Dave Massey

Dave Massey discovered his love for dance when he was a teen.  “I was a late starter,” he explains.  When he was 17, this MiraCosta dance instructor decided that merely playing the piano for a summer production of “Music Man” was boring; he would much rather be in the show.  He was cast as a dancer and hasn’t stopped dancing since.

For the next fifteen years, Dave performed, choreographed, and taught dance around the world. 

“Dance has taken me so many different places.  I choreographed in France, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Belgium, and Germany,” says Dave.  “I was in shows with George Burns, Lucille Ball, Barry Manilow, and Dolly Parton.  I’ve been in ‘West Side Story,’ ‘Hello Dolly,’ ‘Music Man.’ I did nightclub acts with Shirley MacClaine and was on different TV variety shows. I really did what I’m now teaching.”

After nearly two years of performing and being on the road, Dave enrolled in Chapman University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in physiology. However, he soon decided that he would much rather be teaching dance then working as a physical therapist.  “I really wanted to find out how to carry out my passion for dance when I got older,” explains Dave. 

In 2001, he obtained his Master of Fine Arts in Dance from UC Irvine, began teaching dance at multiple community colleges, and was soon offered a full-time position at MiraCosta.  Since coming to MiraCosta in 2004, Dave has taught jazz, tap and Pilates and has just begun a Pilates Certification Program. 

“I started doing Pilates at UC Irvine,” explains Dave. “I came from a very physical, technical background. So at first I thought Pilates was so silly.  But one day, I was in the grocery store and I felt so tall. I thought, ‘Oh my! This Pilates stuff is really working!’”

The Pilates Certification Program will be offered for the first time in fall 2006.  Dave says he hopes his students, both dance majors and non-dance majors, will learn to see the true benefits of the art.

“I love teaching dance at MiraCosta.  I get the opportunity to talk to students, guide them and get to know them.  Plus, dance is really cool, because no matter what type of career you go into there is always performing.  Dance helps you to be aware of yourself and aware of your body.”