You know the saying “It takes a village…” I believe we have all lived that saying more than ever this past year, but as a parent isn’t it SO true!? It really does take a village, a community, a family to not only survive, but to THRIVE! This is true in many aspects of our lives, not just parent life. As a studio owner and business owner I cannot do this alone. The Red Door staff is the best team I know and I am honored to have the amazing group of women we have working toward a common goal. Our studio has also joined the More Than Just Great Dancing community (just over a year ago) and this has become part of my “village”.

As a More Than Just Great Dancing studio we are aligned with a higher standard of dance instruction and management principles. More Than Just Great Dancing is a community of dance studio owners committed to providing more than excellent dance instruction. Founded by Misty Lown, owner of Misty’s Dance Unlimited, the More Than Just Great Dancing license is based on the same principles Lown used to grow her own La Crosse, Wis. studio that today serves more than 700 dance students.

The approach places the customer at the center of the dance studio world and equips us as a studio to transform staff teaching and leadership skills, provide quality programs and curricula, employ best management practices and have a positive impact on our community. 

This group of studio owners meets regularly via web seminars and teleconference discussions to share ideas, drive industry innovations and address challenges. I don’t know if it’s the dancer in me or the business owner in me, but I NEVER want to stop learning. Dancers are always on a path of continual learning. We learn at a young age that you work hard to meet a goal or learn a skill and once we do that the bar is moved. We have a new goal to meet and new skill to learn. This community of studio owners has taught me so much in the past year and continues to drive me to learn more, grow and improve every day. Similar to what we teach our students- perfection is not the goal, GROWTH is. If we are growing, we are living! 

Being a More Than Just Great Dancing studio has made me grow, is helping our staff grow and will help our students grow. A strong dance education from our highly trained and qualified teachers is only one part of what we do. We are very proud of the technique we teach and instill in our dancers, but there is also so much more. We don’t teach kids to make great dancers, we teach dance to make great kids!