About Us
How We Got Started
The Mommie Dearest School of Dance & Charm was born in late 1988 during the AIDS pandemic. Barbara had the privilege of being one of 38 cast members and over 80 creative technical professionals who gave of their time and talent for many months to create "Hooray for Hollywood," a lavish musical extravaganza that raised tens of thousands of dollars for the support of people living with AIDS and for research to end the terrible suffering that the government and much of the public at that time tried to ignore. One of the many characters that Barbara played in the two shows that were performed at the Paramount Theater and the DCPA was a larger-than-life Joan Crawford who menaced the lead character, Dorothy. Apparently Barbara was perfect for the part, and since she had no real name for her growing dance studio which was forging its own identity separate from a gymnastic school, Mommie Dearest was born!
About Our Teachers
Barbara Gabriel
Barbara is the owner/operator of the Mommie Dearest School of Dance & Charm and has danced, taught, and choreographed for nearly 60 years. As a performer, she has probably played every hooker/stripper part in musical theater. Choreographic credits include The Music Man, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Oliver, Guys & Dolls, West Side Story, Fame, Closer Than Ever, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and the ever popular Vampire Lesbians of Sodom. As a teacher, she has taught dance to students in public schools, dance studios, and her own studio (a refuge for the misfits of the performance world).
Now in her 70s and equipped with a cool titanium/plastic knee, she taught radical History and Geography at Metro State University of Denver where she strove to inspire and empower students to stand up, VOTE, question everything, and dare to change the world. She retired from full-time teaching at Metro in 2015 with (amazingly) Emeritus status, but unable to stop corrupting the youth of America totally, she continued to annoy the powers that be & radicalize students until 2023, when the History department realized that she had never left & stopped giving her classes. She continues to be an activist and advocate for justice and will not back down until the Antichrist has returned to Hell. She returns to her spiritual home Britain as often as she can and plans to live nearly forever just to piss off everyone who is AMAZINGLY still in her will.
As Emma Goldman once said, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.”
Jennifer Petty
I have been dancing with “Mommie Dearest Dance” for 15 years, choreographing and teaching the last 7 years. I have come to love choreographing and teaching the most, when you have students like we do at this studio you cannot help but love doing what we do. I bring to this studio 15 years prior Ballet & Tap training which I instill into my students, but I have learned so much more jazz and musical theater from Barbara Gabriel that I bring into my own tap choreography.
I love what I do here, and I love working with all the students at this studio, we have fun doing what we do and it show’s in our productions.
Natyliah Hastings
I have been dancing with Mommie Dearest since 2012. What started as a way of sticking by a close friend turned into an unmistakable passion and genuine love. A simple weekend activity quickly turned into a lifeline in countless times of need. Starting from the kids class to teaching a kids class is an honor beyond words. I love teaching my class the same way I was taught, and my goal is to continue to inspire those young minds.
I have a choir background from high school, primarily from participating in the T-Bird Acapella Choir. I love to sing and dance, often at the same time. I adore the stage, and even more so performing.
In a lot of ways the studio has become a healthy outlet for me. I spend a lot of time there, between choreographing, teaching, and writing the script for act two, there is little I'd rather be doing. Outside of dance I'm working towards a Medical Assistant Certification to continue my career, but no job could be more fulfilling than teaching for the studio that taught me how to breathe, how to reflect, love, and of course dance like nobody is watching.