This time of year across the country parents cast about for something fun and productive for their kids to do during their summer recess.

For families in Doral, the situation is no different, and in fact the dilemma may even be more acute. Given the shortage of parks, schools, and other traditional outlets for children in Doral, parents have frequently had to look elsewhere to fill up their child's summertime free time.

Luckily, the perfect cure for an acute case of the summertime blues may have arrived in the form of Christi's Dance Studio, which only recently opened its doors in Doral.

The 5500 square foot, state-of-the-art facility is co-owned by Cristina Vacas and her father Dionisio, and will eventually have three studios downstairs, one 1000, 940, and 960 square feet respectively, as well as two upstairs that are 600 square feet apiece. All of the rooms will be equipped with professional wood floors (foam underneath) and wrap-around mirrors (full-length) and bars.

The studio will offer a variety of dance classes throughout the summer to people of all ages, including adults (for all the closet, wannabe Fred Astaires out there).

Vacas (Cristina) explained, "We'll work with everyone ages three to adult, beginning through professional, whether you want to dance professionally, stay in shape, or just enjoy dancing and want to get better at it."

The studio will offer a tap and ballet pre-program to children ages three to six, a junior program for children seven to eleven and a teen program for those 12 to 17, both consisting of jazz, tap, and ballet, and programs for adults that will include jazz, tap, ballet, yoga, and salsa.

And all age groups within the various age groups will have different levels of classes offered, depending on the particular skill level of each dancer.

Vacas certainly has the pedigree to undertake a project like this: she was a former professional dancer, herself and began her training at four years of age. Over the course of her career, she has studied ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, and modern dance, and has won many awards at both at the regional and national level (including first place at the Dance Educators of America 1991 National Competition in New York City. She has even appeared in several television commercials and on the Latin dance video show "Caliente".

After graduating from Braddock in 1992 and New World in 1995, she danced professionally for the American Dance Theater of Miami, both jazz and tap, for six years.

All the while, she has worked with several after school and day care programs throughout Miami-Dade County as a dance instructor, including Aurora Academy in Coconut Grove, Temple Bet Breira in East Kendall, and the Growing Place in Coral Gables. She also worked extensively as an instructor for the past eight years at Heidi and Joe's Dance Center in West Kendall.

For Vacas, the decision to open her own school in Doral was an easy one.

"Primarily," she said, "we're targeting this area. As far as I know, there's nothing like this around here, and there are so many young families out here. Plus, myself and the other instructors have the background to give competent instruction to the students."

She continued, "I met with the West Dade Federation and they were very excited about having a dance studio, and the community council was very supportive as well. That made it even easier."

As an accredited member of Dance Educators of America, Vacas has seen her students win top honors and special awards at numerous county-wide competitions, and she keeps those skills sharp by constantly attending seminars offered by some of the leading instructors and choreographers around the country.

Vacas firmly believes that the summer is the best time for first-timers to get involved with dance.

"During the summer," she said, "there is no scheduled performance, unlike the winter where there's a Christmas performance and in the spring with the end-of-the-year recital. During the summer we focus exclusively on teaching; from a technique point of view, summer is the best time to improve because there is much more one-on-one work."

Christi's Dance Studio (which sells dance equipment as well), is located at 3750 NW 114 Avenue, #8.