There’s No Place Like Home: Finding a Studio

When we started looking around for a studio to call home, I really wanted to find one that he could thrive in, like I had as a dancer.

Like finding a place of worship, you really want to feel comfortable with the people, the atmosphere, and like how the teachers are teaching. YES, there will be tough love and YES, you won’t always be friends with everyone, but this is a family you CHOOSE to grow up with and respect. You need to fit in!

So, of course I went with what was familiar to me. My studio was no more. My dance teacher moved on years ago. Many of the other studios I had visited in my past had closed. So, I decided to look at a studio I knew through an old friend.

I had danced there for a few months as an adult, but life always found a way to get busy and I had to stop. I never considered it as MY studio but since my friend grew up dancing there, I trusted it. Plus, I knew there was a male dance teacher there!

We signed up the Little Bear for his first pre-ballet class. Pre-ballet is a class for kids ranging sometimes from 2 to 4 or 5 years of age, depending on the level of maturity. LB was 4 so he was put in a class that had filled up TWICE and they were working on filling a 3rd class! We got him outfitted and off he went to his first class!

The teacher was a young student in the company. Most studios have a performing group, or company, that will perform and sometimes raise money for the studio.

I wanted to make sure that LB would get as much as he could get in his pre-ballet class and have a great experience. This teacher was more into herself than the students and would look in the mirror than at the students.

I know how some studios get their teachers when in a pinch, calling all their best dancers and teachers to see if someone could teach this additional pre-ballet class, and this seemed like one of those times.

LB loved his class and couldn’t wait to do more! I, on the other hand, was hoping for a better teacher for the next class.

I try not to be a dance mom (another topic for another post) but you really want to find a teacher that will take some time with your dancer! Most teachers are amazing at helping a young student learn to dance, but occasionally you get a teacher who is not interested in teaching the young ones. So, I observed class after class when he went in, to see if he was getting some kind of attention. After all, he is a rare boy! As the weeks came and went, we got nothing from this teacher.

With no clue where to begin finding a new studio, I started to worry. I drove past a dance studio near where I worked one day and decided to check their website out. I saw that they were going to perform that weekend, so my mom and I took LB to watch their show.

I enjoyed the performance and how every dance group had a certain level of dancers. They had little ones performing, up to their company members!

LB could not stay seated, but he was mesmerized by the whole thing! I was blown away by how good he behaved during the show. We even had comments from fellow audience members saying how they enjoyed watching HIM watching the show.

We quickly signed him up for a class with a recommended teacher who is wonderful with the little ones.

His first day walking into the new studio, he walked in like he had been there for years.