Kelly McCarthy

Owner and Artistic Director

​

Kelly is the Owner and Artistic Director of Ignite Dance Company, and has been teaching dance for the last 33 years. Before opening Ignite in June 2016, she previously owned Kelly’s Dance Academy, with locations in both New Bedford, Massachusetts and New Port Richey, Florida.  She has led many competition teams over the years, and is currently the Co-Director of the Ignite Competition Team. Throughout the years, her studios have won numerous awards, including: Best Choreography Award, Best Precision Award, and an outstanding number of Judge's Awards. She has judged many pageants and competitions throughout New England and the Tampa Bay area and continues to work with a number of master instructors in the dance industry to constantly excel her studio.

​

Kelly is also the Director of Jungle Boogie; a preschool dance program she created, which teaches the art of dance to young children while using jungle characters to tell a story. Although she enjoys working with children of all ages, she loves the preschool aged group and feels she has the greatest impact on their growth. Kelly has been a volunteer to help fundraise for both larger charitable organizations and smaller community events. She is a leader in our community, and is an active member of the Holiday Rotary Club where she serves as the Director of Youth Services. She remains active with many community businesses and area groups to be able to continuously volunteer and serve within our growing community. 

​

Before opening a dance studio, Kelly worked as a preschool and school age teacher, which sparked her love of children. She has become an advocate for under privileged children in our community, and devotes her time to giving those children opportunities for success through the art of dance. Rather than focusing on teaching dance, her goal is to build dancer’s self-esteem while teaching them to be strong minded, successful individuals. Her love of children and dance continues to grow as Ignite continues to thrive in her 26th season as a studio owner.