Alpharetta Dance Studio Needs Help To Win Pepsi Refresh Grant

An Alpharetta theater and dance group needs the community's help to win a $25,000 grant for its children's theater program.

Off Broadway Dance Center is participating in a contest sponsored by Pepsi that would give them $25,000 to expand the children's theater program at the studio. But the studio needs votes from the community to have a chance winning the grant. The Pepsi Refresh Project solicits ideas from organizations and makes it an online contest to determine which will be funded.

 In the last year, Roswewater, Kudzu Playhouse and Blackwell Theatre all closed due to financial down turn of the economy. Rosewater used its Facebook page to announce it was leaving its Holcomb Bridge Road location in late January, with Kudzu letting its patrons know it wouldn't survive into 2011 on its Web page.

"We have survived a lot over the twenty four years we have been doing theatre in Georgia (20 years in Roswell in 4 locations) but this time, the economy has just been too tough for too long and we are unable to keep our doors open past the end of the year," Wally and Jeannie Hinds posted online to announce the closing late last year.

These closings come at a time when budget cuts are affecting school programs also, though research shows that music and fine arts are important for children. Dance and theater companies have been supplementing what the schools offer in weekend and after school programs, but the economy is hurting these privately funded studios as well.

The theater and dance groups still open within the Alpharetta-Milton area include ,and . 

Patch spoke with the owners, Shannon and Christian Mayer of Off Broadway on the importance of the arts for children and the community, as they seek votes for their Pepsi Refresh Project.

"We have been able to survive by moving to a higher visibility location, offering reasonable rates, negotiating rental rate and adding top of the line faculty and a broadened business model with added music and theatrical performances in the mix," the Mayers said. "We have a good web presence as well."

Why do you feel music, theater and dance are so important?  They help kids on a whole level. The arts  addresses the skills which benefit children's education and development in five areas: physical development/kinesthetic skills, artistic development /drama skills, mental development/thinking skills, personal development/intra-personal skills, and social development/interpersonal skills.

Why are you trying to get this grant from Pepsi? The Pepsi Refresh Project is for us to bring children's theater to a community where all the theatres are closing and with budget cuts, won't be exposed to arts in schools.  Through in-school workshops, community outreach and scholarship opportunities, we hope to grow our children's theatre to meet that need.

What will Off Broadway do with the money if Pepsi grants it to your cause? We hope to use the money to develop a production wing  which brings theatre into schools by providing after school programs, in-school workshops and offer scholarships to our studio for those who can not afford it.

Who are your biggest competitors? There are many other fine studios in the area. Where they may have more students, we each have the areas that we excel in which makes us different and attract different clientele.  Our competitor is ourselves.

 How is your enrollment at Off Broadway and has the economy affected it much? We actually have a pretty good summer enrollment and our enrollment last year was great in the fall but fell off a little in the spring as we have to compete with spring activities, especially sports. Each year we have steadily grown by about 30 or 40 students, although our classes are about 1/4 to half full of their max capacity. With 13 teachers on staff, it's hard to pay the salaries and rent, which is why we started our children's theater, partly  to supplement the dance tuition. We have seen people drop due to financial hardships because this is a frivolous extra that is a treat for a child to have.

What is your goal at Off Broadway? We want to be a one stop performing arts center for the North Fulton area. We offer private voice, piano, guitar, film, musical theatre, acting, all dance forms, and adult fitness classes.  I opened this studio with a dream of having a family oriented place where everyone was welcomed, not just model ballerinas.  Let's face it, most of our kids will never be ABT (Atlanta Ballet Theater) ballerinas, but all may take part in a high school production, church program or at least see a community theatre show. These are life skills we teach. That self confidence, self esteem and discipline can be applied to school presentations, job interviews, sales presentations and relationships.

If you would like to help Off Broadway in their quest to win the Pepsi grant, you can vote by going to the Pepsi Refresh Project page.