Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Battaglia.
Hi Sara, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Dancing for Donations started about 3.5 years ago with the idea to give back to the community through dance. Classes started exactly as it sounds. Dance classes were donation-based & items and funds donated were given to the selected charity. As time passed, Dancing for Donations grew. The idea of inclusion became integrated when a dancer on the Autism Spectrum joined our classes. Word of mouth helped the idea of inclusion and studio grow to what it is today! As time went on, the idea changed a bit to allow for a studio space, hiring teachers, and show productions! We are now a fully-functioning studio with classes in jazz, tap, ballet, acro, hip hop, musical theater, voice, and more!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
No, we operate on very little funding. We spend a lot of time fundraising in order to balance the cost of tuition. Covid also shut us down for three months, causing us to lose a lot of dancers and funding. We are still trying to recover from this, with fewer dancers than we had enrolled last year. I am also a young business owner, opening the studio when I was only 23. Starting the program around 21, I had a lot of struggles with people taking me seriously and still do. I had many people deny me opportunities due to the fact that I looked young.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Dancing for Donations is a 501c3 nonprofit organization with a mission to make dance available and affordable to the community, including dancers with special needs. We are all-inclusive and do not separate dancers with special needs from their peers. Our classes are about half the cost of a typical studio and we try to keep everything as low cost as we can! We have all sorts of classes from preschool to pre-professional, homeschool classes, the boy only classes, and more.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Being kindhearted and hard-worked! I think first, being kind to others is so important! Although sometimes I am very strict with my dancers, they know they can always come to me to talk or if they need something. The same goes for our dance parents & families. We always want to give back to the community, somehow! I also think my stubborn hard-working nature is important to my success. I am not willing to give up and am quick to think of new ideas or ways to help. I am always willing to work hard for what I want!
Pricing:
- Classes start at only $25/month
Contact Info:
- Email: dance4donations@gmail.com
- Website: www.dancing4donations.org
- Instagram: dancingfordonations
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dancingfordonations
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOJIK_25d2jExis-nxIT7WA?view_as=subscriber
Image Credits
Selah Photography LLC
