Sara Teskey started dancing at Spotlight Dance Studio in Wells when she was just 3 years old.

But it wasn’t until she was a freshman in high school and asked to help teach dance classes that she knew what she wanted to do with her life.

“I always thought I wanted to be a cosmetologist,” Teskey said. “But when I started to student teach, I knew I wanted to be a dance instructor.”

Teskey graduated from United South Central High School, then attended Minnesota State University, Mankato, and graduated from Riverland Community College.

She opened her own dance studio, Unlimited Possibilities Dance Studio in Skyline Plaza last September. She is also the co-owner of Spotlight Dance Studio in Wells and teaches there.

She teaches jazz, ballet and hip-hop, and will start offering tap soon. She also plans to offer adult jazz classes this summer.

Her personal favorite type of dance, she said, is lyric ballet.

When she first opened her studio, she used the Dance Yourself Silly studio. But with about 30 students, ages 3 years to sixth-graders, she soon outgrew the space. When summer session starts on June 14, she’ll be in a new location in Skyline Plaza, at the former Up North store next to Hardware Hank.

“We just keep growing,” she said.

When it came to choosing a name for her studio, Teskey didn’t have to think long. In high school, a group of friends always got together to dance in the family basement. They came up with the name “Unlimited” for the occasions when they’d perform somewhere.

“I just knew what I was going to name my studio after,” Teskey said of the group. She added the “Possibilities” part because of what dance can do for a person in terms of exercise and movement.

Teskey said she loves dance because it’s a form of “expressing yourself through movement.”

Age: 22

Address: 214 N. Second Ave., Albert Lea

Livelihood: instructor and owner of Unlimited Possibilities Dance Studio in Albert Lea and co-owner of Spotlight Dance Studio in Wells.

Family: mother, Ila Teskey, and father, Jeff Teskey, of Wells; and sister, Anna, 19

Interesting fact: She also coaches the dance club at United South Central High School, the Rebelettes.

Her sister, Anna, who is 19 and works as a massage therapist at TouchWorks Massage, teaches with her sister and enjoys it almost as much. “The little girls are so much fun,” Anna said. “You can tell if they’re having a bad day, or if they’re hyper.”

Teskey said she gets a kick out of hearing that her students have been missing dance already, even though it’s only been a few weeks since the school-year session ended.

Unlimited Possibilities will be holding classes from mid-afternoon until 8 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays over the summer. Registration information is on www.unlimitedpossibilitiesdancestudio.info.

Albert Lea resident Sheri Fleek’s daughter Madison took lessons from Unlimited Possibilities this year.

“I appreciate the small class size,” Fleek said. “You can tell she truly loves the kids and she makes them feel important. “

She said if dancers wanted to compete, the sisters made extra time for the girls to help them prepare.

All the dancers who competed received silver medals, Teskey said. “It was a new experience for them and gave them a chance to see what other dancers can do.”

“It helps them set goals of what they want to achieve,” Anna added.