Lisa Slagle first discovered dance through her grandfather, who owned a strip center that included a dance studio. While she dipped her toes in jazz and tap dancing, it wasn’t until she tried ballet that she fell in love with dance.
At 8 years old, she got her first pointe shoes. Three years later, she danced alongside Elvis Presley in his 1967 film, “Clambake.”
“While I was doing the movie for three or four weeks, I was really concerned because I was missing ballet class,” Lisa recalls. “I don’t think I really understood at the time the significance of getting a chance to do this.”
After finishing high school, Lisa moved to New York to join the Joffrey Ballet.
“I felt like if I just worked hard on my ballet studies that I could have a career in that without having those other unknowns that are part of the film industry,” Lisa says.
And have a career she did. After dancing with the Joffrey Ballet, Lisa danced with the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève in Switzerland and with the Tulsa Ballet in Oklahoma before retiring in 1989.
After working for several years as a travel agent, her daughter showed an interest in dance. So to help pay for the classes, Lisa began to teach and found she really enjoyed it.
Several years of teaching later, the opportunity to open her own dance studio arose. So in 1999, the Ballet Academy of Texas opened its doors. Since then, Lisa and her staff have taught hundreds of students, many of whom have gone on to dance professionally.
Though she recently sold her studio to her business partner, Lisa continues to teach there, helping more students to fall in love with dance every day.
“It’s all worth it when you feel like you’ve made a difference with some kids that might not otherwise have had some of the opportunities that you were able to give them,” Lisa says.