Marr-Mac Dance & Theatre Arts Centre was started in 1968 in the basement of Deane Marr’s home in Petrolia on the south side of Edmonton. One year later it expanded to a duplex also in the Petrolia area and was run in conjunction with a daycare and kindergarten along with her mother Jacqueline Macdonald.

Deane’s ballet training began in Edmonton at Heavener Dance Studios.  After graduating she went to England to the Hamond School where she received her teacher’s certificate in classical Ballet. When she returned to Edmonton, she opened her own dance studio.

Over the years of running Marr Mac Dance, she obtained her Intermediate standing as a dancer in RAD (Royal Academy of Dancing), Advanced standing in ISTD (Imperial Society of Dancing) and her Licentiate teaching certificate with the ISTD.

In 2001, Deane expanded her ballet training further into the Russian Vaganova Technique through workshops in St. Petersburg Russia and Ballet Divertimento School in Montreal.

Her warm leadership at the studio has filtered through to the instructors and is demonstrated by the care and attention given to each dancer and their individual needs. She taught a few generations of dancers before retiring at the age of 71 in 2015.

Deane passed away April 15, 2020. She has left behind a beautiful legacy for the love of dance and the people it touches.