Both of my older girls are involved in competition dance at a local studio and it has been the one thing I have not been willing to sacrifice in order to become debt free. There are many reasons why I've decided (notice I didn't say we) that dance is not on the chopping block. And it is an expensive venture. Very expensive some months.
Here are a few reasons why we are sticking with dance:
1. Our public school system has very little fine arts programs. They are non-existant pretty much at our elementary school and once in middle school the offerings are slim too. Our dance studio teaches classical ballet style. My girls are hearing classical music, learning about professional ballet performances, and experiencing culture that is not available in school.
2. Dancing on a competitive team teaches hard work and team work. All members of the team rely on one another and all reap the rewards from team work. My husband and I were both in band in high school and remember those teamwork rewards. My girls are a part of something bigger than themselves. It is a wonderful lesson.
3. Dance is physical. My girls aren't really into team sports but they love exercise. With the girls taking five days of dance they are working on muscular strength, flexibility, and getting their heart rates up.
4. It might open doors for them later in life. Many of the older girls from our dance studio have been awarded college scholarships for dance and many teach one or two dance classes themselves as a part-time job.
Here's how we afford dance classes:
1. This year because both of my girls are on a competition team the studio owner gave us a major discount on monthly fees. The owner is a fellow Christian lady and she and her husband saw that they could give us this gift of reduced fees. They love our girls and didn't want to see them lack taking classes due to the finances of monthly fees. And while this was extremely generous, I don't feel comfortable asking for that kind of gift next dance year so we are working out a deal for my husband and I to run her studio website in exchange for monthly fees. She is extremely unhappy with her current website host and webmaster and her contract is up in June. This looks promising!
2. We participate in all fund-raising activities.
3. We buy leotards, etc. on clearance or sale through stores that support ebates.com.
4. We ask for grandparents to help pay for some things as part of birthdays and Christmas gifts.
5. I use my tutoring money to pay for dance stuff.
6. When we had to buy specific make-up items for competition, I used my CVS Extra Bucks know-how to pay only about 10% of the actual cost of the items.
7. When we travel to competitions we pack a cooler and bag of snacks so that we don't have to eat the expensive food at competitions or go out for fast-food.
This dance year (August to June) will have had a price tag of about $8,000 including everthing and by the goodness of God and his provision we will have only spent about $2500 out of pocket and most of that did not come from the monthly budget.
2 frugal-minded friends say:
Wow! I had no idea it was so expensive!
I'm glad you haven't removed this from your budget. I was never into traditional sports as a kid either, and I think it's very important to be able to get involved in other activities (for me it was horseback riding, also uber-expensive). :)
My oldest has been dancing since she was 3(now 11) and is in her second year of the competition team. It and martial arts for our son are 2 things I would never give up. Neither one of them care for traditional team sports(soccer, baseball, etc) so these are great exercise and creative outlets for them. We never do school fundraisers(with the exception to my daughter's gifted program)so everyone helps out when they do fundraisers for these activities. The troupe leader always gives us the breakdown for extra classes, costumes and competition fees in September so we know exactly what we need to plan for(besides shoes and makeup since those are replaced as needed) My oldest is hoping she can become a teacher's assistant in a couple years and that will help defer some of her monthly class cost(currently $225 for unlimited classes, she takes 8 a week) Baby girl will be old enough in August to start the wee one classes and I can't wait to see her on stage like her big sister.
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