OUR MISSION
BALANCING ARTISTRY & HUMILITY STEP-BY-STEP
At Bethany Ann Hellen Studios, we will always be committed to the well-being of the students first and foremost. No award, trophy, placement, title, attention, “likes” or popularity is worth jeopardizing the protection of the dancers.
Though we abide by this philosophy and put it into action in all our classes at the studio, we decided to take an active stance by getting certified in the Youth Protection Advocates in Dance. We are strongly convicted in putting the dancers’ physical, emotional and sexual safety first by always trying to use age-appropriate costumes and choreography, and avoidance in using music with inappropriate content & references to drug use, sexual connotations, violence, explicit language, etc.
Dance should assist a child with their self-confidence & worth and we need to ask ourselves what our movements, music and costume choices are saying to the audience about the way we value ourselves and others. In the end, the dancer should always be put before the dance.
OUR HISTORY
BAHS started as a dream of creating a safe, non-competitive, "no-fail" environment where the focus would be on fun, encouragement, building confidence & bolstering kindness WHILE learning to dance. Technique & skill would, of course, be important. But more important would be to instill values that would help dancers navigate through all aspects of life.
That dream turned into a reality when we opened for our first season in 2012 in Bessemer, MI. Three years later, we moved into our current home in Ironwood, MI and are now on our 11th season of dance instruction.
Together, we've created much more than a business- we've created a family. It's so exciting to share the love of dance with students and to watch them grow- physically, emotionally and technically- year after year.
OUR FACILITY
Safety is important to us. That is why we insisted on installing a sprung dance floor, which can greatly reduce the likelihood of injury from impact. A true "sprung" floor is designed to absorb shock and dampen bounce. Because these floors give landings and movement a softer feel, aside from reducing injury, they are said to greatly enhance performance. A concrete floor, or a floor placed over concrete without the floating sub-floor underneath, has no "give" & results in the body absorbing the energy of that impact.
