Celebrating the ones who sew and bake—and touch our hearts

By Nancy Wozny

Dance teachers love to complain about the nutty things they have to put up with from parents. Venting is a natural way to ease frustration, and it’s easy to remember the parents who made your blood boil. Does that sound like you? But what about the parents who were there when you needed them, who shuttled the competition team to that high school at the end of the universe, who sewed, built sets, moved floors, answered phones, and glued on rhinestones through the wee hours of the night? Isn’t it high time we heard their stories?

When Dance Studio Life asked you to share your stories, you responded with a barrage of emails. It turns out that you love your students’ parents and are full of stories about those who go above and beyond. If only we could include them all since each told a heartfelt tale.

Volunteer extraordinaire
Sometimes one person makes all the difference. Jeanne Maddox Peterson of Maddox Dance Studio in Seaside and Warrenton, Oregon, remembers one stellar parent. Although it’s been 50 years since she taught this special parent’s two daughters, she has never forgotten her kindness.

Volunteers parents at Canadian School of Dance hold rhinestoning parties to embellish costumes for the school’s competitive team. (Photo courtesy Dana Hanes, Canadian School of Dance)

This woman was the kind of parent whom teachers dream of—one who will do anything. “She always supported every student in the school just the same as her own children,” says Peterson. “She was always the first to volunteer to do anything that was needed. She made cookies, hosted parties, worked backstage, sold tickets, and did cleanup.” One year she sewed 35 pink Romantic tutus. “She had them stacked on her bed so they almost touched the ceiling,” Peterson says.

That star parent, who still keeps in touch with the studio after all this time, celebrated her 80th birthday last fall, and Peterson was there to celebrate with her.

Competition-season angels
Every dance teacher knows that running a dance team translates into tons of work. There is a multitude of costumes, transportation, and other logistical concerns to deal with. Dana Hanes, director of the tap and jazz department of Canadian School of Dance in Nepean, Ontario, brags about the moms who get her smoothly through competition season so that she can concentrate on the dancing.

With a team of 100 students, the details make all the difference. “I have an absolutely great team of moms who organize all of the props for our studio’s competition team, and we always have a full truckload of props. They fully take that on and arrange for all parent volunteers to set up onstage, tear down, and all transportation for regional and nationals,” says Hanes. “They make the teachers’ lives so much easier and enable us to do our jobs, which is spending more time with the kids.”

And that’s not all. Hanes has another team of parents who throw “rhinestoning parties” at the studio. Why not make sewing fun? It’s a “have glue gun and 3,000 Swarovski crystals, will sew” situation during competition season at Hanes’ studio. “It takes countless hours to do this, and it saves our seamstresses and the teachers so much time,” says Hanes. “I even made T-shirts that say ‘CSD Stoner’ for some of the moms to wear.” All the work parents did paid off: The studio won high honors at the regional ADA awards and first and second place at CanDance’s Diamond Dance-Off.

‘Parents and dancers allowed me to fall into a soft cloud, a cocoon, where I felt safe and protected. . . . I quickly realized that not only was my own family behind me, but my dance family as well.’ —studio owner Karen Clark

Supers and stagehands
Some parents help out by joining the students onstage. How are you going to have a party scene in Nutcracker without a few brave parents to fill the adult roles? Sheila Sumpter, now a teacher at MusicWorks! Studio of Performing Arts, in Waynesville, North Carolina, remembers one can-do couple from her school-ownership years. They played Clara’s parents for seven years straight in her annual Nutcracker.

And when they weren’t doing that, they were busy moving sets, working on costumes, and chaperoning students at competitions and conventions. “Most of this was done without us having to ask them first. They just planned on doing it in support of their daughter and her studio,” says Sumpter. The student has since moved on, and so have her parents. “Now that their daughter is grown, they are missed.”

Devoted dads
Melinda Shaner of Conservatory of Dance in Silver City, New Mexico, told a heartwarming story about a gaggle of dads who took ballet classes at her previous school in California so that they could dance with their daughters in her annual Nutcracker. “One athletic dad became so hooked on ballet class that he not only played Drosselmeyer for both of his daughters, but also danced the role of the Cavalier for his daughter and many other girls,” she says. “We talked him into many other parts, including being one of the wicked stepsisters in Cinderella. [His performances have] always been special moments for not only the family, but all of us, and something none of them will ever forget.”

Scholarship donors
Personal difficulties can bring the best out in teachers and parents. Kathy King of Kathy’s Dancenter in Laurel Springs, New Jersey, remembers a young dancer who had a rare neuromuscular disorder. She danced until she was required to use a wheelchair, then helped out with shows. “She was a dynamo and taught so much to so many of us,” says King. The girl died in 2003 at age 18, and the studio sponsored an annual spring flower sale to help the family with its catastrophic medical bills.

