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Dancers Unite Fine Arts Academy LLC

March 9, 2011 by 4dancers

 Today we are running a feature on a dance studio for all you studio owners (or potential studio owners) out there. Take a closer look at Dancers Unite Fine Arts Academy in North Carolina…
Elizabeth Emery

Your Name/Title: Elizabeth Emery/Owner

Studio Name: Dancers Unite Fine Arts Academy LLC

Years in business: 2

Your studio’s philosophy: First and foremost, we want to make sure our dancers are learning the right way to do things.  We want top quality instructors who teach our dancers correct terminology and body placement so that if they want to become professional dancers they have the proper tools to do so.

Secondly, we want it to be a postive environment.  We want it to be a safe place to try things.  We want to encourage our dancers to try difficult steps in an encouraging way.  We are a family owned and operated studio, and we want all our customers to feel they are part of the Dancers Unite family.

Thirdly, we want them to have learned skills that would help our students in any aspect of life.  For example, learning how to try new things if you fail, learning how to perform in front of large groups of people and learning how to accept criticism are all wonderful skills that can be used in any career choice.

Dance styles taught: Ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, tumbling, pointe, contemporary, musical theater dance, bellydance, zumba

Approximate # of classes per week: 40

Approximate # of teachers: 7

Biggest struggle in getting off the ground and how you handled it: Getting the word out about our studio.  A lot of people choose a dance studio based on what their friends & neighbors recommend, and as a new studio it’s going to take awhile for your studio with the best word of mouth.  You just have to be patient, not give up and work hard at building good relationships with your customers. 

Also, try to get your name out in the community by working with local schools.  For instance, my dance studio teamed up with a well respected private school in the area to host a dance camp out of their facilties. 

Best advice you can give someone who is opening (or thinking about opening) a dance studio: Save up as much money as possible before opening a studio.  I opened a studio with my sister and we worked hard in high school to get full scholarships for college and then lived at home with our parents and shared a car.  Opening up a dance studio takes a lot of capital and there are expenses that you probably wouldn’t even think about before opening a studio!

One mistake you think potential dance studio owners make: Bending over backwards too much!  People don’t appreciate it, and often the ones you bend over backwards for still aren’t happy and leave your studio anyway.  Make sure you don’t spend so much time trying to please the hard to please that you forget about your supportive base of customers!

Specific tip for having a smooth recital: We had a checklist of every possible thing we would need for our recital going into it, and that really helped make sure we didn’t forget anything.

Best marketing move you’ve ever made: Having a really great website that my sister runs herself so it is constantly updated.  We also constantly work our social networking.  We’ve found most of our customers have found us through the internet.

Most rewarding moment: Walking through the lobby during intermission of our recital and seeing all the pleased parents.  It was so nice seeing so many proud, happy parents and knowing that I had helped make a wonderful, memorable afternoon for them.

BIO: Elizabeth Emery began dance at the age of three, and started teaching dance at the age of thirteen. She taught dance throughout middle school, high school and college. She danced competitively since age seven and her routines won numerous overall awards. A personal favorite dance performance of hers was Disney World, a favorite vacation spot of her family.  In addition to teaching and dancing at her studio, she was a member of the Charlotte Catholic Dance Team for four years. She was the only freshman on a team that placed first runner up in a national competition..

She graduated Charlotte Catholic with honors, and her dance and academic achievements helped her receive the Thomas Cooper Scholarship to the University of South Carolina. She then graduated cum laude from the nationally ranked Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina with a bachelor of science in business administration. She double majored in business economics and marketing, and minored in sociology where she took such courses as Childhood Sociology.

Elizabeth’s combined loves of business, dance and working with children has made owning a studio a natural dream of hers. Elizabeth strives to provide children with self-esteem, but at the same time provide them with a good dance background. Elizabeth continues her dance education today, and has taken numerous classes up and down the east coast, most recently at Broadway Dance Center in New York City, the Boston Ballet School, the Dance Complex, and the Jeannette Neill Dance Studio in Boston.  She has taught hip hop and jazz for the after-school program for the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools (St. Patrick Catholic School, St. Ann Catholic School, St. Gabriel Catholic School, St. Matthew Catholic School, and St. Mark Catholic School) and the Summer Dance Camp at Charlotte Latin School

