A dance school that’s been on East Broad Street in Tamaqua for decades will soon move to a new location.

Skyy Clouser Boyer, who has owned The Dance Factory for the last four years, decided to move the 114 E. Broad St. studio to a more accessible site.

“It really came down to a lot of things to close the door (here),” Clouser said. “There are so many sentimental memories in here. Even I myself walked in here at 3-years-old for my first classes.”

What is prompting the move to the South Tamaqua Plaza on Route 309 is concerns for her students and their families.

“This winter really shook me because the amount of snow was crazy,” she said. “As you can imagine, Broad Street is chaos with the snow.”

With piles of snow all around, it made it difficult for folks to drop off their child or grandchild. Around 235 students ranging in age from 3 to adult attend classes in hip-hop, jazz, cheer, gymnastics, baton, tap and lyrical/ballet Mondays through Thursdays.

“I felt bad with them having to step over snow piles to get in here,” she said. The plowing on Broad Street, which is also Route 209 and handled by the state Department of Transportation, wasn’t also the best, she said.

Because of the poor snow removal, she said, she had to cancel some classes. And even on good weather days, she said, people often circle the block several times until they can drop off their students.

“Combined with parking, everything just aligned and I felt like this specific space is not equipped for what we are,” Clouser said. “We’ve gotten our use out of the space and we really are a staple in Tamaqua. I didn’t want to move too far.”

The new site is 5 minutes away, she said.

“I didn’t want to lose people by making them drive any farther. But there will be parking now, there will be a bigger space now,” she said.

The larger site will accommodate the growing number of students, Clouser added.

“I’m hoping to stay out there and expand,” she said.

The site will be renovated into a dance studio, and will likely open at the beginning of April. Until then, classes will continue on East Broad Street.

Clouser has mixed feelings about the move.

“I think it would be different if I didn’t grow up here, but because I did, it’s hard to think I will never be in here again,” she said.

Clouser has been dancing since she was a toddler, and instructing since she was a preteen - all from the same site.

The building housed the Gloria Dillon Studio of Dance beginning sometime in the mid-1970s. Suzanne Jones would eventually take over the school, renaming it The Dance Factory, and operating it until Clouser took the helm in 2020.

She also operates Studio B on Hunter Street in the village of Rush Township, Rush Township. That location will stay open and won’t be impacted by the move.