Deborah Banks, seen leading a class at the Okanagan School of Dance, has retired and closed the business after 45 years (photo courtesy of the Okanagan School of Dance / Facebook)

By Liam Verster

Vernon's Long-Running Dance Studio Closed

Okanagan School of Ballet closed as teacher and owner retires after 45 years

Aug 18, 2025 | 4:23 PM

Vernon’s premier ballet studio has shut its doors for good.

After 45 years of owning and leading the Okanagan School of Dance as the “head tutu,” Deborah Banks decided to retire and close down the school.

“It was a long time doing the thing I love most in life, so the years have flown by, but after 45 years I would like to have some knees left to enjoy a little bit, and the time was right,” Banks told Vernon Matters, adding it was a “happy accident” that she ever had the chance to run the dance school in the first place.

“I was coming back to Vernon after professionally dancing in Edmonton at the Alberta Ballet Company, and just went to relieve a teacher who was sick at the Canadian School of Ballet [in Vernon, now known as the Okanagan School of Ballet], and I fell in love. I fell in love with the kids, I didn’t have any of my own [at the time] and I just found sharing what I loved most with them. Unlike a school teacher where the kids just arrive and have to be there, I had kids who came and wanted to be there, and that carried me through 45 years.”

The school officially closed its doors on June 30, with no plans of having it run as a dance studio in the future.

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“I did not find anyone I wanted to turn the school over who could carry on the traditions and the love and the importance of a dance education, so I did elect to just close the business down,” Banks said, adding it takes a large committment to run a dance studio.

“I was going to do that, and we tried with a couple of different teachers, but now they’re married and have children. Even though I left my family for 45 years at night, my children grew up on casseroles and et cetera, et cetera, it’s not a life I would wish on anybody. You don’t start work until the kids get out of school, so it’s afternoon and evening work which is really hard on a family.”

Banks added she sat down with all of her students and told them about her retiring before closing the school. She also encouraged her pupils to try out other dance studios and find teachers with whom they could continue to pursue their art.

The Okanagan School of Ballet operated out of a building on 27th Street, and Banks put that property on the market in mid-July. She said “it would be wonderful” if the buyer used it for a new dance or fine arts studio, though also acknowledged that someone may want the property for another reason, and selling to them would be fine with her as well.

Banks does not have any plans for her retirement, saying she has already been able to use her free time to visit her son in Fort McMurray , Alberta, though loves the Okanagan summers and wants to stay in Vernon and enjoy the sunshine for now, and maybe do some travelling at a later date.