Hallmarks of a Healthy Studio
According to Youth Protection Association for Dance (YPAD), there are proven hallmarks of a healthy studio. No matter if you are looking for a dance studio, music academy, or performing arts school or camp (Music House is all of these!), the following are elements you would want to see. So, how does Music House score on the hallmarks of a healthy studio?
Background Checks
All Music House teachers and staff undergo an official background check process during hiring and regularly during their employment with the studio. Child safety is always top priority.
Safe Facilities
Both the West Rogers Park and Humboldt Park studios have a dance floor with cushioned subfloor, secure barres, privacy curtains/window coverings. Emergency Action Plans are in place for fire, tornado, power failure, security threat, and more. Music House holds regular inspections and will soon be adding regular drills. Each studio has at least one well-stocked and labeled First Aid station, inclusive of cold packs for dancers. In the studio and offsite, no adult is ever alone with a child and students are required to wear base layers under costumes for their safety.
Trained Staff
All Music House teachers have a minimum of a bachelor's degree in their field and extensive real-world experience. Some hold certifications from: American Ballet Theatre National Curriculum®, Rhythm Works Integrative Dance, Suzuki Association of the Americas, Music Together, Orff, Kodaly, and Lynn Kleiner methods. Some studio faculty have over 30 years of teaching experience.
First Aid / CPR Certified
At Music House, all Front Desk staff, directors, and studio teachers are current on their First Aid / CPR Certifications. Music House pays for and coordinates this Red Cross training. At any given point in time, at least one certified staff member is ready to help with injuries, illness, and medical emergencies.
Welcoming / Inclusive
We continually and actively work towards building an inclusive and safe environment at Music House. We have a vast community of students from many diverse backgrounds at both of our locations. We recognize the strength and the power of an arts education for all and try to ensure that the arts are available to as many families as we can reach as a family-owned organization. Having the freedom to perform on a stage is empowering and can make a difference for our children to grow into contributing members of society. For example, costuming and classwear is based on student preferences rather than gender. Partnering with Dance Peace, we are able to offer scholarships to students from refugee and Indigenous families. At our West Rogers Park studio we offer classes and performance opportunities for female students who culturally cannot perform with men in the audience. De-gendering the arts and supporting Trans/NGC/Non-binary students and staff while simultaneously providing inclusive spaces for Orthodox Jewish, conservative Muslim, and refugee students is a complicated matter that we take seriously.
Progress Over Perfection
Music House teachers and students approach performing arts education with a growth mindset. We offer programs and opportunities for student artists with a range of personal, artistic, and career goals. To this end, Music House features small class sizes, strong community, and challenging curricula in a positive, low-stress environment. Teachers are supported with resources regarding facilitating students’ self-reflection, and mental wellness in arts education. For group classes, progress reports are distributed to students in the form of personalized Glows & Grows. For private lessons, students, parents, and teachers create a triangle of success through constant communication about student needs and progress.
Child Centered
Our classes are customized to the dancers, actors, and musicians’ level of experience which allows opportunity for individual growth within our program. Teachers focus on building a strong rapport with students, helping them blossom into the most confident and creative versions of themselves! Music House staff can help find the best combination of classes, lessons, and experiences to match the student’s goals and personality. Costuming is based on student preferences and role rather than gender.
Curriculum Guided
Dance: Our newly revised dance curriculum brings cohesion across the studio, while facilitating a tailored approach for each student. Addressed are dance technique, artistry, physical and cognitive development, social / emotional goals, and parent support tips. At our West Rogers Park Studio, we also offer the American Ballet Theatre National Curriculum® track.
Music: Our music teachers ensure that students build strong technique, while also finding ownership and joy in their instrument.
Our At-School curriculum features a Suzuki-approach in violin and ukulele, which involves learning by ear in the beginning stages, parent involvement and help at home to reinforce concepts, and daily listening.
In the Studio, we offer both Suzuki and traditional tracks for string (violin, viola, cello, ukulele, guitar) and piano students, with many of our teachers trained in the Suzuki curriculum, while also being adaptable to students’ interests.
Musical Theater: We provide comprehensive musical theater training while exposing students to the joy of theater and performance. We enable our students to feel confident and supported in stepping onto any stage while facilitating and encouraging the ensemble spirit. Our classes are taught by teaching artists with degrees in their field who value creating and teaching equally—cherishing the opportunity to simultaneously practice their craft as teachers and as well as professional performers and creators. This ensures that our teachers are not only in-touch with the current field but also the feelings of performing, auditioning and growing just like our students. We place equal emphasis on dance, acting and music as the field of musical theater demands it, and students will have all that they need to become a triple threat. More importantly, they will be in a fun, inclusive and supportive community of peers that come together to create shows that they can be proud of!
