Our Philosophy

We are dedicated to creating a fun and friendly environment for learning while encouraging our students to discover their own passion for dance and love of performing.  We strive to instill the discipline of dance with the highest standards and integrity and to inspire our students to be creative and outgoing, thereby, giving them the confidence and self-esteem needed to excel in the world around them.

Our History

In 1963, Sharon Todd opened Top Hat School of Dance on Church Street in Lewisville (where the new City Hall is now located) with an enrollment of 25 students. Sharon was a junior at Lewisville High School at the time, making her the youngest member to ever serve on the Denton County Chamber of Commerce. After graduating high school, she kept the business running while majoring in theater and minoring in dance at Texas Woman’s University (TWU) and University of North Texas (UNT). During this time the studio’s enrollment grew to 100 students.

In 1969, Sharon closed the business and moved to Los Angeles to further her dance training. She moved back to Lewisville in 1973 and re-opened the business on Mill Street in Lewisville (where Bakers Furniture is today) under a new name, Top Hat Dance and Performing Arts Centre. The Mill Street studio had one classroom, and a 60-student enrollment. This was the year of the first Top Hat recital, “Hello America”, which lasted for about one hour.

When Top Hat’s enrollment reached approximately 150 students, Sharon moved her business to its third location on Fox Avenue and Edmonds Lane in Lewisville. The studio had three small rooms and a gymnasium with everything from a tumbling floor to parallel bars. In 1980, while continuing to successfully run Top Hat Dance and Performing Arts Centre, Sharon began to direct and choreograph for Six Flags, Inc. in Texas, Missouri, Georgia and New Jersey.

In 1985, Sharon was contacted by the Lewisville Chamber of Commerce to choreograph a show for the New Year’s Eve Kickoff Celebration for the Texas Sesquicentennial and the Official Texas Wagon Train. Sharon created and choreographed “Celebrate Texas” with a group of young boys and girls who were students in the studio. The show was a tremendous hit that put Sharon and Top Hat on the map as one of the premier studios in the nation for dance and performing arts training.

In February of 1986, Sharon and the “Celebrate Texas” dancers attended one of the national dance conventions, Tremaine, and performed in their regional competition. The group did very well and qualified to go to New York for Tremaine’s national competition. So, Sharon created the first company at Top Hat Dance and Performing Arts Centre, Gotta Dance!. Gotta Dance! began performing all around the Metroplex at corporate events and industrial shows earning donations for their trip to New York and, in the summer of 1986, Gotta Dance! won 7th place best over all in the nation for “Celebrate Texas”.

As Top Hat Dance and Performing Arts Centre continued to grow in enrollment, the time came to grow in square footage as well. Therefore, in 1987, Sharon moved the business to its fourth location at Settlers Mall in Flower Mound, Texas. This facility was much bigger than any of the others and had larger dance rooms with high ceilings and sprung wood floors. It also had plenty of room for waiting, costume making, and Top Hat’s first retail store, “The Mad Hatter”. During the four years at Settler’s Mall, three new dance companies were created. Cheri Kuehn, the ballet mistriss, created Quintessance Ballet Company, and Sharon created StarDancers and Dancin’ Too! Blayde Burris, Sharon’s son, was teaching at the studio as part of the guys’ program before moving to Los Angeles in 1990 to pursue a dance career. Brandye Burris, Sharon’s daughter, also began teaching beginners in tap, jazz and cheerleading at this facility. .

In 1991, Top Hat Dance and Performing Arts Centre moved to Corporate Drive in Lewisville. The new facility had three large dance rooms, two with sprung wood floors and one with padded marley, as well as a tumbling room with a spring floor. After the1993-1994 season, Brandye took a leave of absence from Top Hat to continue her training and to pursue a dance career in Los Angeles. In 1996, Top Hat Dance and Performing Arts Centre was incorporated and became what is now called Top Hat Dance Centre, Inc. (“THDCI”). The Corporate Drive facility was later renovated to house five dance rooms and our largest enrollment ever. In 1999, the Top Hat family was thrilled to welcome Brandye back to work beside her mother, teaching jazz to all intermediate to advanced dancers. In 2001, the newest dance company, Steppin’ Out!, was created at THDCI to highlight more of our excellent teen and senior dancers.

By 2002, THDCI’s growing enrollment necessitated the studio be moved again, so Sharon and Brandye opened the sixth and current location on Round Grove Road in Lewisville. This facility is 10,000 square feet and has seven dance rooms. Two of the rooms have sprung wood floors and the other five rooms have padded marley. All of our dance rooms have state-of-the-art sound systems and glass doors for viewing. In 2004, Blayde, with his wife and son, rejoined the faculty at THDCI to work alongside his mother and sister, teaching advanced jazz and helping to expand the guys’ program.

Since the early inception of THDCI by Sharon, the dance studio has maintained a tried and proven syllabus to guide all of our dancers to reach their full potential. It has been the long-standing goal of THDCI, its Directors and its Instructors, that each child be given the opportunity to discover their own love for dance. Whether a child just wants to have fun, or wants to develop learning skills to help them in life, or if a child wants to pursue a career in any of the performing arts, THDCI prides itself on giving your children the best possible foundation available. We believe the best evidence of our strength in teaching dance, as well as our love for teaching all children, is represented by former THDCI dancers returning with their own children to share in the experience of the THDCI family.

At THDCI, a full program of dance is offered year-round, including ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, lyrical, and musical theatre styles. There are also opportunities for course work in hip-hop, fitness, acting, and other specialty areas from partnering and lifts, to turn seminars.

For the smaller population of students who decide that they wish to pursue a career in dance, we continue to be happy to help inform families of opportunities available. We have had graduates of THDCI’s program move on to performing at theme parks such as Six Flags Over Texas, Disneyworld in Florida, and Disneyland in California; in live theatre productions in Dallas, Branson, Nashville, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and New York; on cruise ships; in industrial shows; on world tours with pop stars such as Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, and Gloria Estefan; television appearances on multiple shows including “Dancing With The Stars”, “So You Think You Can Dance”, “The Academy Awards”, and “The American Music Awards”; and even in movies including “Austin Powers” and “Burlesque”.