Meet Paula Bearden | Director & Owner of Zeal Dance Force Dance Company

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paula Bearden and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paula, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I started my business back in 2018 to create a safe space for kids to learn and grow their passion for dance. My thought process was to start now while I had a fire within me to do so then to wait procrastinate until I had all my “duckets” in a row risking the potential for my passion to fizzle out. I started with only a vision, little money, and one student.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
At Zeal Dance Force we are about being a village for our children first and foremost! There are other companies that are all about competitions and shows, that’s a big piece of that, but if your dancer is facing homelessness or suffered a significant loss in their family, we are going to cater to that first. When a dancer signs up to register I want to meet, parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, etc because they are all going to be apart of that child’s dance journey. The village comes out to support shows, helps bring them to practice, goes over dance moves at home. When you join us you join a family and gain another support system for your child. The technical training that we offer and intentional choreography that we set is just icing on the cake. We care about how you feel when you leave dance class; that’s what matters. Our latest and greatest is that we have been blessed with a studio to call our own in Lancaster, TX. We opened up our 5,000 square foot facility this Fall and can’t wait to invite the public out to our first event in November! This was a two year journey that cost us a lot of stress and sweat equity but it is all worth it! Our studio includes an office, dressing room, back yard lawn, and a 30 x 40 ft dance floor that I would argue is the largest private dance floor in Dallas county!

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.
De Luca Pizza best Pizza Place, Sankofa Kitchen has good healthy food and a great atmosphere, Ella Bs is an awesome experience, and The Island Spot is also a favorite place. I don’t get out much but if I’m stepping out it’s going to be to eat!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate my shout out to a few people that helped me get started that is my husband who is my biggest supporter, my friend Elisha VanDeventer of Bombshell Works, my cousin Michael Graham of Signature Eventx who is an inspirational entrepreneur and most importantly my father who was the first entrepreneur I ever knew.

Website: https://zealdanceforce.com/

Instagram: @zealdanceforce

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

Image Credits
StillArt Photography; @crazycoolworld