2004-2024
Maple Street Dance Space
was founded by Romy Keegan in 2004 at the corner of Maple Street & Central Ave after taking over a previous dance studio, Blue Tribe Dance, originally created by one of Romy’s key African dance teachers, Rujeko Dumbutshena. There we danced, sang, drummed and shimmied until moving to the 3215 address at Central and Wellesley in 2010.
For 3 years we were nestled only into the big beautiful back room of 3215 Central Avenue, sharing space with what was once Albuquerque's first and longest running fair trade shop, Peacecraft. In 2013 we lost our "roommate", when Peacecraft, after over 15 years of business, and single handedly introducing fair trade to Albuquerque, finally had to close it's doors. Although we were disappointed to lose this mutually supportive and truly unique relationship, we were very excited to have the opportunity to fully occupy such a beautiful space, right in the heart of Nob Hill!
Our community dance space was one of the first of it's kind - an open studio for INDEPENDENT instructors, dancers and other creatives to rent space in which to teach and rehearse their specific disciplines and projects, exploring and sharing their particular talents and joy.
The expansion was indeed a blessing, and In the spring of 2014 we were honored to find ourselves “on the map” with a Creative Abq Bravo Award for positively impacting our community through acheivements in creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship! Since then we have been recognized yearly by various media and arts organizations, including the Albuquerque Journal and Albuquerque The Magazine’s, Best of & Top 5 listings, and the Women & Creativity organization, who presented us with their inaugural SHINE Award! THANKS Albuquerque!
Maple Street Dance Space was home to a thriving and diverse community of dance and movement artists and teachers until closing in the summer of 2024. Although this studio has closed, Romy’s vision and dedication to the welcoming, open, supportive, community oriented spirit that set Maple Street apart continues through her next unique project: DancingOurMagick.com