Archives for July 2017
A Feeling of family at Victoria Dance Studios and “we planned it that way”
Written by: Terrex
40 years ago, a 7-year-old girl stood in the storeroom of her parents’ restaurant, keenly scrutinizing packing boxes she had arranged in a neat semicircle on the ground. Fresh from her very first dance lesson, this little girl started to impart a newfound knowledge to her ‘students’.
Sometimes, your path in life… finds you.
Victoria McNamara, a determined young lady in that scene, is now owner and head of the family at Victoria Dance Studios.
“I literally knew what I wanted to do my whole life!” she says of that day when organizing those boxes and pretending to put on her own dance class.
Victoria was a ‘competition kid’. Between four and six times every spring, she would travel to Minneapolis from her hometown of Mason City, Iowa to participate in dance contests. Recalling that fervor, there is almost a hint of surprise in her voice when she reveals she got a college degree in marketing, not dance.
But the dance bug was only hibernating. A 5-minute break from finals prep turned into answering an ad for a competition instructor. Which turned into a 4-year stint as a tap teacher straight after college.
In June of 1993, after another 4 years at a different dance studio, Victoria stepped out on her own and Victoria Dance Studios was born. However, Victoria never intended for it to be just another dance school; she wanted her contribution to be a school of life, centered around dance.
This novel approach resonated with the Edina community. Victoria Dance Studios (VDS) had 74 students within the first year and has an attendance of 400+ today. Its students consistently win awards at state level competitions against much larger studios and the school even has one alumnus who is currently a lead on Broadway.
Everything Changed When
For Victoria, though, winning and being the best takes a backseat to the things that really matter. She attributes her philosophy to a moment of clarity that came as she gazed at her newborn child, a beautiful daughter.
“Looking at her, I realized It’s not all about you’,” she says. Victoria applies that same attitude to VDS.
“It’s all about the kids and giving them a foundation to be the best adults they can be. Victoria Dance Studios is so much more than a dance school – we try to give our kids the tools to face the challenges life will throw at them.”
Victoria Dance Studios has faced its own challenges. The aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks led to a huge drop in class numbers because a third of her students’ parents were airline employees. Later, the surging popularity of high school dance clubs was a tough trial as her dancers were poached away.
All through this, Victoria told herself, “It’s not all about you.” She overcame each challenge by keeping her focus on four balance points – Family, School, God, Dance – whose order of priority she insists can and should change as we live our own lives.
Victoria and her team establish a ‘Drama-Free Zone’ whether they are training at home or traveling to compete. “Please don’t assume what you see on TV is actual reality,” she pleads, referring to certain kids’ dance school ‘reality’ TV programs, “Our drama-free zone is not lip service.”
“Everyone at VDS is free to be themselves, whether you are quirky, geeky, a sports jock, lead vocalist, love math or love gym. Once you walk in the door, you are in a safe place.”
A big part of the Victoria Dance Studios message is Respect; respect for themselves, seniors, juniors, parents and staff.
Victoria acknowledges it is not an easy message to impart when dealing with budding teenagers. The daily pressure to conform, combined with constant scrutiny and judgment have become an integral part of social media. Putting respect in the backseat.
For Victoria and her team of staff and students at Victoria Dance Studios, a large part of learning respect and other lessons is appreciating what they have and contributing their time, energy and efforts to help those less fortunate.
Giving Back
One of their signature charities is Alex’s Lemonade Stand. It is named after Alexandra Scott who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a form of childhood cancer, before she had even turned one.
After battling both the debilitating disease and treatment for three years, four-year-old Alex told her parents she wanted to set up a lemonade stand to raise funds to cure cancer. That gorgeous little girl then helped build a lemonade stand on her lawn. It raised $2,000 in the first year.
Alex’s story moved people. Around the United States and around the world, lemonade stands cropped up asking for donations to help the little fighter’s cause.
Alex passed away in 2004 at the tender age of eight. In the short time she spent with us, her efforts helped raise over $1 million so “doctors can help other kids, like they helped me.” Alex said.
One of the main reasons Victoria chose Alex’s lemonade stand because it a 5-star charity, one in which over 92% of donations go directly to the cause instead of operating expenses and galas.
Victoria Dance Studios puts on performances at malls and speaks to the crowd between each dance about why they are there and to urge them to donate generously.
Victoria Dance Studios has also started a tradition of an annual Nutcracker camp where kids write their own interpretations of the traditional story. It has been a great success all of the four years that it has run; last year, all $5,000 raised went directly to Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
There is little doubt that Victoria and her team have created not just an award-winning group of dancers, but a team of young individuals who appreciate that giving makes us richer in many ways. They are using their talent and the joy of dance to express it.
Victoria has picked up some invaluable life lessons on her journey. By applying these lessons both personally and professionally, she has turned Victoria Dance Studios into the success it is today.
Little girls and their parents from all over Edina Minnesota are attracted to her message of respect for self, for others and for the world at large. It is the first step of molding these young ladies into the strong women they all have the potential – and desire – to become.
