The most commonly used hashtag on our pictures and in our posts is #dancefamily. Why? Maybe because if is the only way to describe the people who are in our studio. They have chosen to spend their nights and weekends with us. If something big in their lives happen like a birthday or a wedding or a baby shower, they know their dance family will be there. It is this big net of support and love that one can only truly feel when they are a part of a team that roots for every member as if that is their kid or their mom out on that stage.
Growing up as the studio owner’s daughter, this net has always been there whether I always appreciated it or not. As a young child, I had lots of extra moms and dads to run to if I needed help or had a boo boo. As a teenager, I had hundreds of eyes on me and I knew I couldn’t get away with anything. I got married while on a dance trip…one day we were dancing on Royal Caribbean in the grand ballroom, the next I was in Georgetown, Grand Cayman telling the man I love “I do” with my dance family in attendance and in the wedding party. Now, my children are growing up with that net and I couldn’t be more grateful. Their weekends and evenings are spent with their brothers and sisters in dance. Sharing their life events. Creating memories. Knowing deep down they are loved as they are,where they are, by their dance family.
I know that if I truly needed something, all I would have to do is reach out and there would be more than one hand helping to pull me up. In return, my hand is always here to pull. I learned that from my mom. She created this magic as a 15 year old girl teaching in the basement one summer. She loved those kids so much that their parents would not allow her to quit. They knew 45 years ago what she had not yet had time to discover: her gift of pure love. Love for dance. Love for teaching. Love for her community. Miss Dianna’s is an institution in our community because of that love. It is contagious and our students are better for it. When one of us becomes a doctor or a teacher or a father, we are all proud of them, because we are a dance family.
