February 21, 2025 - An interview with Madeline Axtell recorded and transcribed by Sienna.
Madeline is a dancer, teacher, and small business owner. Her ethos is that everyone is a dancer. As the founder of Rio Dance Studio, she promotes adult advancement and joy in movement. In this interview, Madeline shares about different chapters in her life that helped inform where she is today.
Madeline Axtell is our March Maker of the Month. Learn more about her Dance Essentials program on March 15th here.
In the context of dance, people often comment, “I don't have rhythm.” This is when I remind them - your heart is beating, your lungs are breathing, both at a cadence that's keeping you alive. You have rhythm. It's just tuning your ear to identify that in music. Everything has rhythm.
I read that you studied kinesiology. Can you discuss what that is and how it informs your dance practice?
I have always been motivated by human performance. Not just in dance, for example - I love the Olympics. I love the emotion behind movement - gritty, brave, and just the power of being connected to your body.
I wanted to study sports management and went to Penn State for kinesiology. Kinesiology can go in a lot of different directions - physical therapy, physical education, personal training, etc. Basically, I studied anatomy and physiology, and learned how the body works in performance.
For a while, my degree informed my lifestyle much more than my career. Through Kinesiology I learned how to fuel myself and how to care for my body. I learned which workouts are effective and which aren’t, and probably most importantly - I learned to love my body and all that it does for me. It’s a great foundation of knowledge that just didn't make sense in my professional career, until it did.
Now I use this knowledge every day - leading bodies through safe and effective movement.
What was the impetus for starting Rio Dance Studio?
I grew up dancing [more on that later!], but was teaching yoga regularly at the time when the idea behind Rio was born. I realized that watching adults become embodied, connect with themselves, was the best part of my week - it made me feel the most connected to who I was, like this was what I was made to do.
I tell this story a lot - I was on the phone with my mom and mentioned the idea of starting a dance studio for adults, really off the cuff. She said, “That's a great idea.” Immediately I tried to let myself off the hook and responded that the idea was way too good to be true, to which she replied, “Well, too good to be true sounds like a great place to start.”
The more I thought about it, dreamed about it - I got to the point where I would rather do it and fail; not doing it was no longer an option. I have worked in small business operations for the last decade and love helping owners run their small businesses, which gave me a realistic idea of and respect for, just how much work it would be. I signed the lease in December of 2023, got the keys in February of 2024, and we opened in March of 2024. It has been a joyful, exhausting blur since!
It's an adventure. It’s creating space for adults to use their imagination; to play.
What is Rio all about?
My vision for Rio is that we get to dance as adults! And also - not just dance, but improve, reach, dream, create, perform, etc. In my experience, a lot of the time adult dance can be an afterthought. But what if we want to be the best we have ever been at 50? 60? 70? Adult advancement: creating a space where we not only get to dance, but we get to be good at it.
Core to Rio’s values is the idea that everyone is a dancer. Everyone.
Who's to say what dancing is? You know, someone could just be wiggling on the floor, but they are making art, they are dancing.
Our slogan is ‘you are the art’. This is meant to remind dancers that they don’t have to look a certain way or be a certain level to be considered dancers or art. They are a masterpiece as is. Rio is about celebrating and connecting with ourselves through dance.
Tell me about your teachers.
They are Rio! They care so much, they are so creative, so smart. I've made the container, and now the magic is these people - the teachers and their students.
We have ten part-time teachers on staff, in addition to me. All of them have spent decades honing their craft. There is so much value in that. Dance is not something you can learn to teach after a 200hr training.
Teaching dance is a lifelong endeavor.
Can you talk a bit about the ‘Dance Essentials’ class that you teach?
The idea was actually born out of my love for ecstatic dance. I have invited friends who I thought would enjoy the physical release and they were like ‘no thanks.’ Often sharing that the freedom of it was intimidating. So I created this class because I want people to have the experience of dancing without needing to think about technique, but also without so little guidance that they're overwhelmed.
I also wanted to create a class where people could learn and train their ear to find rhythm in music. In the context of dance, people will very often comment - “I don't have rhythm.” This is when I usually remind them - your heart is beating, your lungs are breathing, both at a cadence that's keeping you alive. You have rhythm. It's just tuning your ear to identify that in music. Everything has rhythm.
And also trust themselves that they have rhythm and that they can be safe in their own body. It's like learning how to paint makes you appreciate art so much more. Learning how to listen to music makes the experience of hearing music, and consequently dancing to music, so much more exciting and interesting.
It's an adventure. It’s creating space for adults to use their imagination; to play.
It's also normalizing the part of art that's uncomfortable, accepting the process. After we've done something in class that hits, it feels profound. But that doesn’t necessarily happen every time.
Accepting that the process is still art, but also when practice and hard work lead to something new - there is nothing like it. It’s the same as anything like painting, sculpting - when it comes out closer to what you're envisioning, it’s so satisfying.
How were you first introduced to dance? How did you become a dancer?
My mom, for my birthday in middle school, gave me a private lesson - half ballet, half tap - to start my short-lived journey towards becoming a famous Radio City Rockette; just fully letting me dream big dreams. I did a couple lessons and I think my teacher and I both realized ballet was not landing with me as easily as tap.
My teacher had a really incredible tap lineage, so she had a lot to offer. She was the kind of dance teacher that was like, if you want to do this, let's do this. And my mom was the same way - if you want to do it, let's do it.
After a lesson, I would go home and practice as much as possible to progress as quickly as possible. My teacher quickly caught me up to the rest of the kids my age, probably seven or eight years in one year. I continued to tap all through high school and then in college.
Wherever I was living after graduating I would take classes where I could and practice when I could. I often found myself teaching dance in the community where I was living. I could never go too long without finding a floor to dance on.
What about the genre of tap inspires you?
Tap is an art form that I see as sacred. It’s really important to me that I am honoring the history, the excellence, the music, the heart of the art form.
I love it when tap dancing (or dancers, artists in general) point you to something that you haven't seen before - maybe just the flick of a hand on a music note that you haven't heard. All of a sudden, you’re hearing music differently.
I also love reaching for something that I can't do yet, and then getting it. Like a hard step, or a new step. Working towards something.
Accepting that the process is still art, but also when practice and hard work lead to something new - there is nothing like it. It’s the same as anything like painting, sculpting - when it comes out closer to what you're envisioning, it’s so satisfying. It’s like what we were talking about earlier: do it for the joy - art is art - but also, if you’re aiming for something, aim for it and make it happen.
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