By Craig Hall, The Business Times

John Kelley’s passion for dance has been front and center no matter where life has taken him in education, marriage, parenthood or career. 

“No matter what I’m doing or where I am in life, dance has always been an important part of it from being a part of a studio when I was younger to following me into working at competitions since 1999, the last 17 years with Stage One,” Kelley said. “And for the past several years, I’ve been trying to get Stage One to host one if its annual events in Grand Junction.”

In March of 2025, Kelley’s dream will come true as Stage One will be bringing a regional competition to Grand Junction at Colorado Mesa University’s just-opened Asteria Theater. “I think having a state-of-the-art venue put the choice to come to Grand Junction over the top with Stage One,” Kelley said. “And between the new (Grand Junction) High School and the Asteria, we now had two to choose from.”

But if you ask Greg Massay of Stage One, what put Grand Junction over the top was having a project manager the quality of John Kelley in making Grand Junction an easy choice for its newest host city. 

“When we started out 29 years ago, we began in cities that were somewhere a little different, who hadn’t hosted larger competitions before,” Massay said. “When you go to a major metropolitan area, there are already several competitions in the planning so there’s competition for studios, competitors and entries.” 

Massay noted that finding new host cities like Grand Junction also gives studios and teams a fresh atmosphere to compete against other teams they maybe haven’t seen before. 

“And having an experienced managing director like John doing his job, that he’s done many times over the years in our other host towns, in his hometown from concept to through the entire weekend of the event is a great comfort level to have for this initial competition,” Massay said.

While the Grand Junction competition got started a little later in Stage One’s season than its other events, studios and high school teams are warming up to the event and signing entries. 

“We’re trending toward our goal of 200 or more entries,” Kelley said. “And that will make for a full day of competition and awards on Saturday for a first event.” 

Massay added, “Studios and teams begin committing to competitions during the summer and early fall for competition season the following winter and spring, so we’re pleased how this initial Grand Junction event is proving to be filled like other first events we’ve had over the years. And, of course, if we meet those goals, we’ll be back again.”

One way the coming competition is being filled with entries is not unique, but certainly a familiar aspect for competitive dance teams and studios from the Grand Junction area, and that’s always traveling to compete. But with Stage One now coming to Grand Junction, local teams and dancers are eager to participate.

“As soon as I announced the competition to our team, the girls’ excitement was obvious,” said Kerri Bensley, coach of the Fruita Monument Poms dance team. “Without the cost of travel we can not only compete as a team, but also in solos, duets and trios. Better yet, we get to compete with friends in other local studios and invite more friends and family to watch the girls compete locally.”

For Crystal Heinsma, who helps operate the area’s oldest dance studio, Dance Works, with her mom Kathryn (its founder in 1980) and sisters April and Rachel, the feeling is mutual on travel and more. 

“As a studio, we’ve traveled all over the country to compete over the years and are excited to have multiple entries for Stage One’s event,” said Heinsma. 

Additionally, with her contacts from regional travel, Heinsma has been reaching out to studios she’s familiar with promoting the event. 

“Stage One is passionate about building confidence in dancers through an encouraging atmosphere, and studios and teams across the region know what our studios and teams in western Colorado bring in terms of talent and the qualities of our dancers,” Heinsma said. 

Kelley and Massay agree on the positive experience and quality event Stage One is committed to bringing to Grand Junction and the region.

“Stage One creates such a positive atmosphere for dancers and attendees and I’m blessed to be a part of so many events over the years,” said Kelley, who has directed events in as many as a dozen cities in a year during his tenure. “The family, Christian values which a Stage One production provide is the perfect setting for the dancers to express their art form.” 

“Our entire business and event model is based on the premise of always doing the right thing and success will follow,” Massay said. “It’s how we’ve done things for 29 years. Our experience in working in smaller cities and building those events into annual successes will assure similar success in Grand Junction.” 

While Massay didn’t have specific numbers on the economic impact for Grand Junction’s Stage One event, he noted most of the dancers and their families will be from around the region and staying at local hotels, eating meals and shopping while enjoying all the Grand Valley has to offer over the weekend of the event.

Massay, who manages the business side of Stage One after being born into a dance studio family –  where his mother opened her studio 70 years ago and his wife (along with mom at 90 years old) and sister run studios in Oklahoma –  stated Stage One takes its core belief beyond promotion and production. “I remember when Covid 19 hit our competition season in 2020 and we simply refunded all entry and prepaid fees for competitions which had to be cancelled. In our hearts we knew those studios and families were going to need every dime for what was coming, and it was easy to do the right thing for them,” Massay said. 

This way of doing business has made Stage One into a production entity where more than 10,000 entries compete in its regional and national competitions every year.

“Bringing the values and quality of a Stage One production to Grand Junction has been a dream of mine for several years,” Kelley said. “I’ve always known Grand Junction has what it takes to become a premier regional event for Stage One.”

With a seasoned, locally based director, one of the nation’s biggest dance competition companies as producers and local support from studios, teams and coaches, Stage One is setting up Grand Junction for not only a successful event this year, but to become a host city for annual competitions for years to come.