Ep 18: How Your Child Helps Foster Kids Find a Safe, Stable and Loving Home
Helping Parents Keep Up With Their Kids… College Nannies and Tutors
By Madison Bloomquist
Don’t you, as a parent, feel like you’re on a hamster wheel that won’t stop spinning? Your alarms goes off before the sun comes up, and maybe you have time for a quick jog before your four-year-old starts tearing around the house wanting breakfast. Then it’s time to drag your teenager out of bed by her ponytail and somehow usher everyone out the door, lunches packed, homework finished and on time for school. Oh, and get yourself ready for a 10-14 hour workday in the meantime.
After school, kids need to be driven to soccer, violin, friends’ houses and who knows where else as soon as school is out. They’ll certainly need help with homework once they get home. I guess they’ll probably want to eat dinner at some point too. Did I miss anything…?
It’s a lot to ask of families these days and many decide (typically around Sunday evening, when it seems like their lives are falling apart) it’s time to bring in reinforcements.
Laura Davis gets it. She’s a parent too, after all. She co-founded College Nannies and Tutors, an Edina-based company who personally selects nannies, sitters and tutors to fit each family’s specific personalities and situations. In essence, she’s there to help slow down the hamster wheels. It all started more than a decade ago, when hockey player and then-college manny (male nanny, for those not up on the nanny lingo) Joe Keeley wanted a business partner who could help build a nanny/client “matchmaking” service. But he wasn’t a parent yet, and didn’t fully understand how heart-wrenching it can be for parents to leave their kids with nannies–and how difficult it could be to get parents to admit they need help in the first place.
Laura, a recent Twin Cities transplant and new parent seeking care options for her own child, fit the bill. She had a marketing and business background and always dreamed of owning a small business. Laura and Joe met, both armed with boxes of research, and started what is now a 12-year-old company with branches in 30 states.
“It was a perfect fit,” Laura said. The rest is history.
Parents Know Parents Best
College Nannies and Tutors prides itself on knowing exactly what parents want—sometimes even before they do. The staff knows how gut-wrenching it can be for parents to leave their children–the loves of their lives, their whole hearts–with virtual strangers, day after day. In fact, some parents don’t trust the concept so much that they’d rather try to continue handling everything themselves. Big mistake. The company would never place employees in families where they wouldn’t fit in well. That’s right, Mom and Dad can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that their babies will be with people who are there to help the family flourish. Nannies, sitters and tutors are placed in homes after lengthy in-person interviews and background checks, so there won’t be any surprises. Laura ensures the potential nannies or tutors will be good fits on all levels and will give families what they want—some just want a mother’s helper, but some want a full-time nanny who can drive kids to activities and take care of cooking and cleaning. Of course, families get to interview potential hires before they’re placed, so the nanny really won’t be a stranger.
“The family’s opinion makes or breaks chemistry and connection,” Laura said. And boy, does the business respect those opinions.
Something for Everyone
Many families seek out College Nannies and Tutors for nannies and sitters when their kids are too little to stay home alone, but the company also offers tutors for anything from homework help to college prep exams. Like with finding nannies, their approach to helping families find effective tutors is personalized. They know most families don’t want generic tutors who have set curriculums which may not even help their kids’ specific needs. Nobody wants endless flashcards and boring worksheets that their kids won’t get graded on. Good luck convincing a kid that extra homework is worth the time. Instead, College Nannies and Tutors workers focus on exactly what issues kids are facing—and they use the kids’ own homework and schoolbooks to do it. According to Laura, the system helps kids feel more empowered in the classroom while actually getting their homework done.
Kids and teens don’t need to be struggling in school to benefit from a tutor, though. Many high schoolers (and their parents) know college admission and scholarship money allocation is getting increasingly competitive, and tests like the ACT and SAT play a large role in where students will be admitted. Investing in test prep tutor services, like the ones College Nannies and Tutors offers, can pay off in the long run.
Full Circle Role Models
Laura doesn’t think of nannies and tutors as simply babysitters and flashcard-readers. What parent would want that? After all, kids are people too, and they need fun and support. In her mind (and in the company’s mission) they’re role models, coaches and friends. They’re an added support system for parents who may not have anyone else around for help. They’re the start of potentially lifelong relationships—in fact, some kids who were nannied through the business actually become nannies themselves. Talk about coming full circle and getting lifelong satisfaction!
Her own family thinks so, too. At 12 and 14, Laura’s kids have been parts of the business their entire lives. They’re learning what being part of a family business entails (the good and the bad), and what hard work looks like from two parents. But most importantly, they’re learning to give back to the community, which College Nannies and Tutors does whenever possible—from staff nights at Feed My Starving Children to donating babysitting and tutoring hours to charity auctions. As long as the company exists, it will be entwined in the Twin Cities community. After all, it wouldn’t exist without the people it serves, and they wouldn’t want it any other way.