Judd cousins hold dance & tumbling school

Cousins Adessa Judd and Kayla Judd have only been in Malta for a couple of years but the duo has combined their love for tumbling and dancing to form Shining Stars Dancing and Tumbling (SSDT).

Thursday, September 1, will kick off the second year of classes after a successful outing in the fall of 2015.

"Last year we had fifty-six," Kayla said.

Despite being outnumbered by a large amount of students, the Judd Duo wasn't overwhelmed.

"I thought it went really well," Adessa said. "We have a lot more kids signed up now because of the first year."

As of last week the duo had seventy-three kids aged three to fifth grade signed up.

Held upstairs in Malta's City Hall, the classes include hip-hop, tumbling, contemporary, jazz and ballet.

After a series of classes the SSDT students perform a recital. This fall's classes will end with a recital in December.

Adessa is a junior at Malta High School and specializes in tumbling, while eighth grade cousin Kayla specializes in dance. Upon moving to Malta the duo noticed that the classes they loved in their former hometowns were missing.

Kayla started dance at age seven and has been doing it ever since, until the move to Malta in January of 2015.

"I did dance back in Arizona," Kayla said. "And I wanted it up here but no one taught it. We were talking about it one night and we decided to start teaching."

Though the duo had interest in all of their classes, the most popular class was tumbling.

"We had way more kids in tumbling than in dance," Adessa said.

The girls confirmed that students learn a variety of flips including, cartwheels, back flips and front flips.

"The older kids they have other skills," Adessa said.

Though Malta wasn't represented in this year's Olympic Games, there is hope for the future.

"It's like the gymnastic floor routines without the dance," Kayla said. "They just do the tricks."

Also originally from Arizona, Adessa started tumbling in Maine, but it was her interest in gymnastics that started her young career.

"I would teach myself to do tricks because I always wanted to be in gymnastics but they never had it. "When I moved to Maine, they had tumbling and I did cheerleading with tumbling."

This year's classes will be open to both boys and girls.

There will also be a second season that kicks off this February and will end in a recital this May.

The price of admission is $20 per student, per month, per class. The classes will be held once a week.

To those that may be interested in the class but have no experience, the duo encourages you to come try it out.

"Just go and try it because we have a bunch of beginners," Kayla said.

For more information Adessa or Kayla can be messaged through Facebook.