Dancers possibly spend as much time in the dance studio as their own homes, especially now rules surrounding lockdown and Covid-19 are beginning to ease. For that reason, many of your students may see the dance studio as their 'second home', and their teachers and fellow students as their extended 'dance family'. Many travel straight from school to the dance studio, if the dancer is not training vocationally full time. As a result, their dancing peers are seen as a second family too. Spending lots of time with the same people each week means dancers become very close, sharing both successes and failures. The studio is a safe place, enabling dancers to escape everyday life.

The dance studio is also where dancers mature and grow. Competing and performing in shows means dancers are very self-aware, having to arrange their costumes, make up and hair. Many dancers learn how to dress themselves correctly, apply make up and style their hair from a young age, sometimes having to change styles in quick succession. The studio is also somewhere to better themselves, learn new steps and improve technique, through watching other dancers and taking direction from teachers.

Dancing with a close dance family means lots of memories are made as a result of learning new routines, and taking part in workshops, competitions, shows and rehearsals. It therefore gives students a drive to improve at something that they love, regardless of academic skill or outside pressures. Even when dance is stressful - when there are numerous practices, or changes to choreography - it is still fulfilling. Once the music starts and the lights are down, dancers are able to come into their own. For some dancers, it may be what they do for the rest of their lives and they may never ‘leave’ the studio.