Many people forget that along with being a fun source of creative expression dance is also a good workout and a way to build confidence. Tene Dismuke is not among those people. That’s what led her to found the House of Bastet.
While she offers more traditional exercise programs like yoga and Zumba, the heart and soul of the organization is dance. Contemporary and African dance are the main focus, but other classes like tap are also available. It all ties in with her belief that our bodies are made to move and exercise is as important as sleeping and eating.
Dismuke comes from the world of dance. A native Detroiter, she moved to New York where she taught dance and modeled for various schools and organizations in addition to dancing with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She’s studied with master teachers including Denis Jefferson, Joan Peters, Baba Ali, Lisa McCall, Fabayo and George Curry. She is also certified yoga and fitness instructor, a relaxation specialist and Reiki one practitioner.
Today she is back in Detroit and sees dance, not just as teaching a series of steps and swinging to the music, but as the best way to become physically fit. That’s how the dance classes at the House of Bastet morphed into the fitness approach. As it evolved Dismuke’s new goal became teaching fitness over just learning how to dance.
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“It’s like a marriage,” Dismuke says, describing her eclectic style. “I take what I know from this and learned from this and merge them.” She says the whole process was “a natural evolution.”
The story of House of Bastet does not end with a series of dance classes. It is also a story of community presence.
The Camp Fabulous program, which provides guidance for young girls, age 6-17, is one example of this presence. The class, which runs for two weeks in the early part of the summer, may seem like a typical dance class but there is so much more to it. While the girls learn to dance they also develop proper posture, but what Dismuke is most proud of is showing these young girls the proper way to behave with others.
The class teaches them how to make an impactful first impression and how to engage people, skills Dismuke noticed young people sometimes lack. She says it as a way to counter the “Mean Girl Syndrome” where young women publicly humiliate and spread nasty rumors about one other, pit friend against friend or exclude former friends from the group. To stop the behavior she teaches them respect and cooperation.
It’s working. Last year the lessons bonded the girls so well every lunch hour they would all go out and play soccer, with all the girls taking part.
Dismuke is also out and about in the community speaking at schools and working with senior citizens.
She offers free classes at retirement homes, senior community centers, and the like – lower impact, of course. This provides the seniors with regular aerobic exercise, which diverts from the more common place types that they often have as options. She works with St. John’s Providence Health Systems, the Health Alliance Plan (HAP), and the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan to find people who want and need her program.
The acts of community responsibility have not gone unrewarded. The increased presence in the community has brought in a fair share of new patrons.
Dance and fitness are not the only businesses Dismuke has in her life. She also helps run the next-door art gallery, “Suddle Creations,” a business spearheaded by her husband Nivek Monet.
The increased presence in the community has brought in a fair share of new patrons.
On some nights the couple will open the door that separates the two businesses and allow people to experience the two enterprises at the same time.
Dismuke’s heart and soul may be in dance, but here commitment to making a difference has spun out so much more.
Editor’s Note: For additional information call 313.283.5248 or visit the House of Bastet
Photos courtesy of House of Bastet
The right moves: House of Bastet’s community outreach has built business and a loyal following added by M Lapham on
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