Did you know that Destiny Dance Institute actually started in the back of a bookstore in Wake Forest, North Carolina? Well, the seed of this wonderful institute was a part of the owner long before those early days in the bookstore.
Patty Ogden, the owner and founder of Destiny Dance Institute, is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since the age of 10, she spent most of her time dancing and performing. She began teaching at the very early age of 14 to help pay for her dance lessons and found a gift that sparked a passion for teaching. When Patty turned 18, she moved to Texas to get married, thinking she was finished with dancing. However, within a few years she was opening her first studio while pregnant with her second daughter. Patty spent 16 years in Texas. She had 3 daughters and a successful studio for 9 years before going back home to Pittsburgh and finishing her dance degree at Point Park University. After graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2000, she moved to North Carolina looking for a new start for her and her children.
Patty instantly began teaching for the YMCA in their after-school programs. This was fun but challenging since the room, gym, or sometimes hallway, was not the best environment for dance instruction. She started receiving requests from the parents of her students for more formal dance lessons. Although she was not looking to open another business, she began renting space from another local Raleigh dance studio to be able to teach her students on a proper dance floor and with mirrors. After about a year, the studio she was renting from went out of business – the decision to start her own school was now on the table.
Patty loved Wake Forest and although there were several dance studios in the area, none of them resembled the model that she had in mind. Hers would not be a competition-focused school but rather a school which focused on dance education and performance opportunities.
Patty remarried in 2003; she and her husband Rodney began to look for a space to continue her growing business. They met with the owner of The Factory before it was remodeled for businesses and began making plans for Destiny Dance Institute to be one of the first businesses in the new sports complex. When DDI opened its doors in The Factory in 2005, it had 3 dance rooms. After a steady increase in student enrollment, the school acquired the suite next door that gave them a fourth room and a costume workshop room for the DDI ballet company. After 10 additional years at The Factory, the Ogdens felt the need to relocate the business to expand its operations.
In November of 2017, construction began at their new location in downtown Wake Forest. In June of 2018, Destiny Dance Institute moved into their current, new facility at 417 Brook St., located in the Renaissance Shopping Center. The new space has 9,100 square feet with 5 dance rooms, dressing rooms, a costume workshop, and several offices. In conjunction with their new move, Destiny Dance Institute launched its non-profit ballet company, Wake Forest Civic Ballet. DDI offers a multitude of classes that include ballet, hip hop, tap, jazz, modern, acro, musical theater, and a variety of track out camps.
Destiny Dance Institute is a proud sponsor of the Wake Forest Dance Festival. The annual event features regional and international professional dancers. The festival is free and open to the public and is hosted at E. Carroll Joyner Park in Wake Forest. Mariya “Masha” Dashkina Maddux, a former principle dancer of the Martha Graham Dance Company in New York, is the festival director. Some of DDI’s advanced dancers were fortunate enough to participate in the festival for the last two years.