Today that family contributes scholarships to the studio in honor of their daughter’s spirit and memory, including a $1,500 college scholarship to a graduating senior and a $500 scholarship for dance tuition, called the Spirit Award.

“As sad as this story is, it really spotlights the good in people and how life comes full circle. We were there for the family when they needed a boost. Now they are giving back tenfold,” says King.

Stand-in school owners
Karen Clark of Victoria, British Columbia, faced serious challenges when she was diagnosed with lymphoma four years ago. When the daily chores of running her studio, Karen Clark Dance Studio, became too much for her, she turned to her students’ parents for help.

“Parents and dancers allowed me to fall into a soft cloud, a cocoon, where I felt safe and protected. I was very worried about my business when I found out I was sick, but I quickly realized that not only was my own family behind me, but my dance family as well,” says Clark. “The support for the faculty, to my own family with the dinners, the baking, the cards, the prayers, and the way they all pitched in was amazing.” After the recital that year, Clark thanked the parents onstage while they gave her a standing ovation. “To this day I am overwhelmed,” she says, “and, after owning my studio for 20 years, I don’t overwhelm too easily.”

Clark’s luck with parents predates her illness. In 1997 she remarked at a dress rehearsal that she wished she had added a vest to a costume for one number. The next day a heroic mom showed up with 15 plaid tartan vests, which she had spent all night sewing.

Helpful parents are still a familiar sight at Clark’s studio. Last spring, one dad made a carriage for her production of Cinderella. The mom and daughters painted and decorated it. Clark remembers the parent reassuring her, saying, “Don’t worry; it will be done on time and be beautiful.” And it was. And there’s more: They are storing it for her as well.

Clark is so grateful to her parent helpers and hopes that they know that. “I write thank-you notes; I say thank you,” she says. “I really don’t know if they realize how much these acts mean to me.”

Floor wranglers
Need a floor moved? Call the dads, and sometimes a few moms, too. Debra Spoulos of Broadway Dance Center in Tracy and Waterford, California, tells of a group of mostly dads who donated two full weekends in November 2007 to move a floor from her old studio to her new one. It was a particularly difficult time for Spoulos because her husband was suffering from a brain tumor. Since he was unable to do his usual amount of work, these parents made all the difference.

“I have a great group of parents who stepped up when my family needed help,” says Spoulos. “My husband has since passed, and many of those same parents still check in with me on a monthly basis to see if I need help.”

Movers
Nancy Alvey of Planet Dance in Summerville, South Carolina, faced quite a challenge when she moved from a 2,000-square-foot building to a 7,000-square-foot one. Alvey was overjoyed when two parents and one grandparent volunteered to help with the move. And move they did, along with building walls and closets, painting, laying a floor, and numerous other tasks. “If it weren’t for them we would be dancing in the parking lot,” says Alvey. “But they didn’t stop there—they were there constantly, doing little jobs like taking out the trash, changing filters in the air-conditioning unit, even vacuuming. They were definitely heaven sent.

Creators of keepsakes
For Melissa Peterson of Downstage Dance Company in Joliet, Illinois, it was a gift that touched her heart. Her terrific tribe of moms arranged for each student to pick a charm to add to a bracelet as a special present at the end of the studio’s first year. Each dancer wrote a note explaining why she had chosen the particular charm. The moms gathered the stories, along with pictures of the students, into a beautiful scrapbook. “Not only do I have this beautiful bracelet, but I have a keepsake from all of my dancers,” says Peterson, who was thrilled to have her school’s first year documented in such a loving way. “It was such a nice gesture, and it made me feel like all of the hard work it took to get through year one really paid off.”

Spur-of-the-moment helpers
Sometimes it’s a spontaneous act of kindness that rocks your boat. While Loretta Sramek of Spiral Dance Company in White Rock, British Columbia, was joking with some parents who were waiting for their children to finish class, she happened to mention a new rug she had bought for the office. One parent asked if she needed help taking it out of the car. Another parent suggested that they go ahead and put it in place that very moment. One thing led to another, and pretty soon an entire fleet of parents turned into rug-and-furniture movers.

Clad in their dresses and high heels, the women installed the new carpet, which Sramek referred to as “a 10-foot-by-6-foot beast.” Jokes about how many women it takes to replace a carpet kept everyone in good spirits. “The children finished class and I graciously thanked my impromptu group of rug movers,” says Sramek. “I strolled to my car with a big smile on my face and a giggle at how much fun that was—and gratitude at how lucky I am to have such wonderful and supportive parents.”

One Response to “Parents from Heaven”