Today is Family Day and while the studio is closed tonight I still can feel the love of my dance family. When I first started dancing at age 8 I never thought that dance would become such a huge part of my life, nor that the people that dance brought into my life would stay with me still. But that’s the thing about dance, it can create such long lasting relationships not just between the dancers but also between dancers and teachers, parents and teachers and that’s because the whole studio is a part of a family.

There is nothing I love more than to walk out into the lobby and see our senior students sitting and helping some juniors through their math homework for the night. Or to see our minis snapping selfies with their dance friends on Mom’s phone. Or the parents exchanging clothing, nap time tricks or book recommendations. We are all here in this space together to help one another grow and develop. It is so clear to me that our dance family has something special and unique going for it.

The thing about our studio is that you aren’t just a number. Nor are you just money in the bank. You are a person and your child is one of our dancers. And to me, that means that your child and your family is a part of my family – The Footprints Fam.

I was having a difficult time starting off this blog post today so I started my brainstorming with some “family quotes” on Google…

“Families are like fudge… mostly sweet with a few nuts!” – Unknown

“The family – that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to.” – Dodie Smith

“It didn’t matter how big our house was; it mattered that there was love in it.” – Peter Buffett

But none of those quotes really seemed to capture how I feel about our Footprints Family. It is something special, something unique, something that only people who have been in our studio know how to describe. So instead of leaving you with a quote this Family Day, I would like to leave you with our House Rules.

In This Studio We:
– Accept everyone and do not judge
– Look out for one another
– Give everything our best shot
– Are not afraid to make mistakes
– Don’t say “can’t”
– Try again
– Work hard till we can’t do it wrong

The Footprints Fam is not just made up of the dancers currently enrolled at our studio. It is made up of all our dancers – past, present and future. Every person that has walked into our studio has helped to shape and create the studio that we know and love today. If this is your first year with us you are just as much as part of the family as anyone else. Just watch out for the Holiday Dinners!