Garlynda’s Fancy Feet, a dance studio on Main Street in Clifton Forge, has been offering dance lessons in several genres for the past 35 years.
Garlynda Haynes, a 7th-grade social studies teacher at Clifton Middle School, founded her business shortly after she married Grady Haynes on Sept. 4, 1982.
Grady had been a star basketball player at Clifton Forge High School, and he had just purchased a home in Clifton Forge where he was employed by the C&O Railroad.
After graduating from Alleghany County High School in 1978, Garlynda earned her associate’s degree in general studies at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in 1980 and received a bachelor’s of science degree in parks and recreation from Radford University in 1982.
Garlynda recalled, “I began taking dance lessons from Wanda Meeks in Covington when I was four.”
The daughter of Garland and Ruth Altizer from Covington, Garlynda began working as a dance instructor for Wilma McClung at the Backstage Dance Academy operating on the top floor of the Historic Stonewall Theatre. Garlynda worked there for two years after returning from Radford.
She established her own dance studio in what had been the Snead Furniture Co. Building located on the corner of Main Street and Commercial Ave. and the first sign that she made for her business was created by tracing the feet of Gavin, her baby son.
She enlarged his two footprints, and the artwork can be viewed on the original sign currently on display in her dance studio’s display window facing Main St.
During three decades plus of competing in dance competitions, Garlynda’s dancers have brought home many trophies, and currently, she offers instruction in many styles: tap, modern, clogging, jazz, ballet and hip hop.
Also, when not providing instruction to students in the classroom, she offers instruction at her studio in tumbling and a new program titled ACE for those interested in developing their cheerleading skills.
Providing dance instruction for children four and up, Garlynda and Giaynna, her daughter, work at the studio as dance instructors.
Gavin, who was born in 1986, has a son, Gates who is six, and Giaynna, who was born in 1987, has two children, Grayson, nine; and Baylor, two.
Garlynda has been a teacher at the new Clifton Middle School since it opened, and she taught at the old Clifton Middle School (formerly Clifton Forge High School) prior to the opening of the new school that faces closure at the end of the current school year due to consolidation of Alleghany County Public Schools and Covington City Schools.
Garlynda recalled, “I opened it (her dance studio) in September of 1986, and our first dance recital was in April of 1987.”
She continued, “The day of the recital at Alleghany, I was told that I was going into labor, and I gave birth to Biaynna the very next day.”
Her competitive dance team titled Garlynda’s Dance Troupe returned recently from competing in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and her team has competed in many dance competitions over the years.
Some of the competitions her troupe has competed in were held by Ray Hollingsworth DTI in Martinsville, and others were conducted by Hoctor’s Dance Caravan out of Nashville which held its competitions across the country, including Myrtle Beach where Garlynda’s Dance Troupe competed.
Garlynda’s Dance Troupe has also competed in competitions held in Fredericksburg and in Virginia Beach.
The dance recitals held by Garlynda’s Fancy Feet have been held at Alleghany High School, the old Clifton Middle School that closed after the new one opened in 2000.
“We were practicing our grand finally on stage at the Masonic Theatre when the stage gave way, and we had to reschedule the recital for the old Clifton Middle School which had been closed,” Garlynda recalled.
The Town of Clifton Forge owns the theatre, and the stage has been reinforced and restored to its original condition.
She added, “The parents cleaned the stage and the auditorium at the old Clifton Middle School while the students rehearsed, and we held the recital there.”
Since then, Garlynda’s Fancy Feet has held its dance recitals at The Historic Masonic Theatre which reopened in 2016 after closing in 2010 for restoration and at local high schools.
Garlynda’s Fancy Feet will hold its next dance recital in June, and the details are being worked out concerning when and where it will be held.
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