Chance to Dance Foundation provides quality dance/movement instruction at no cost to ethnically diverse, economically disadvantaged youth in Tampa. Classes integrate a variety of dance disciplines including jazz, modern, ballet, hip-hop, funk and acrobatics in a safe and stress-free environment. Chance to Dance Foundation’s objective is to help each child acquire self-discipline and nurture self-confidence. Through the utilization of movement children will develop balance, coordination, spatial awareness, creative expression as well as an improved and healthy body weight and image.

Jennifer Hastie is the Artistic Director of the nonprofit foundation Chance to Dance. The foundation’s objective is to promote physical and mental health in an underserved demographic through movement and dance. Her conviction that physical activity provides benefits of healthy minds and bodies fuels her determination to serve. She received her B.S. in Physical Education from the University of South Florida, and her life-experiences blend managerial/administrative positions with teaching dance for over 20 years. She completed her M.A. also from the University of South Florida in Special Education with an emphasis in Behavior Disorders. Complementing physical education with psychologically based theory strengthened her capacity to accommodate special needs populations by meeting each individual’s as well as group needs through creative expression and movement.

Brucie Klay Boonstoppel, owner/director, is a native of the Tampa Bay area. She began her training in the Cecchetti Method of ballet at the Florida Academy of Ballet in Tampa. She continued her studies at Florida State University studying under Maria de Baroncelli, Richard Sias, David Roche, and Lynda Davis and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance. Brucie also studied summers at the American Dance Festival held at Duke University in Durham, NC along with studies in New York with Richard Thomas, Melissa Hayden, David Howard, and Phil Black.
Brucie has performed as a professional dancer in Southern Ballet Theatre, State of Alabama Ballet, Omni Dance Theatre and shows at Rosie O'Gradys and Busch Gardens. She has been teaching for 26 years, including semesters at University of South Florida and University of Tampa, along with guest teaching at Tampa schools. Brucie continues her education by attending different seminars and conventions, and has brought BKDC to have the wonderful reputation it has today.