Jen X Academy of Dance takes first place in national competition

At the age of three, Jenna Galeotti began her dancing career at Jill Reener’s School of Dance in Cortland because her sister, Emillie, who is four years older, was dancing there. At that time, neither girl could have imagined where dance would take them.

For Jenna, it took her to heading up Jen X Academy of Dance in Groton in the fall of 2022, and most recently, to taking her competitive dance team to the United States Tournament of Dance national championships in Atlantic City, where the team’s performance of the “High School Musical” dance number took first place — as well as the “Fan Favorite” award!

The team — Hailey Adams, Natalie Galeotti, Rosemary Lane, Kendall Manuel, Emily McKane, Adisynne Meyers, Oliver Moll, Kendall Porter, Bella Salazar, Hayden Salazar, Sophia Salazar, Eliana Touchton, Zoe Touchton, Zeke Touchton, and Brihanna Williams — are all to be commended for their parts in garnering such prestigious honors!

The Galeotti dance legacy

The Galeotti girls grew up in Homer with their parents, Michael and Tammy, and siblings Michael Jr., Joseph, Jonathan and Peter Davis. Michael Sr. is a municipal worker for the town of Homer, and Tammy recently retired from the Cortland County Office of Social Services. Tammy has also been the studio manager for Jen X since 2010.

“When Reener’s closed in 2010, Jen X had just opened,” Jenna said. “I chose to travel to Groton to continue my dance education because the founder of Jen X, Jennifer Flower, had taught at Reener’s. Since the moment I met her when I was eight years old, she had a big impact on my dance career.”

While at Reener’s, both Jenna and Emillie were on its competitive dance team. Throughout the years, Jenna has taken ballet, jazz, lyrical, tap and acrobatics. She joined the competition team at Jen X, and she also added pointe and musical theater classes to her schedule.

“Those additions enhanced my dance experience,” Jenna said. “They help you build individuality as a dancer. We do production numbers every year based on a movie. Our dance team won Jen X’s first-ever national competition in Hershey, Pennsylvania in 2011.”

Jenna started assisting teaching in classes at age 12 and taught her first solo class — beginner tumbling — at age 15. She said she still teaches it today because she loves it and because it’s where she started.

Jenna’s background

Jenna is a 2017 alumna of Homer High School and earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing from SUNY Oswego in 2021. In high school, she was a member of the National Honor Society, but the bulk of her time was spent learning dance, assisting with teaching at Jen X and volunteering teaching low-cost dance lessons in Truxton, New York.

“I studied marketing in college because I always had an interest in business and how to attract customers to a business — especially small businesses,” Jenna explained. “Being from a small town, I resonate with the minds of customers of small business. In my senior year, I had an internship and realized marketing wasn’t for me, so I took a minor in sales and have worked in sales ever since.”

During college, Jenna kept her skills alive by joining a dance club, where, she said,she discovered her love for choreography. In her senior year, Flower reached out to Jenna and asked her to choreograph a piece for Jen X’s advanced dancers.

“The routine did really well and scored high at the competitions,” Jenna said. “That was my segue back to the studio. I became more involved with spending a lot of time with the dancers and their families and going to team-bonding events with the competitive dance team.”

Jenna and Jen X today

In 2022, Jenna began teaching the tumbling class again at Jen X and remained in the choreography role. It was then that the opportunity to take over leading the studio presented itself, and Jenna jumped on it.

“I doubled the current enrollment in a very short time, became more involved in teaching more classes and choreographing on my own,” Jenna said. “Before that, Emillie had also done it with me. I was thrilled to take the entire competition team to Atlantic City and see them win!”

Jenna further explained that a dance team must qualify at a regional event before it can compete nationally. This past May, Jenna took 18 routines to an event in Utica, New York. She said that they all qualified, and all performed at the nationals in Atlantic City — and most of those routines ended up in the top 10 in the nation. Her pride in her students was palpable as she spoke about the event.

“Most impressive to me is that we were one of the smallest teams at a national competition and we were able to hold our own against studios from large cities with hundreds of students,” Jenna said. “I would like to think we represented the small town of Groton very well.”

Groton on the Inside appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Submit story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com or text or call Linda at 607-227-4922. 

In brief:

Tumbling Camp at Jen X

Do you have a child who’d like to explore what a tumbling class is like? Jen X Academy of Dance, 106 W. South St., is offering a tumbling camp nightly Aug. 11 through 14. The beginner class will run from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.; the intermediate class is from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Call 607-591-7999 for more information, or find them on Facebook.

Museum and park passes available!

The Groton Public Library offers several passes to our New York state (NYS) parks, as well as museums in our region, that are available for checkout with your library card.

Passes available: Gain free entry and parking at all NYS parks with an Empire Pass; Sciencenter pass provides free access for up to two adults and all children in their party. New passes are coming for The MOST, Corning Museum of Glass, Myers Park and Rosamond Gifford Zoo.

Groton Olde Home Days

Save the date for Groton Olde Home Days — coming your way Aug. 21 through 23. Keep your eye on this column for more details next week!