Andrea’s parents were ballroom dancers and growing up watching them practice in their apartment cultivated her passion for dance, which developed at an early age. She would look forward to Sundays when her father would teach her ballroom dancing. Her love of music and dance grew further when she started taking ballet and tap classes.
Her teaching career started in her parent’s living room. Her younger sister was too shy to attend classes at a dance studio, so her mother suggested that Andrea should teach her sister and her friend at home. After only a month, her class grew to twenty-five girls from the neighborhood. In 1962, Andrea sought a larger venue to teach her growing number of students. With the help of a small monthly donation from Monsignor Doyle of St. Francis, Andrea was able to continue teaching her students. After only a year, she had a hundred students, forcing her to look for a storefront, so she could further expand. This led to her first official dance studio opening in 1963, in the Morris Park area of the Bronx.
For several years, while her family was growing, Andrea moved her studio to the basement of her home so she could raise her children, while still continuing to teach her students. In 1984, she reopened a studio in the Bronx, on Pierce Avenue to once again share her passion for dance with more students. By 1991, she already outgrew this small studio, and her studio at 904 Morris Park Avenue was born. Here she was able to accommodate about three hundred students per year on average. In 2006, she opened a second studio at 209 Brook Street in Scarsdale, NY.