Filed Under: 4teachers, Dance In The US, Studios Tagged With: Ballet, bellydance, dancers unite fine arts academy, elizabeth emery, hip hop, jazz, lyrical, musical theater dance, pointe, tap, zumba

Dance Jobs: Part-Time Adjunct Faculty At Belmont University, Nashville, TN

February 16, 2010 by 4dancers

 

Belmont University is looking for some adjunct instructors to join their faculty. These are part-time positions in the theater department, and the school is searching pecifically for teachers that have expertise in Dance Technique including Tap, Ballet, Jazz and Modern, Dance Composition, Dance History, and/or Dance Kinesiology.  The university is located in Nashville, Tennessee, and the positions will remain open until they are filled, and those hired can expect to teach up to nine credit hours a semester, depending on what is needed.

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Filed Under: JOBS Tagged With: adjunct faculty, Ballet, belmont university, dance, Dance History, jazz, modern, tap

Dance In The US: Arkansas Academy Of Dance

February 3, 2010 by 4dancers

Our second featured studio from Arkansas is…

Name: Arkansas Academy Of Dance

Location: 10301 N. Rodney Parham Rd., Brackenridge Village, Little Rock, AR, 72227

About: This school has a typical lineup of classes, including creative movement, ballet, jazz and modern. It also offers Pilates. There is a scholarship program for boys and a cash-based referral program for those who get a new student to sign up and take some classes.

What really caught my eye was the creative way that they peppered mini-events into the dance class schedule. I noticed that they have a “bring a friend week”, a “parent participation week” and even a “costume week” to help keep things interesting. Just enough to prevent classes from getting boring–but not so much that there is no sense of routine.

The school is also affiliated with the Arkansas Festival Ballet.

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Filed Under: Dance In The US, Studios Tagged With: arkansas academy of dance, arkansas festival ballet, Ballet, boys, creative movement, jazz, modern, scholarship

Dance In The US: Anchorage Classical Ballet Academy

January 16, 2010 by 4dancers

Continuing in our new series, Dance in the US, we feature our first organization from Alaska…

Name: Anchorage Classical Ballet Academy

Location: 501 W. International Airport Rd., #22, Anchorage, AK 99518

About: This school has been around since 1997 and it offers a complete curriculum, providing classes for everyone from pre-school students to pre-professional dancers. On the site there is an interesting article that outlines 4 Things To Consider If Your Child Is Serious About Ballet, which is an excellent resource for parents. (It can also serve as a great tool for studio owners who are looking for a way to point out their strengths.) One of the points in the piece talks about whether the school has graduates that are successful in the field. Anchorage Classical Ballet Academy has some impressive placements, with students accepted at places such as the Kirov Academy, The Royal Ballet School, and Alvin Aily Company, among others.

Classes here include Mommy & Me, designed for children 18 months to 2 years of age, which I thought looked good since they didn’t try to push for an hour. The class is 45 minutes long, and that is a challenge enough for most students that age. (I know, I’ve taught them!) In addition to ballet classes the studio also offers jazz and modern dance.

As always, if you are from the company or the school and you would like to tell 4dancers readers something about your organization, please feel free to leave a comment…

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Filed Under: Dance In The US Tagged With: Alaska, anchorage classical ballet academy, Ballet, Dance In The US, jazz, modern dance

Dance In The US: Alabama Dance Theatre

January 8, 2010 by 4dancers

Continuing in our new series, Dance in the US, we feature our second organization from Alabama…

Name: Alabama Dance Theatre

Location: Armory Learning Arts Center, 1018 Madison Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104

About: Founded in 1986 by Kitty Seale, the Alabama Dance Theatre is a combination company and school. Classes are offered in ballet, jazz, modern, hip hop and tap dance.

There is both a company and a junior company, and the ballet style taught has its underpinnings in the Russian Syllabus. If you’d like to learn more, check out the news section on their site, which offers a glimpse of the dancers on YouTube.

As always, if you are from the company or the school and you would like to tell 4dancers readers something about your organization, please feel free to leave a comment…

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Filed Under: Dance In The US Tagged With: Alabama, alabama dance theatre, armory learning arts center, Ballet, dance, hip hop, jazz, kitty seale, modern, montgomery, russian syllabus, tap dance

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