Independent LivingJean Burker: A Born Dancer
May 30, 2019
Ms. Jean Burker has lived at Brightmore for four years now and is known at the Senior Center as a ballet teacher. At the age of seven, Jean started her dancing career as a tap dancer. Jean and her sister would practice and learn dance together and learned to play the piano. As they grew older, Jean’s parents made the two girls choose if they wanted to play piano or dance. Jean chose to continue dancing. Jean grew up in New Jersey close enough she could see New York and would visit often. Jean talks about how she would go and meet multiple professional dancers and continue to be inspired. Jean opened her own dance studio in New Jersey where she taught and ran the business for 35 years. After her retirement and closing of her studio, she thought she was done dancing, until her skills as a dancer and a teacher came to light in a dance class in Wilmington that Jean was attending as a student. After her skills were discovered, Jean started teaching in Wilmington at the local Senior Center where she teaches once a week to nine students. Jean has a love for dance and a passion that will never die. Jean states, “Dance makes you think and feel good.” She has been dancing for most of her life and I don’t think she will ever stop living her dream.