Dance Center Of Kirkwood

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/31) */
The Dance Center of Kirkwood is entrusted with the training, teaching and safety of over students, ranging in age from to The Center teaches its students to properly train, practice, and strengthens their bodies and technique in order
to ensure the dancers are prepared for their performancesWe take our responsibility for the safety of the students very seriously, in order to protect them and their love for dance
The student in this Case was scheduled to perform a ballet dance on stage in pointe shoes for the first timeThe pointe shoe is a special shoe worn in class that allows the dancer to dance on the tips of her toesThese pointe shoes are purchased at the beginning of the session and used for every class leading up to the recital performanceThe Dance Center requires a minimum of three hours of ballet class a week to build strength in the body and feet in order to safely dance on pointeChronic absenteeism can never be a suitable preparation to perform on pointeThe student in this Case was absent from out of classes this year and missed two Sunday rehearsalsAs a result of missing almost 50% of the classes, the student was thereby not adequately prepared to perform the ballet dance when the performance date arrivedShe had neither the muscle strength nor the familiarity with the choreography to perform the dance
Dancing on pointe is serious businessAs teachers we must protect the student from injury and doing permanent damage to bones and musclesLikewise, it is our responsibility to protect the other dancers performing on stage with the unprepared studentIn this Case, the student was scheduled to perform with four other dancersA mis-step or fall on her part might place the other dancers at risk should she collide with themA decision was made by the Center that in the interest of all the dancers' safety, we could not allow the unprepared dancer to perform
With this in mind, we explained to the mother in an email that it would not be safe for her daughter to dance on pointe for the performanceWhile the student was not ready to perform for this recital, we did invite her to continue her dance studies in the summerWe stated that if she was able to attend the classes and strengthen her muscles she could possibly perform in the Center's winter performance of the Nutcracker
The parent did not pay tuition for April, May or June and this tuition is still owed the Dance Center