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D

iane Hansen’s fi rst steps could have very well been a shuffl e-ball-change or a pirouette.

“From a very young age, maybe at 2 or 3 years old, I started dancing,”said the owner of Kitty Lee Dance Studio, now 65.

It was Diane’s mother, LaVon “Kitty” Lee Dahlberg, a Chicago-born, Chicago company-trained professional dancer, who inspired her daughter and many others in the Omaha community to fall in love with dance. Diane said she was known as “Miss Kitty” to her students.

Talent runs deep in Diane’s family: Kitty’s great-aunt was the famous silent fi lm star Lila Lee. Lila’s son was James Kirkwood Jr., who won a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for writing A Chorus Line. Lila Lee also lived in Chicago and was Kitty’s biggest supporter.

“I loved when my grandmother would tell me about their visits,” Diane said. “Lila Lee would move the furniture aside and just let my mom just dance and dance.”

Kitty’s family moved from Chicago to Omaha, where she continued to perform. Diane said her mom was a big part of Omaha’s Show Wagon, a mobile stage with performers who went to parks and neighborhoods, “back in the day.”

Kitty met and married husband Jack (who also loved to dance) and they remained in Omaha. When their family was young, Kitty wanted to stay home with Diane and her two older brothers, but she also wanted to teach dance. While growing up in Omaha, Diane was active in the studio, particularly when it came to choreography. She graduated from Benson High and studied business at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, knowing she would one day take over the dance business.

While in the middle of her studies, a friend called and asked her to join a dance troupe out of Miami, Florida. Diane laced her dance shoes and put a hold on school.

“We joined a USO tour and spent a month in Singapore, traveled up and down the east coast, and went to Madrid,” she said.

It was in Madrid that Diane met her now-husband Scott, 70, who has since retired from the Air Force and Union Pacifi c. Th e couple wed and had three children—Ryan, 40; Leslie, 37; and Lauren, 34.

Th e military family moved to Arkansas, Texas, and Illinois. Diane continued to teach dance—she taught on military bases and even had a studio in Lebanon, Illinois, outside Scott Air Force Base, which Diane said “grew like crazy” to the point she would have had to relocate to a bigger town.

“We ended up coming back here and I helped [Kitty] run the business,” she said. “While I was away, though, I would help my mom with the studio from afar.”

Th e studio continued to fl ourish, and over the years, as student numbers rose, the studio relocated to rented space at 90th and Blondo streets, 120th and Blondo streets, and 156th Street and West Dodge Road. Kitty continued to run the business like clockwork while Diane taught and helped out with the business. Th e studio is now located on the southwest corner of 168th & Blondo streets in a building owned by Diane and her husband.

In 1994, Kitty retired. She was 80 years old and wanted to simply enjoy the studio and not experience any of the burdens of the business.

“Even after she retired, she would always come in and help the teachers and be with the kids,” Diane said, smiling. “Everybody really loved her and looked up to her.”

Kitty passed away in 2013 at age 85. “She was just always right there so when she passed, it was really hard,” Diane said. “She was the best at handling every situation.”

Maintaining a small family business is important to Diane, as it was to Kitty. Th e studio has four full-time employees, between 10 and 12 part-time staff , and between 475 and 500 students. Diane said she does not have plans to open another studio location.

“We have grown over the years, but have still always kept it a small family business,” she said. “I do not want the studio to ever get so big that I am not hands-on or don’t know every person.”

Following in the footsteps of their mom and grandmother, Diane’s daughters are employed as teachers at the studio and have been in dance all their lives. Th e majority of her studio’s teachers grew up in Omaha and were dancers there.

When asked if her daughters will one day take over the studio, Diane responded with a chuckle, “I am sure they will. I won’t be here, but my hope is the studio will be around for at least another hundred years.”

“She started out teaching neighborhood kids in the basement. That went really well and her studio just grew.”

-Diane Hansen

“She started out teaching neighborhood kids in the basement,” Diane said. “Th at went really well and her studio just grew.”

Shortly after she started teaching, the family moved to another home in North Omaha near 54th and Browne streets and Kitty taught out of that basement for about 18 years. “We have grown over the years, but have still always kept it a small family business. I do not want the studio to ever get so big that I am not hands-on or don’t know every person." -Diane Hansen

Visit kittyleedance.com for more information.