Sweet Success

Leslie “Peaches” Jarvis-Gettis began her dance training at a very young age in South Florida. As the years went on, her passion for performing led her to work as a professional dancer throughout the United States and abroad.

As much as she loved performing, “Miss Peaches” had an equal passion for teaching children and a dream to one day own her own dance school. That dream became a reality in 1987 when she opened Peaches School of Dance in Miami and it soon became one of the most successful dance schools in Florida, serving over 1,000 students.

In 2015, Peaches decided to relocate to Central Florida with her eldest son, Zack, who was attending UCF and her younger son, Jeremy, who was accepted into the theater program at Dr. Phillips High School. She wanted to be closer to her family who had just opened Mango’s Tropical Café on International Drive. 

Though leaving South Florida was difficult, she looked forward to a new chapter in her life and immediately made plans to open another dance school in Central Florida.

In 2016, she opened Peaches Dance and Music Orlando, located in Windermere, where she now has an enrollment of 600 students.

From the moment you enter through the doors of the 11,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, you can feel the energy flow through the corridors as the children excitedly run to and from their classes. The young dancers are trained by the most professional and qualified instructors in the industry, each having extensive backgrounds in the performing arts. The curriculum includes a wide array of dance classes such as ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, tap, hip hop, aerial arts, acrobatics and belly dancing. The music department includes classes in voice, piano, guitar, violin and harp. There is also a musical theater program in which kids can participate in productions throughout the year.

Though there is a competitive dance team of 90 students, non-competitive dancers are encouraged to develop their skills in any technique classes offered on the schedule. For any dancer interested in pursuing a career in dance and the performing arts, Peaches offers pre-professional classes in which students take multiple advanced level classes per week.

The entire faculty at Peaches Dance and Music shares the same philosophy of developing the “whole child” and ensuring that, while they are getting strict training in their respective classes, children are also being nurtured and cared for in a way that is healthy for their emotional development. Kids of all ages are taught lasting lessons that will carry them through all of their school years and beyond. Many of Peaches’ former students have received college scholarships and professional performing arts jobs around the country, including with world-renowned dance companies and as soloists in Broadway shows.

Peaches Dance and Music Orlando is a place where kids build their confidence, develop a love for dance and the performing arts, make lifelong friends and create incredible memories that will last a lifetime.