LR Dance began in 2006 as a weekly drop-in commercial jazz class with four students in a rented space at Yonge and Eglinton. Those humble beginnings feel like a far cry from Lindsay Ritter’s bustling basement studio at Bathurst and College, a space she’s occupied since early 2013 after a few relocations, where she watches a troupe of talented young dancers rehearse a frenetic hip hop routine from her office, the music so loud it nearly makes the glass door between the two rooms vibrate.
Lindsay has loved dance since she taped spoons to her shoes at age three to create makeshift tap shoes, but, by her estimation, it’s her business sense that’s gotten her this far — from a weekly class with four students to a company with roughly 250, a staff of 30, and SMASH Entertainment, a Toronto entertainment company that provides models, dancers and musicians for commercial and private events.
