1.0The Sourcehttp://the-source.netrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="ZIxaU71wTK"><a href="http://the-source.net/eleanor-stevens-last-dance/">Eleanor Stevens’ Last Dance</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="http://the-source.net/eleanor-stevens-last-dance/embed/#?secret=ZIxaU71wTK" width="600" height="338" title="“Eleanor Stevens’ Last Dance” — The Source" data-secret="ZIxaU71wTK" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(c,l){"use strict";var e=!1,o=!1;if(l.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage);else if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(!t);else if(!(t.secret||t.message||t.value));else if(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret));else{for(var r,s,a,i=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),n=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=0;o<n.length;o++)n[o].style.display="none";for(o=0;o<i.length;o++)if(r=i[o],e.source!==r.contentWindow);else{if(r.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message){if(1e3<(s=parseInt(t.value,10)))s=1e3;else if(~~s<200)s=200;r.height=s}if("link"===t.message)if(s=l.createElement("a"),a=l.createElement("a"),s.href=r.getAttribute("src"),a.href=t.value,a.host===s.host)if(l.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener("message",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",t,!1),c.addEventListener("load",t,!1);function t(){if(o);else{o=!0;for(var e,t,r,s=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 10"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11\./),i=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),n=0;n<i.length;n++){if(!(r=(t=i[n]).getAttribute("data-secret")))r=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),t.src+="#?secret="+r,t.setAttribute("data-secret",r);if(s||a)(e=t.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute("security"),t.parentNode.replaceChild(e,t);t.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:r},"*")}}}}(window,document); </script> https://the-source.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/474565.jpg750500By Kyla Hurt(Click on picture for slideshow) Dance icon Eleanor Stevens is retiring after 51 years in business and 46 recitals, having been the area’s quintessential presence for dance education. She is the woman behind Stevens School of Dance & Gymnastics. Along with her husband, Dr. Tom Stevens, the two built Stevens in 1981, creating a place where dancers and gymnasts both could hone their dance skills … a place where she could instruct and guide them to a place of self-confidence and talent. Born and raised in Menomonie, Wisconsin, Eleanor Eighmy (pronounced like Amy and the namesake for daughter Amy later in life), is a twin. She and her brother, Alan, were six months old when their mother was killed in a car accident. Their father’s parents took in Alan, while Eleanor initially stayed with her father, saying, “I had some stepmothers that weren’t nice – one tied me to the clothesline. I was put up for adoption – the lady got pregnant and sent me back. I mean, until my grandmother took me – she said they’d take me once I was school age. Then, it wasn’t so hard. Luckily, she lived kitty-corner to the school. Then, things were good.” Her proximity to the school and the fact that every school in town had a skating rink was a start into dance-type movements. “I was a skater. We ice skated every day. I mean, every school … every grade school had a skating rink. So, there were a lot of talented people on the ice those days, and I was really good at skating. Of course, when you do it every day, you’d be good it,” Stevens says. Ice skating was a start in the movements and feel of dance. She was also on the tumbling team from seventh grade through her senior year of high school. Also a cheerleader, Stevens was able to do various gymnastic jumps at this point. “I had a lot of confidence after I got to the seventh grade. Before that, I was an insecure child. By seventh grade, I could do everything. I was a cheerleader. I was homecoming queen. I just did it all, because then finally in seventh grade I was secure.” Stevens credits her ability to dance, tumble and cheer at that age for giving her confidence. Stevens also began competing in baton twirling. “Baton twirling was big. Someone made my costumes back then, so that was a big deal. You didn’t have companies you ordered from. You had someone make your costumes. We had sparkly costumes – something that was really shiny … So, twirling was a thing that I also practiced every day.” She continued living with her grandparents, who were Norwegian, through high school. Stevens recalls how her grandmother, Ragna, would speak in Norwegian. Now, she makes sure all of her grandchildren know the Norwegian prayer, sharing an anecdote, “I said it to Calla and Claire [Kaufmann, her granddaughters] … they were going to the Catholic school Okay, you have to memorize this. I’ll give you $25 if you memorize this. They taught it to all the kids in the program. They made it into a cheer.” Stevens begins a heartfelt holler of the cheer as she started to laugh. “Their whole playground knew it.” After graduating from Menomonie High School in 1956, she met Tom Stevens and the two were married. He had a teaching degree in math and the two moved to Chetek, Wisconsin, where he taught. “While he was in Chetek, I taught tumbling and I taught twirling there … and would go to camps and pick up ballet classes at camps, so then we’d go to camps in the summertime at Wisconsin Dells … pick up dance classes.” Eleanor and Tom Stevens had three children, Shelly Stevens (Bob Groesch) and Tony (Leisa) Stevens, and Amy Stevens Kaufmann (Tom). Tom Stevens continued with his education, earning his bachelor’s degree in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and after, they moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he received his Master’s Degree and notes Eleanor Stevens, “That was the only time I didn’t do anything dance-wise was when we went to Columbus … and I was strictly a mom for that period of time. Otherwise, I’ve taught all the time.” Next was a few years back in Wisconsin before moving to the Chicago area. While her husband was getting his doctorate, she took dance at the school of a woman she remembers, Viviene Chamara. “She taught all the forms of dance. Anything that we taught here [Stevens School of Dance & Gymnastics], she taught. Well, we didn’t do hip hop back then, but we did ballet, jazz, tap [etcetera].” Dr. Tom Stevens took a position as the head of the deaf education program at MacMurray, bringing the family to Jacksonville in 1969. “I had thought about [starting a school], but we were coming to Jacksonville and my husband’s a professor and the professors’ wives could take any classes they want … I took all the PE classes, and in the PE classes, there was trampoline and there was throwing the javelin … there was all these fun PE classes and I was in such good shape and then became pregnant with Tom E. (Megan).” While in Jacksonville, their daughter Shelly had started with the local dance teacher and came back saying that she wouldn’t continue with the month of classes there, telling her mother, “They don’t know any of the French words, Mom. I’m not going back. It’s a waste of my time and you should do something.” That was 1971 when Eleanor Stevens started teaching in the basement of their home on Cardinal Drive. “Tom put up bars and so Shelly and the neighborhood kids came over and I started doing a little dance class. Then, they started inviting their friends. I mean, we had the Ware kids and the Schroeder kids, they were right in the neighborhood … so, we were getting quite a few kids.”...