"If it's meant to be, then we'll go down that road." "Child care, it's not off the table, we just don't have the square footage to serve them right now," Sweet said. Looking ahead, Sweet and Bangs have already eyed expansion, but are sticking to "quality over quantity" for the moment.Īmong the considerations is child care, an area where the county has lacked options. For me, growing up, if I could have gone to school at my dance studio, get out of town, that would have been amazing," she said. In doing so, she replaced her lobby furniture with desks, offering a work space for students who were doing school remotely.Īs many sports and activities were paused during the pandemic, Sweet noticed that the kids needed an outlet for activity, which eventually inspired the combination of dance and academics at Encore. With the arrival of the pandemic, Sweet closed the Seaside location to put more focus on her studio in Warrenton. In 2012, she branched into academics, adding a preschool program. Sweet first opened Encore Dance Studio in Seaside in 1996 and later launched a second location in Warrenton. it's something that I'm really proud of," she said. "I really feel like we have developed a safe space here. "It's a difficult narrative to wiggle against when you've been a dance studio for 26 years."Ī former teacher at Knappa High School, Bangs pointed to research on the correlation between movement and learning, while also emphasizing the school's embrace of individuality. It gives the kids the ability to be flexible, but it's also a stamp of approval that you've reached legitimacy," Bangs said. "It really validates what we're doing here. it strengthened what we do here."īangs, who has three children in the program, said reaching accreditation was important so graduating students could have options as they look toward college. It was pretty rigorous and they dig deep into our teaching processes, continuous improvement plans," Sweet said. "It took us all year long to get through. Last month, the school was recommended for accreditation, a hurdle which Bangs and Sweet were thrilled to get over. The program's education does not deviate from traditional public school curriculum, Bangs said, but instead differs in atmosphere and sense of community. All 50-plus students participate in the dancing courses inside the building along Harbor Drive. Outside of traditional classes like math, science, social studies and language arts, the academy offers classes in tap, ballet, jazz, tumbling and several other forms of dancing.
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