Kristin Ledingham-Pierce, the founder and director of Shooting Stars NYC, knows a little something about the positive power of dance. A competitive dancer herself growing up, Ledingham-Pierce channeled her personal love of dance into building NYC’s only solely competitive dance program for girls ages 3-18. And beyond making Shooting Stars NYC into an award-winning force to be reckoned with on the competition circuit, Ledingham-Pierce has also made it a priority to foster a sense of community, family, and self-confidence in her dancers.
“I grew up in the competitive dance field and found it so rewarding, especially the team aspect,” Ledingham-Pierce says. “The core principle of our program is to empower leadership skills through teamwork. We encourage sisterhood and girl power while cultivating the well-rounded dancer.”
Founded in 2001, Shooting Stars NYC has steadily grown from one team to a full-fledged, award-winning company of passionate young dancers, centered around the genres of hip-hop, jazz precision, Broadway dance, and lyrical, and comprised of a variety of over 15 competitive dance teams that train and compete at different levels.
Despite the program’s polished image, it’s actually not just for experienced, elite competitors—there are plenty of options for beginning dancers as well—with a common thread being that Ledingham-Pierce requires a commitment of at least a year from every dancer so they have the proper training, dance technique, and team bond to win at a competitive level. Dancers can start competing at age 6, and girls under 6 can take non-competitive classes. For ages 3-5 there’s a class called Rising Stars, with the next level being a class called Little Stars for ages 5-7. After that, all teams for ages 7-18 are competitive.
Many of the dancers indeed end up sticking with the program from childhood through their teens, which adds not only to the level of competitive talent over time, but also contributes heavily to the feeling of family and sense of pride within the program. As they progress and invest more time and effort into dance, Shooting Stars NYC dancers also have the opportunity to engage in empowering leadership opportunities—each team has a captain and team manager—which encourage team spirit.
“Many of our girls do more than one team. I would say on average, our girls do 2-4 teams a week,” says Ledingham-Pierce, who is aided by a dedicated coaching staff which includes several NBA and NFL dancers. “Shooting Stars NYC really is a place for dancers to go and escape the pressures of their academic lives and dance with their team. At Shooting Stars NYC, we do not have troupes or crews, we have competitive dance teams. Our teammates become our sisters.”
Of course, with extra effort comes well-deserved recognition. A number of Shooting Stars NYC teams are Double Platinum winners, which is the highest award a competitive dance team can receive, and last month, the program performed for the second year in row at the Barclays Center during a Brooklyn Nets game. Coming up on April 15, their Juniors and Express hip-hop teams will perform at Madison Square Garden for a Knicks game.
In addition to their popular hip-hop teams slated to take the stage at MSG, Shooting Stars NYC also features precision jazz, Broadway dance, and contemporary lyrical teams, and this year is adding a new category of solos, duets, and trios for girls who have been with Shooting Stars NYC for four years or more and have shown great promise in the competitive dance world. And while the framework of the regular teams exists for the duration of a year, there’s also a Summer Dance Intensive on the menu to give first-timers a chance to dip into the dance world before making a full-year commitment.
“The Summer Dance Intensive is a great option to try competitive dance training. Perhaps you’re unsure about competitive dance and you don’t want to commit to a full year; you can try a week of our Summer Dance Intensive and see if competitive dance is for you,” Ledingham-Pierce says. “Summer Intensive is definitely a place where you can come and get your feet wet with us as a dancer.”
Regardless of whether a dancer enters Shooting Stars NYC with the intention of competing on a national stage year after year, or simply with the hope of learning some new skills during the summer, one fact is for sure: They will certainly come out of it having gained a sense of confidence and community that will serve them throughout their lives. And no one knows this better than Ledingham-Pierce.
“What I enjoy most is watching the girls grow,” she says. “I have girls that started with me when they were 4 and now they’re 18. I’ve grown with them too, and it’s amazing to witness a young girl becoming a strong woman right in front of your eyes. It’s very rewarding to think that Shooting Stars NYC had something to do with that!”
To learn more about Shooting Stars NYC, visit shootingstarsnyc.com or call 212-987-2203!
