BURGETTSTOWN – Jen Bertha has always loved to dance and perform, so it was a natural fit to open her open dance and drama studio in her hometown.

Express Your Talent Dance and Performing Arts Studio will hold an open house Aug. 17-20.

“I’m going to be available for questions about classes and parents can register their children,” Bertha said.

Open houses times are from noon to 4 p.m. Aug. 17 and 20 and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 18-19. Open dance classes will be held Aug. 24-26.

“People can come in and pick a class to try, and if they don’t like it, then they don’t take it and find something else,” Bertha said, noting parents sometimes find themselves in the position of their child not appreciating a class. “If some one doesn’t like ballet, then maybe they’ll like tap.”

The studio will be offering musical theater, arts and crafts, drama, jazz, jazzy hip-hop, beginners ballet, lyrical, beginners acrobats, tumbling for tots, beginners tap, baton and flag and rifle colorguard. Bertha said adult and child exercise classes – including family exercise – will be available.

“I’m also looking into paint-and-sip classes,” she said.

Express Your Talent also will be offering vocal lessons once Bertha settles on an instructor. She also expressed an interest in offering line-dancing classes in the future.

“A lot of studios in the area don’t offer fine arts,” Bertha said. “And baton is a specialty of mine.”

Bertha runs summer camps on baton, flag and rifle twirling.

“In a six-week camp, most (students) are already twirling by four weeks,” she said.

Bertha has been a part of the local dance and theater scene for a number of years. While she began dancing at 5 years old, she has nearly 25 years of experience as an instructor for various area dance schools. She also spent four years working in local community theater. Bertha also is the winterguard instructor of seven years at Burgettstown High School. She also choreographed the school’s performances of “Seussical The Musical” and “Grease.”

“We opened in July – right after the Fourth of July – but I’ve been around forever,” she said, noting she has been dancing for 35 years.

She has offered themed summer camps for boys and girls as young as two-and-a-half for five years now, but this fall will be her debut as a stand-alone fine arts and dance studio.

“I just love dance and I love to be creative and being around other people being creative inspires me,” she said. “I feel like this is something different than want a lot of other places offer, because it’s a lot of things in one place and we open things up to very young children that other places might not offer. We’re going to have interactive tumbling and workshops where the whole family can come in.

“I just thought, instead of working for someone else, why not work for myself?”

Express Your Talent is located on the second floor of 1608 Main St., the former Burgettstown Hardware building.

For information, call (724) 249-4178, email xpressyourtalent@gmail.com, visit the website at expressyourtalentdance.com or like the Facebook page by searching “Express Your Talent.”