Dance

To create wing space, yet another parent made four large black flats. Black fabric was stapled onto a light wood frame about 3' by 6' . For stability, each flat is slotted into a perpendicular wooden triangle and held in place by a hook. These flats can be easily slid together for storage.

Support for flat.

A Splendid Example: Tanner Dance

Perhaps the gold standard for studios designed for dance education is Tanner Dance, located in the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts & Education Complex at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. It opened in 2014 after a ten-year planning process.

There are six huge dance studios with sprung floors and floor-to-ceiling windows with both shade blinds and blackout blinds. One of the ground floor studios has a folding accordion glass door that opens out to a small amphitheater seating space used for informal performances. Two adjacent studios on the second floor are separated by a sound-insulated folding wall. That wall can be folded back to create a large performance space. With the push of a button, bleachers slide out from the back wall, complete with theater seating affixed to them.

One of the studios has a medical-grade harness lift system, currently used in the Adaptive Needs Dance Wheelchair class. The students have the opportunity to dance upright.

Each studio is equipped with a piano, rollaway plastic tower for teaching supplies, and drop-down projector and screen. Right outside the studios are padded chairs, benches and small tables so dancers can wait comfortably for their class.

Tanner Dance gave a lot of attention to the experience of parents and others in the building. The beautiful large lobby provides a place to gather, meet, wait and/or ask questions to the office staff in an adjacent window. Photos, dedication plaques, and inspiring quotes adorn the walls.

Adaptive Needs class