Doris Ann Shirk's dance card was full.

After reaching capacity in her one-room studio in Willow Street, Shirk spent two years trying to find a suitable spot before discovering an ideal location in Millersville.

Classes will begin the week of Monday, Oct. 6, in the new Doris Ann's Dance Studio, 507 Leaman Ave., in Millersville Center. Go to http://www.dorisannsdancestudio.com for a list of classes.

"We have two studio rooms so we can offer double the classes, and we have a big waiting area," said Shirk. "Our old studio was just one room, so we had no lobby area. We had classes back to back. Our dancers had to wait outside. (In the new studio), we're going to have plenty of seating. We have two bathrooms, an office area for the teachers and student teachers, so just way more space for our current dancers and for new dancers."

Shirk noted that she likes the proximity to the city. "There is no other dance studio in Millersville," she said. "I grew up in Lancaster city and went to the Lancaster Rec, and it's six minutes away from where I used to live. I'm excited to just have a place for (girls from) Lancaster city, for Millersville. It's closer to Route 30. It's a location that can bring in different communities to dance together."

Shirk began operating out of the Willow Street studio in 2021. "I started my classes fairly low as far as pricing as I was getting started, but then I quickly realized I wanted to continue to offer lower-priced classes," she said. "Dance can be very expensive, so I wanted to offer low-cost classes for my families, and I did."

Shirk also had dreams of holding a recital without having to charge admission. "I wanted to provide a free recital, and that's very rare," Shirk said. "Usually, people charge for tickets to come to the recital because hosting recital at an event is expensive. I knew I had to become a nonprofit if I was going to continue that."

Doris Ann's Dance Studio became a nonprofit organization in February. "We strive to create a fun uplifting atmosphere," Shirk said. "All of our classes are an hour long. We start every class with a circle time and a question of the day, just for all of our students to get to know each other and for us to know the students. We dance ballet, tap, everything with excellence, but we always have different themes, different fun dances. Dance can be very strict and rigid sometimes, so we try to create a class that's fun and exciting."

Shirk stated that it is a Christian dance studio. "We dance to worship music," she said. "It's like a worship concert dance. After all our classes, we pray at the end. We always do a little devotional with the girls. We believe God created our bodies to move and to dance and worship Him. He's the one who created us to dance and to worship, and that's what we do."

Doris Ann's Dance Studio is also inclusive. "We accept students with special needs and try to incorporate them into our regular classes," she said. "We found that being successful, our other students just learn how to relate to other students that aren't the same as them and just creates the atmosphere of community."

Doris Ann's Dance Studio will not turn anyone away because of an inability to pay the full cost of classes. "We provide scholarships for families," she said. "We have different class options, like tiered pricing that's on our website. You pay where you can afford. And if you can afford a little bit more, then you pay for that, and it goes to the scholarship fund. It goes towards the other families so those who may not be able to pay can dance. Dance is not accessible to all, and it's our mission and goal to make it be accessible," Shirk said. "We want it to be accessible to everyone."

Doris Ann's Dance Studio has come a long way from its humble beginnings. "I'm always just thankful to God," said Shirk. "I started in 2020, teaching my two nieces ballet. Then I started teaching their other cousins and friends and had a basement class of 10, and then I taught another basement class of 10 back in 2020." Shirk then moved her classes to a studio in Willow Street.

"I opened my studio because I posted on social media and got all this interest and I was like, 'I cannot teach out of people's basements anymore. I need to get a space.' So that's when we got our space and we had about 80 students the first year, and that quickly grew to above 100. We needed this new studio space. ... People want their dancers to go somewhere where they feel accepted, where they can afford to dance, where it's dancing to worship Jesus and just the welcoming atmosphere that we create. God has completely blown it up, so we're excited about the new space because it's needed for sure."