Studio expansion brings dance to historic district

Alisha and Bradley Thomure cut the ribbon as part of the grand opening festivities for the newly opened B Elite Performing Arts Studio, at North Main and Center Streets. The Tom Sawyer, at left, is their son, Jaekyn. Contributed photo.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

There’s a lot of movement taking place this week in the historic district along Hannibal’s Main Street. Bradley Thomure is relocating his dance studio - B Elite Performing Arts Studio -  from its previous location, near the intersection of St. Mary’s Avenue and James Road - to the northeast corner of Main and Center streets. This building is located directly across the street from the Mark Twain Museum.

The move has a special significance to Thomure, a Hannibal native.

“I thought bringing the dance community to Main Street would allow people to know this amazing town they live in,” and by bringing more foot traffic downtown, “help (the local) businesses flourish.”

Thomure’s familiarity with all-points Mark Twain began when his son, Jaekyn, was chosen as one of the five representative “Tom Sawyers” in Hannibal’s young ambassador program. This affiliation brings Thomure’s family to the Historic District on a regular basis.

Thomure is first to admit that he knew little about Hannibal’s association with the famous author prior to his son’s involvement in the Tom and Becky program.

In preparation for Jaekyn’s role, family members all studied literary material, and toured the Mark Twain Cave.

This served as an awakening. Thomure was somewhat surprised to realize how much he did not know about his hometown, and the role Hannibal plays in literary history.

“I am super into the community,” he said, “I’m part of Jaycees, and I try to help out wherever I can for the community.

“But I remember thinking if you - out of all people - don’t know the full history of Hannibal, how many others don’t, either?”

Relocation

This is the studio’s third location.

When he first opened a Hannibal studio, Thomure partnered with Tri City Quest, a cheerleading studio, using their building on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

“When I opened my classes, I got an overwhelming amount of interest. Before classes started I had 28 kids. By our first recital, I realized I had to move. I had 80 kids at that point.”

The next move was to the previously named building on St. Mary’s Avenue.

By June 2025, he had been operating out of this studio for two years.  “We only had one studio room and I had one assistant teacher. I was up to 150 kids, and I was like, I need something more. Every single one of my classes had 10-15 on a wait list.”

When searching for a suitable studio site, he came across the building on the northeast corner of Main and Center. 

“But that’s for tourists,” Thomure thought. “This will probably be better if a restaurant moves there. I had to take a while to think about it.”

But the more he thought, the more he realized that this building could be a good fit.

He thought: “If you move your studio to Main Street where all the history is, it will force people to have to learn about their hometown.”

And so the decision was made.

New studio

The primary advantage to this building is its size.

The one-time location of the Molly Brown Dinner Theater offers the space Thomure needs to conduct multiple dance sessions simultaneously.

“Right now, we have one studio (in the new building) open,” Thomure said. “Within the next month or two we should have the other two studios open as well. There should be a total of three studios in that building by the time we’re done.”

The studio will feature a dance-parent room, where parents can watch their students dance via a television screen. There will also be a lounge for dancers, where they can relax, watch TV, or do their homework while on break.

And, to the delight of the students, the building is equipped with separate male and female bathrooms. In the women’s facility,  “there are three stalls,” Thomure said.

Later, students and their parents will be able to purchase dance shoes from the studio. “Right now, you have to travel two hours or order online,” he said.

Growth

As the studio expands, Thomure will add staff.

“I have an assistant, Alexis Lee; she does help me quite a bit with demonstration. She has been with me from the very beginning, we danced together at Karen’s Dance Academy. She travels with us to competitions.

“I have additional teachers that will come on board. I’ll have Payton Windland, I was her teacher at Karen’s. She is going to college now, but she has expressed an interest in teaching.

“Ashlyn Williams, she was the dance coach for the Hannibal Pirate Line last year, and has stepped back. She asked me to do some classes, some of our babies, 2-3 year olds.”

Alisha Thomure, Bradley’s wife, runs the front desk. She is also a registered nurse.

“Our fall recital will be in December; our spring session starts in January. My goal is to have the other (studio) rooms done” in time for classes in January.”

As his studio responsibilities have increased, he has had to make accommodations in his personal life.

Until March 2025, Thomure was working as a registered nurse in labor and delivery at Hannibal Regional Hospital. 

“I worked at the hospital 7-3, Monday through Friday, then went to dance at 4:30.

“It actually hit me that my oldest son is graduating from high school this year. I only have a year left with him.”

He stepped back from his full-time role at the hospital, and is now working PRN.

“I worked there last week,” he said.

“For the most part part, I want to spend more time with my kids. My middle son is super into sports, he does everything; my daughter is on my competition dance line. They keep me super busy.

“And the studio keeps getting bigger.”

One studio is open inside the new building housing B Elite Performing Arts Studio. By January, it is hoped that three studios will be available for dance lessons simultaneously. Contributed photo.