2018-2019: Stability, For Just A Moment

Now, dear reader, you and I both know that what comes after 2019 is the complete opposite of stable, and you’ll be able to read all about it next month. But for now, let’s forget that and just focus on the stability that DWL felt in the 2018-2019 season. We didn’t know what was in store, but we never do. For this month, let’s travel back to a simpler time. 

“This was the first year I felt like we were proving our concept,” Beth recalls. “What started as my dream and vision was solidified as reality, and it was working. When you start anything new, there’s a bit of crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. While I was confident in our mission and vision, there is inherent risk in any new venture. But people were choosing what we were offering! This was the year I knew we had something that worked and we could grow and scale.

This was the first year the program started to be profitable. You’ll notice many of our in-class photos and showcase photos were taken by a professional photographer rather than just on our iPhones. 

This was the first year we switched to two semesters rather than a year-long program. The staff was growing too; we finally had enough consistent morning classes that we needed a morning receptionist, which was Beth’s sister, Abbie. And Ms. Taylor was hired to take over Saturday classes, giving Beth some of her first weekends off in her entire career. 

“We were getting clearer on our curriculum, class offerings, and progressions,” Beth said. “We continued to divide age groups as our programs grew, allowing us to tailor classes to the students’ needs even more.”

If you recall, in Year 2, we were attending every community event we could just to get our name out there. All that work continued this year into our first appearances on television and our first library story times. 

Fox Carolina covered our Sparkle Day Classes, where the anchor put on a tutu and danced with us. Later that year, Your Carolina featured our dancers twice. The first appearance was to highlight our classes, and the second was all about our Daddy Daughter Dancers. Click here if you want to see our latest appearance on Your Carolina from last month. 

The First Winter Showcase

By far, the most important first of this year was our first Winter Showcase! 

“My entire career I have wanted to put on a winter show,” Beth recalls, “I love the holidays! However, I didn’t want to do anything typical like The Nutcracker, and wanted to make sure all of our students could participate. It just made sense to do a version of our Spring Showcase with a holiday theme.”

Beth’s love for planning the winter shows has never diminished over the years. Where others might lose their mind when they have to start listening to Christmas music every year in August, it fills Beth with childlike joy that only Christmas can bring. 

“Everything from having Santa in the lobby, to dancing Elsas, to making it snow onstage for the finale is magic,” Beth said. 

Come experience that magic at our Winter Shows this December.  

Maddie & The Spider

We would be remiss if we didn’t tell you one of our favorite stories from this year. The 2019 Spring Showcase was the first time we had a proper theme – “Out of this World.” Ms. Molly’s daughter, Maddie, was 4 years old, and her class was dancing to “Purple People Eater.”

“I spent so much time doing her hair,” Molly remembers. “The twist into a side bun had to be perfect, for both of us.”

The song began, and Maddie was tapping and grinning away. She had just done her favorite part of the routine, where they sang the line “Sure looks strange to me,” when she turned to find Molly, who was on the side of the stage in the wings. 

“She looked down and then, with tears in her eyes, turned to me and pointed to the ground and mouthed something,” Molly said. 

Molly couldn’t figure out what Maddie was saying, so she just encouraged her to continue to dance and smile. 

“The look of horror on her face will never leave me,” Molly recalls. “I finally got it, she was saying, ‘There’s a spider!’” 

At this point, Maddie begins bawling her eyes out. But through her tears, she never missed a beat. The end of the dance did not have a final pose – they ran off stage instead. Maddie was the farthest away from the side of the stage they were running to, but she ran past every single dancer in front of her and was the first one off the stage. 

“At the time, I was really upset. This was the one chance she was able to do this on stage, and she looked absolutely beautiful. She knew every step of that choreography, and she was really good at keeping the beat,” Molly remembers. “Looking back on it a few days later, we couldn’t help but laugh.”

Every year, this story is our reminder that all the planning in the world will not stand up to a stray spider on stage (which we never found, by the way). And something that feels like the end of the world in the moment will still make us laugh for years to come. So this recital season, remember to take a deep breath and know that you can always squish spiders with your tap shoes.