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After 50 years, Judy Conti is ... Still dancing
By JoAnn Jones
When Judy Conti was born, her mother must have known she was destined for the stage.
“She named me after Judy Garland,” Conti said. “My mom was my biggest fan.”
Conti, who has been dancing for 65 years herself, is celebrating 50 years of teaching dance in the Youngstown area. In June, Conti was inducted into the Stambaugh Auditorium Wall of Fame, the auditorium where she has had her studio’s recitals for more than four decades.
According to Conti, she is the only local artist other than Maureen McGovern, a 1967 Boardman High graduate and national recording star, who has been inducted.
“At the end of the show on June 16, my teachers and the mothers from the competition kids brought out a 3-foot-by-5-foot collage that the art department at YSU put together,” she said. “I guess it’s because of my dedication and affiliation that I was selected.”
Conti has dedicated her life to teaching dance in the Mahoning Valley.
“I opened my own studio in September, 1961,” Conti said. “Dancing is something I’ve always loved.”
Conti has been dancing herself since she was 5. She grew up in Youngstown, attended Madison Elementary and graduated from East High School in 1958.
Conti began dancing at the Fred Kotheimer Studio and later for Bill Cassidy, who bought that studio. She said she became an assistant teacher at age 13 and then began going to New York to study two years later.
“In the summers, 12 to 16 of us would tour with the June Taylor Dancers,” she said. “We would dance at grandstand shows, like at the Canfield Fair. Some of the headliners for those shows were Anita Bryant, Brenda Lee, Minnie Pearl, Tex Ritter and Bobby Vinton, to name a few.”
As a high-school student, Conti dreamed of the day when she would have her own studio and could teach others. That initial studio started at the corner of Indianola and Shields roads in Boardman with about 60 students, she said.
“For a while I had about six studios going on at the same time,” she said. “When students had done their teacher training with me, I would open a studio.” She has studios in Boardman on Route 224, in Poland and in Columbiana. Plaques from competitions and collages of photos from recitals adorn the walls of the Boardman studio.
In November each year, Conti and her staff begin planning for the June recital at Stambaugh Auditorium.
“By December we’ve selected the costumes and the music,” she said. “Then we take the photos for the program in April.”
The recital is special to her for many reasons — many of which are related to family. William Conti, a cousin and a Stambaugh Auditorium trustee, spearheaded the efforts to restore the auditorium’s organ.
“My cousin William Conti is responsible for the auditorium’s restoration,” she said. “Bill is responsible for the new organ — oh, my gosh, that’s his baby. And then when they were selling seats, my daughter Kim bought me the front and center chair. There’s a little plaque there. I’ve always felt at home at Stambaugh.”
At her “real” home in Poland, she hosts parties both nights of the two-day recital.
“We have a full buffet,” said Conti, who loves to cook, especially Italian and Greek dishes. “I spend the day of the recital getting food ready.”
In addition to teaching and the annual recital, Conti and her dancers go to four or five competitions each year in such cities as Pittsburgh and New York.
“We have so many competition kids,” she said. “They’re so wonderful, better than I was. The level [of talent] has risen so much higher.
“I have loved every minute of being involved in the studio life and watching our young dancers grow into poised, self-confident, beautiful people inside and out,” she said.
Conti’s own beauty and poise — she also teaches a four-week etiquette class — contribute to her attractiveness, but it is her genuine love for people and making them happy that has been the foundation of her success.
“I’ve always been a people person, and I go out of my way to help others,” she said. “I like the kids the best, and the parents are wonderful. I’ve really been blessed.
“When you have these kids from the time they’re 3 and watch them go off to college,” she said, “what could be better? I’ve taught thousands. I’m teaching grandchildren of former students.”
Many of the students she has taught over the years have come back to the studio to teach with her. In fact, most of the instructors on her staff grew up dancing in her studios. Because she has known them for so long, she sees no need to micromanage them.
“I’m not here [at the studio] overseeing them,” she said. “I don’t need to. If I get any criticism, I go to the teacher directly. It should be a happy, fun, and wonderful experience, especially for the parents.”
Conti said she also hosts a meeting for her staff at her home once a month.
“On the first Sunday of the month at 12:30 after church the teachers meet at my home,” she said. “We sit around the dining room table, eating oven spaghetti and meatballs. The dining room table is always set for 14.
“They’re like my family,” she added, “since I helped raise them all since they were 3, 4, or 5.”
Conti, who belongs to the Professional Dance Teachers Association, also takes her instructors and advanced students to conventions and workshops to study and learn the latest dance techniques.
“We’ve studied at the Broadway Dance Center, a huge studio near Times Square,” she said. “They bring in teachers from all over. Last year we were there in January during a huge snowstorm.”
Instructors also come into the Youngstown area, Conti said, to Stambaugh Auditorium and Boardman High School, to train instructors of local studios.
Conti said she was invited in the 1980s to teach in Europe — Spain, France, Switzerland, England, and Holland — for Youth with a Mission.
“For two months I taught young Christian missionaries in mime, drama and dance,” she said. “These youth were from all over the world. We would sit in Christian coffeehouses and share Christ.”
Referring to herself as “born again,” Conti said her strong faith has been an integral part of her dancing career as well as her personal life. She credits her childhood friend and longtime dance partner Rick Raupach, who teaches ballet and pointe at her studio, with strengthening her faith.
“In 1973 he shared Christ, our Lord and Savior, with me,” she said. “Ever since then, I’ve been sharing my faith at nondenominational Christian women’s clubs.
“I have my own Christian praise group of dancers,” she said. “I close the first half of my shows with praise dances to hymns such as ‘How Great Thou Art’ and ‘Amazing Grace.’”
In addition, she and her husband of 48 years, Dennis Katsaras, belong to a Bible study group with five other couples.
“I’ve been able to enjoy a wonderful home life and lifelong friends of 35 years,” she said. “We see each other all the time. We’ve traveled, gone on cruises.”
She said she met her husband in the same month she opened her first studio. She recently surprised him as the guest entertainer at his 80th birthday party, where she belly danced for him.
“Everyone there thought it was great,” she said with a smile. “They played the music again and he danced with me.”
The couple have two children who have also benefited from their mother’s experience in dance and performance.
“Kim has danced all her life,” Conti said. “She’s modeled, acted ... it’s in her blood. She’s the West Coast fashion director for Jones of New York. Her husband, Mike, owns a recording studio in Los Angeles.” Her daughter was married in Christman Hall at the Stambaugh Auditorium.
“Scott modeled in Miami,” she said of her son. “Now he has his own auto gallery and lives in South Beach.” Both children attended Youngstown State University.
Even with everything going on in her life, including teaching two nights a week, Conti said she doesn’t know the meaning of the word stress.
“With what I do, I should have the most stress,” Conti said. “But I don’t even know what that word is.
“I’ve been blessed,” she said. “I’m still dancing. I hope I never have to slow down.”