11/26/2025
Amid recent events, we wanted to approach this situation with full transparency. Over the summer, we met the local dance troop Royal Essence at the parade held by the chamber of commerce. Previously, I had been told that the director of this team had been running this competitive team out of his home, and that saddened me that he was having to do all of that without the resources or space to make it work for his team. I know what it is like not to have a space to practice or perform, and wanted to extend my hand, one director to another.
We reached out, to see if this coach would like to host his practices out of the studio. He ran 2 practices there- stated he would like to continue, we built frameworks into our website, and then he disappeared. We heard no word from him after that. The school year had started- he was a teacher, we had started to set his program up on the site, but that was the end of that. We had assumed it was school year associated.
We were deeply saddened, surprised, and blind sided by the news this week. We are saddened by the news of the allegations that have been thrown his way- We are equally upset by the trauma that child is going through. We never met the student who made the allegations, but our hearts are with all of the students with that program.
If anyone knows any of the students in that program who are still interested in dancing, we would love to help see those kids start anew in a program that has been here for 5 years, works to help see kids succeed, and works to provide performance and competition opportunities within the community for all kids. We neither condone the actions that happened, nor would/could that ever happen here.
Our studio works to ensure we always have adults present to keep our teachers accountable. Parents are welcomed and encouraged to be there, because we feel this creates an environment that disallows for negative and inappropriate situations to happen. We have two teachers present to keep situations between the kids from happening as well- unless someone is sick, and in that case we have built in community measures to help keep our kids safe.
My studio was built on a ground of safe spaces- and when we brought Royal Essence into our studio, that was also our intention. To keep dance a safe space for kids in the community, sometimes you also just need space to practice that is safe.
We hosted two practices for a team that needed space to practice- something we do not feel bad for doing. We do, however, wish that the world did not present situations for children that were tumultuous and unsafe. Our hearts are with the community at this time.
