Article sponsored by Milpitas Charity Bingo.
Milpitas nonprofit Fancy Dancers, Inc., is celebrating its 40th year. Founded by Patty Jensen, the group recently returned from a competition down in Anaheim, where they had the opportunity to perform aboard a cruise ship…
“That’s where we differ from other groups,” Jensen said in an interview with The Beat. “Other groups are primarily competition groups. Although we do that, our emphasis is more on travel and performing in the community.”
Having done well in Dance Masters of California, the Fancy Dancers went to Anaheim to compete in Dance Masters of America, where they captured a lot of gold rankings, high gold rankings, and judges awards.
Jensen took us back to the past: “The concept when we first started, and we continue today, was to create a community-based dance company of young dancers.”
The dancers range in age from 10 to 24. They perform, they travel, they compete, and they participate in their community. Said Jensen, “They’ve done performances for the local food bank, raising funds, and raising community awareness around dance and what it can do for you.”
Jensen herself has been a dancer for her whole life. It was forty-five years ago when she first opened her dance studio. Five years later, she transformed it into its current nonprofit form. At that point in time, community dance companies were just beginning to bloom. Jensen looked around Milpitas and saw a need for something to keep kids busy.
When they first began, the group’s emphasis was on tap-dancing. Through the years, that evolved into all forms of dance, from jazz to lyrical to acrobatics to hip-hop and beyond.
Nowadays, Fancy Dancers, Inc., boasts an impressive array of alumni. Some of them stayed within the realm of dancing, either performing or teaching or both, but many others went into law, medicine, and education – particularly the latter.
Jensen shared that when her dancers graduate and go to college, they often say to her, “This is nothing compared to what our dance company was like.”
She cited “discipline” as being a “big part” of the Fancy Dancers experience. Although the Fancy Dancers have lots of fun, the rigor with which they’re instructed and directed prepares them well for all forms of future endeavor. In the meantime, Jensen emphasized, “I’ve taken them all over the world.”
As of now, there are 12 dancers in the company. It’s a historic low, but it’s the result of COVID, and Jensen knows of many people who are getting ready to sign up. Back in the late 1980s, they hit a high of 50 dancers. By now, second-generation students are a common occurrence; onetime dancers come in and sign up their own kids. Still, in the aftermath of COVID, Jensen observed, “There’s still kids not doing much; they got so used to sitting at home and staring at the TV that they haven’t come out of their shells just yet.”
Next summer, the group will head to Japan, where they’ll perform at World Expo 2025. They’ve done World Expos before, in Australia (1988) and Spain (1992), but this will be their first time going to Japan, which Jensen said she will be grateful to see before her retirement.
Regarding that retirement, she said with a laugh, “We’re getting there.”
Jensen’s daughter, Mandy Cottengim, who is one of three directors running the company right now, is standing by ready to take the torch.
Learn more about Fancy Dancers, Inc., here.
