New dance studio in Geneva
Jamie Vargo has seen plenty of dancers' clothes and tutus strewed about the floor because that's the reality of working in a dance studio.
“I love kids, but I was tired of seeing stuffed animals, coloring books and tutus laying on the floors of ballroom studios,” said Vargo, who will open her own dance studio Aug. 12 at 115 W. State St. in Geneva. “I imagined a more upscale studio for adults.”
Vargo, who recently was providing lessons at Milano Italian Restaurant in Campton Hills, has plans to make her studio “a destination place.”
Vargo wants a place where “couples and singles alike plan to come after work to enjoy, mingle and dance.”
The inside of the studio will have a candlelit Spanish Hacienda feel to it, Vargo said.
Mostly, she is looking forward to running her own studio.
“This is my first venture in opening a dance studio, but having taught at many of them in my life, I truly feel I know how to do it well, and I think Vargo's Dance will be a great classy addition to downtown.”
Free introduction lessons are planned for the opening weekend, and Vargo also wants to get a Friday night dance club established, starting with a salsa night Sept. 2.
“I truly feel I have the best job in the world,” Vargo said. “I get to see couples who haven't danced in 40 years fall in love all over again while they dance a fox-trot to a Frank Sinatra song.”
If we all did it: If every church across the country did what the Congregational United Church of Christ is planning for next Sunday, it's hard to think of anything that couldn't be accomplished.The congregation will send out several groups of its members of all ages to take on various community projects, shortly after a prayer and hymn during the 9 a.m. service at the church on Fox Mill Boulevard in St. Charles.It's all about following a concept that #8220;Jesus has left the building#8221; and gone out to help others, church members tell me.Church members like the idea so much plans are being made to have other #8220;Fifth Sunday#8221; events that take on community projects.As for the projects next Sunday, they include helping developmentally challenged residents at Marklund Center conduct a baseball game; maintaining forest preserve trails; cleaning up portions of the Fox River; singing for residents at Brighton Gardens and Rosewood; and cleaning at the St. Charles Heritage Center.The mayor's fort: Former St. Charles Mayor Fred Norris gets to go back to his childhood with the Congregational United Church of Christ community project he chose.Norris and longtime resident Jim Heglund will take on a cleanup task next Sunday at what is referred to as #8220;Charlemagne Island#8221; or #8220;Fox Island#8221; for the old-timers.It's that small piece of land in the Fox River right near the Bob Leonard Walkway, just south of the Illinois Street retail strip. #8220;We built a fort on that island when I was a young boy, so it was probably around 1948 or '49,#8221; Norris recalls. #8220;We were lugging 2-by-4s out there and working pretty hard at it. We would just walk out there in our old tennis shoes.#8221;When he returned home, though, Norris found out his father was aware of the island fort project because some of his father's friends at the nearby Howell Co. plant could see the hardworking young Fred from their office windows.#8220;They were keeping an eye on me, so it was a case of it taking a community to raise a child,#8221; Norris said.He's a lightning rod: Don't tell Duane Buttell of St. Charles that lightning never strikes in the same place twice.His home was blasted by lightning during a recent storm #8212; the second time it has happened to his home in the past 10 years.#8220;I suppose if we were to get technical about #8216;the same place' adage, you could say that the lightning hit two different places on the house,#8221; Buttell said. #8220;The first one in 2001 hit the chimney, and this most recent one hit some eaves on the roof.#8221;With thousands of dollars of damage, Buttell is afraid his insurance company will start to wonder what it is about his house that attracts Mother Nature's spectacular bolts of energy.He had the plan: We can't let the St. Charles Summer Theater Festival, which has one week left, slip away without giving credit where it is due. Those involved and those who have supported the festival concept the past 10 days point to Fox Valley Repertory artistic director John Gawlik as the guy who had the vision and plan to add some spark to our summer.#8220;We have so many great theater venues for a town this size and all of them are active,#8221; Gawlik said. #8220;No one has as many seats available as St. Charles, and they are all in operation and producing, and not gathering dust.#8220;So it really came to down to asking how we can contribute back to the community and to our audiences,#8221; Gawlik said. #8220;Everyone cooperated with special events for the festival during a time that is usually a slow season.#8221;dheun@sbcglobal.net