Meet Bianca Rebello & Shelley O’Donnell | Co-Owners of Integrity Dance Arts

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bianca Rebello & Shelley O’Donnell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bianca & Shelley, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Hello! Thank you for taking the time to read through our journey and thought process behind starting Integrity Dance Arts. We are Bianca Rebello and Shelley O’Donnell and we are the Co-Owners of our dance studio! Integrity is a word that can be used in all aspects of life. It is “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.” The word Integrity and its meaning is a big reason why we wanted to start a dance business. We both have been down numerous roads in the arts. For decades, we have both trained, studied and taught dance while building strong relationships with wonderful artists along the way. Our dance educators and mentors instilled so much knowledge and skills in us that we felt the urge to give back to our students and our community. We want to build a place for dancers to come train, as well as to have the opportunity to develop into artists. A place viewed as their second home where everything we do is always led by Integrity. Building dancers to have a strong work ethic and loving hearts. To be confident in themselves to know that they can achieve any of their dreams! Integrity Dance Arts was created to foster growth from the youngest of dancers all the way up to seniors. Moving into a realm with a company that performs, gives back to our community, and competes at the highest levels, pushing training to an upper echelon while having opportunities to learn from master artists throughout the area. We also proudly house practices for professional dancers from Full Circle Dance (a contemporary company in North Texas) under the direction of Artistic Director Tiffanee Arnold. For more information about Full Circle Dance we encourage supporters to visit their website at https://www.fullcircledance-northtexas.org. We also built a connection with Harmony Dance Team, a non-profit, all abilities dance team starting its first year. We are thankful that we could provide them a space to rehearse and help them grow. You can find their website at https://www.harmonydanceteam.com. As stated in the beginning, giving back to our community, mentors and the next generation of children is extremely important to us and we vow to ourselves, our families and loved ones that we will always strive to achieve it with Integrity.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We decided to open up the business in the early stages of the pandemic. This circumstance presented challenges in both business and personal lives. Both Shelley and I were jobless and I had also just given birth to a baby girl before deciding to open up the studio. So that was obviously a difficult decision, but we had a lot of support from family and friends. And it turns out that, because we started small, time was on our side. It was probably easier for a small business like us to separate kids and teachers in small classes to maintain a safe environment for everyone. As the restrictions started getting lifted, we were able to grow accordingly. We are very proud of “surviving” this first year and our hearts go out to all business owners who went through the same. We certainly learned a lot during this first year and we hope to continue growing over the coming years, exercising the same morals and values that carried us to this point. We love our students and will always strive to help them accomplish their dreams, but most importantly, we are not afraid to fail and I think that is what will ultimately set us apart.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We are lucky to have the business near downtown McKinney. For anybody who’s never had a chance to visit, it’s a historic area that really brings out the broad culture of the city. It’s perfect for a quick cup of coffee, a warm meal or even a fancy dinner. The area around it is just as nice. I was born and raised in McKinney and I’ve seen this area grow into one of the best places to live, not just in Texas, but in America. There are constant musical, artistic and sporting events all around the area, especially now that everything has started to open back up. You have options for outdoor activities everywhere, like playing golf or going to parks and splash pads (personal favorite of my kids), but you can also treat yourself to the amazing cuisine options available.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We would love to recognize Full Circle Dance and Harmony Dance Team for letting us be a small part in their journey!

Website: https://www.integritydancearts.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/integrityda/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/INTEGRITYDA/