Thanks for taking a moment to look at Gildenfire Dance's IndieGoGo Project Roots and Wings! We are jumping out of our nest of community centers, gymnasiums and church basements and gliding down into our own sunlit space less than two miles from our current home in West Seattle. We need a soft landing! So we would like to build a safe, comfortable and professional dance floor. The floor—foam covered with Marley dance floor vinyl material—will be the perfect springboard for our future!
Over the years I’ve accumulated a following of students and an array of locations where I teach. Thirteen years ago, I worked as a preschool teacher. My BA in Dance from UW was gathering dust when one of the preschool mom's asked me to teach a dance class for her daughter Michaela. With three students I began to teach at Phinney Neighborhood Center. I think I paid more in rent than I earned in tuition! From the start it was important to me that no one was ever turned away who couldn't pay or could only pay a portion. Soon enough, I taught dance at the preschool where I was a Toddler Teacher, Small Faces. In 2008 I began teaching all the students at The Community School of West Seattle. Eventually, I found the Highland Park Improvement Club and relocated many of my class there. Now I teach in five places and have about 125 students. That’s a lot of little birds and a lot of scattered nests.
But I found us a new home—a big building with twenty-foot ceilings where our hearts can soar! A space where we can have mirrors on the wall to help us learn. A place where we can have ballet barre's for Saturday Morning Ballet. A place that will be greatly improved with floors that will keep us safe, that will protect our longevity in dance and help Gildenfire Dance to thrive with it’s dancers. Our goal is to open the doors with a padded Marley Floor in March 2013.
Hooray, we've got the space! But to make it work, we need:
1. Most important: Five-eights inch foam underlay and Marely Flooring $6,870 is the total cost for the flooring!
2. Mirrors: $1,500-$2,500
We have come so far but we need this floor to open the doors!
Why should you help Gildenfire Dance build complete this project?
In short, Gildenfire Dance makes a positive impact in the community. Gildenfire Dance, encourages and uplifts its families and the young dancers who attend classes and perform in local public spaces. Here are some of the ways we do this:
Every year we provide over $1,000 in scholarships to our students in Dance and Acrobatics based on financial need.
Our tuition is far less than most local studios which provides more opportunities for all children to dance.
We donate hundred of dollars in gift certificates to local charities and schools each year.
Our programs are open to all children regardless of differing abilities and strengths.
We build self-confidence, coordination, balance, strength, grace, pride and joy every single time we open the doors.
Our performances often take place in retirement communities, bringing the joy of dance to the elderly, and the joy of the elderly to the dancers.
Please take this moment to support the work Gildenfire does to make a difference in the lives of these amazing young dancers!
We need this floor to keep young dancers bodies safe and provide the spring board for our dancing and choreography:
