Proverbs 3:15: “She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.”

“If we look at ourselves as more precious than rubies, then we’re on the right path that the Lord has provided for us,” White-Hunt told BridgeDetroit. “It’s a tribute to everyone who has danced here.” 

I dream of dance 

White-Hunt’s love of dance and teaching has been a constant for most of her life. The native Detroiter started the Detroit-Windsor Dance Academy in 1984 with her husband, Bruce Hunt, in a small studio in the Harmonie Park neighborhood downtown. Also a dance and physical education teacher for Detroit public schools, White-Hunt wanted to offer a place where students from Bates Academy could develop their skills during the summer. 

“There were days…Bruce and I laughed about it; where it would be he, me and the record player,” White-Hunt said. 

After a few years, the academy wasn’t making any money and White-Hunt was exhausted from working two jobs. 

“I was burning the candle at both ends,” she said. “I would work all day at the schools and be at the studio all night. I told my mom, ‘I gotta close the dance studio, it’s wearing me out.’ And she said, ‘Debbie, you can’t leave those children. You have prepared them and built them up.’” 

Around that time, White-Hunt got a nice surprise–a $25,000 Milken Educator Award, which rewards early-to-mid career educators. The dancer began experiencing medical issues and took a three-year leave of absence from the district. When the leave was up, White-Hunt left the school district for good and started working full-time at the dance academy.

Word spread across the metro area about the studio and membership grew, Bruce said. By the end of the 1990s, the studio moved inside the New Center One building on West Grand Boulevard where it remains today. 

White-Hunt’s academy has performed across the world, from New York City to as far away as Cape Town, South Africa. Meanwhile, she has received numerous honors such as the 2020 Kresge Artist Fellow, Michiganian of the Year from The Detroit News and a spot in the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame for her work in the community. She said the school has taught more than 15,000 dancers in its 40 years of service. 

White-Hunt said she never really thought about the studio’s longevity because the time went by so quickly. When she was a dancer for Alvin Ailey in New York after college, White-Hunt remembered the famous dancer and director asking her why didn’t anyone in Detroit develop a dance academy. 

“My dream was always to have a place where if you wanted to leave, you could, but you didn’t have to because there will be other opportunities,” she said. 

Honoring a civil rights (and music) icon

One dancer that’s part of the new generation is Nylah Morris. The Cass Tech High School junior choreographed her first large piece for the “More Precious Than Rubies” concert. Called “Her Story,” the modern contemporary dance looks at the story of civil rights icon Rosa Park while playing “Pray You Catch Me” by one of her music icons, Beyoncé. 

“In the beginning of the piece, before Beyoncé even starts talking for the interlude, we’re (the dancers) reenacting the bus scene,” Morris said. “Then we go on to show how Rosa Parks went her own way and broke those barriers.” 

The 16-year-year-old has been a part of the White-Hunt’s dance family since she was born. Morris’ mother was a teacher at the studio and before long, she was being enrolled in classes. Morris said growing up with the academy has taught her several life lessons such as going after her goals. One she accomplished was moving into one of the advanced classes in the organization called the pre-professional program. 

Morris enjoys the process of being behind the scenes and developing a dance routine and wants to do more choreography in the future. She said she wants to major in dance and sports management when she goes off to college. 

“Dance has been my way to connect to other people around me and it’s been a way to communicate,” Morris said. 

‘If Women Rule’  

When Priscilla Phifer got the call from White-Hunt to create a piece for the art unveiling, she said helping her friend was a no-brainer. White-Hunt already has one of the artist’s multicolored paintings, “If Women Rule: Debra” hanging up in the lobby. The new piece is similar only it’s larger and features dancers hidden in between the various stripes of colors. 

“There’s a male figure in there, there’s a girl dancing and an older person to represent the type of students Detroit Windsor Dance Academy has,” Phifer said of the painting that took three months to complete.

The reason behind the artist unveiling is to have more artwork in the studio, White-Hunt said. After losing several room partitions due to a building flood in 2021, White-Hunt wanted to decorate the new ones with artwork. The artists contributing work live or are from metro Detroit including Phifer, Shirley Woodson, Joie Coelho, Paul and Daphne Means, Ifoma Stubbs, and Michael Horner. The studio will also receive art from Vernard Rubens, Hubert Massey and Matthew Massey at a later time. 

While the West Bloomfield resident said she often feels overwhelmed by commissions during Black History Month, Phifer said she’s honored to be a part of the event. 

“I have known them (the Hunts) for so long and I know some of the challenges that they’ve had like the flooding,” she said. “For Debra and the academy, I do not mind.”