Since joining the ClassforKids family, Lauren now has more time to focus on growing her dance school.
Avenue Dance Company was born from humble beginnings. Dance studio owner Lauren Jayne has been dancing since the age of three and always knew she wanted to teach dance. With the moral support of friends and family, she took the leap to launch her own dance company and never looked back. The innovative street dance school has now skyrocketed, hosting classes at schools across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and London.
Bringing Street Dance To The Masses
Avenue Dance was built to stand out from the crowd. Lauren worked hard to establish a unique selling point which would drive demand for classes. This is exactly why her dance studio brings classes to local schools on several authentic street dance styles from musical theatre and jazz, to hip-hop breaking and house popping. Their classes quickly proved a hit with the kids, with most schools around them not offering these styles of dance.
"We find that by going into schools, we reach more children so we can spread our passion and knowledge to more kids than if we just had the community classes in the evening."
So, how did Lauren build such strong partnerships with schools? She spent time choreographing her sessions around school curriculums in order to enhance what kids were already learning. Classes run before school, during lunchtimes and after school to reach as many kids as possible.
Mounting admin left the business with two left feet
More success often comes with more challenges. With a growing number of schools on board, day-to-day tasks were becoming unmanageable. With paper registers piling up, clunky booking journeys and complicated finance processes, Lauren needed a solution.
Before ClassForKids, Lauren was swamped in paperwork. She was doing everything manually and with her increasingly busy schedule, this had to change. So Lauren began the search for a new team player.
"It just seemed like such a breeze. It seemed so easy. It’s taking some of the pressure off me and I know a lot of clubs use ClassForKids. I’ve seen it before, so I thought this would be a great platform to go for."
A system to shout about
Lauren and her dance teachers fell in love with the ClassforKids system. It’s transformed the way the dance school operates. From organising payments to providing comprehensive class registers, the industry-leading ClassForKids system has helped Lauren’s dance school go from strength to strength and achieve her business goals, as they continue to grow in capacity.
With demand for classes continually growing, the ClassForKids system has made the booking and payment process a breeze for parents. Gone are the days of payment chasing for Lauren thanks to a streamlined process. Parents can book and pay for classes in just a few clicks whilst club owners like Lauren can focus on developing eager young dancers!
‘We set up a waiting list and had about 17 parents join the list. Waiting lists are a really good way to gauge how many are interested and would want to sign up to a potential class.’
And with this demand constantly growing, waiting lists have been ideal as a market research tool. Lauren can decide whether setting up a new class is feasible thanks to this handy feature as well as keep interested parents engaged when capacity is at a maximum.
ClassForKids has made it easy for a busy dance school like Lauren’s to take secure payments quickly, meaning convenience for parents too. Like the Netflix and Spotify of the dance industry, parents can pay for classes through equal, monthly amounts which come out of their account automatically. This guarantees stable income for dance studio owners like Lauren and satisfies parents.
Now bringing over 55 classes a week to around 330 students across several counties, Avenue Dance Company are paving the way for street dance becoming the norm in schools across England. Lauren and her team are opening young eyes to the world of dance that exists outside of contemporary styles. And with the help of ClassForKids their growth is only set to continue!
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