Family policies

We ask your written permission before we share any photo of your child, on this site, in newsletters or on social media, and you can change your answer at any time. We never put a child's name with a photo, and the photos on this site are examples until we replace them with our own.

Phones stay in bags while an instructor is teaching. At the end of each season the instructor films one take of the cover, and anyone may step aside without being asked why. We post short clips only, never a full song, and we credit the song's artist in the caption. We don't sell recordings, and we take a clip down the day you ask. At other times, please don't film other dancers without asking them first.

Wear clothes you can move in and clean sneakers that only come out inside the studio. Bring water and a small towel. Hair tied back keeps it out of the way during fast sections. Jewelry stays home or in a bag. The studio has mirrors along one wall, and a speaker that the instructor controls.

Parents and guardians are welcome in the front room, which has a window onto the studio. The studio door stays closed during class so dancers can hear the count. On the last Saturday of each season we open the door for a watch-along, and families sit along the wall.

Dancers aged 13 to 17 can arrive and leave on their own when a parent or guardian says so when they register. Adults sign themselves in. An instructor is at the door fifteen minutes before the first class of the evening, and we ask for ID from anyone we haven't met.

Message the studio when you'll miss a class, and we'll tell you how to make it up in another class of the same level. Arriving after the warm-up is fine; slip in quietly and join the group. Later than that, we ask you to come back next class.

Please stay home with a fever, vomiting or diarrhea, and until you've been well for a full day. If something hurts, tell your instructor before class and we'll change what you do that day.

We close for Thanksgiving week, for the winter holidays and for one week in spring that follows Fairfax County's schools. When the county's schools close for snow, we close, and we text every family that morning. A class lost to weather is made up with an extra class later in the season.