If you’ve been in classes with Ballet Aligned, you’ve known we needed new studios. We were so grateful to rent from Allegro Dance Studio, and yet we needed larger, brighter space, and convenient parking and access to bathrooms! We found the PERFECT SPOT – 1115 N. 200 E. in Logan! Not only do we have our OWN bathrooms and PLENTY of parking, we’ll be centrally located and near convenient errand destinations while your dancers are in class! Read on for a tale of the miracles that transpired to bring this location to pass!
In October I found a space I hoped would work. It was around 1000 square feet of dance space and it had been used most recently as a studio so it had mirrors. It would never be two studios and it was on the north end of the valley – adding to the commute of our dancers on the south. Still, I felt certain it must be the best option available, and I would have signed a lease, but the landlord was proving difficult to connect with.
About a week before the lease was to be signed, having still not heard from the landlord, a scripture came to mind one morning. Psalms, 127:1 reads “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” This is NOT a favorite verse of mine, but instead of feeling completely random, the scripture’s messaged seemed to be, ‘don’t rush or force things to come together; God is in charge.’ A few days later I finally heard from the landlord: a two sentence text informing me the space needed work and was NOT available to rent.
Despite having just spent over $3,000 on flooring for this space, and having no back-up plan, I felt peace. I began the hunt anew, and though options remained limited, and the one space I did find that would have been a temporary fix fell through within 24 hours, I continued to lean into the idea that God needed to build Ballet Aligned.
Nearly a month later, still without a suitable new location, I was gearing up to drop my advanced classes so I could offer more classes for younger students. It wasn’t an option I loved, but I really could not see any way forward. Then one late morning, I got a text from a Ballet Aligned parent who was aware of our predicament. She’d seen and liked a space that I knew well and had contemplated on more than one occasion because of it’s fabulous location, but that I had never fully explored. Because of her nudge, I immediately contacted the realtor listed on the rent sign. He and I both had free time that afternoon and I went to see the space within an hour of making contact.
He showed me a lovely, large space and when I told him it was too much money for just one studio, he offered to build me a wall. But the wall he suggested would make two narrow studios, and it was still more than I could afford. So we went to explore a different space in the same building. Though this one was still $500 more than the space that had fallen through, I could get two studios out of it, and they were open to me subletting to groups who could use the space during the day. I told the realtor I’d move heaven and earth to make the finances of it all work.
Interestingly, a few hours after seeing this better location with two studios, I got a text from my would-be landlord of the first location. He said the original space was ready as-is and he had not communicated because he’d been sick. If this text had come a few hours earlier, or if he had just communicate there was a delay in availability instead of texting that the space wasn’t available to rent, I might never have looked for, let alone gone to see, another location. Now I was hopeful something more central with two studios would work, so I merely texted back that I hoped he felt better and that I would be in touch.
Then I threw myself into finding additional groups to offset the jump in my rent. (And so far have succeeded in facilitating the creation of a children’s choir and art classes offered during daytime hours!) In the midst of this effort, I attended a Christmas party where I shared with a neighbor my enthusiasm for this new location and all that I was hoping to do with it – dance classes, but ALSO daytime offerings that could meet some of the needs of the homeschooling community. This neighbor had been looking for office space too. Though I considered not passing along the info for this building unless my neighbor confirmed he was interested, I decided just to share and let him do with it what he would.
As it turned out, he went to see the location the very next day. He needed only office space, except for a company meeting once or twice a month. So the realtor contacted me to let me know that if my neighbor could use my dance studio for his meeting, that he would take the adjoining office space and I could have the space that was over 800 square feet larger for $250 LESS!
Those are the miracles of Ballet Aligned’s two beautiful studios: a quiet reminder to trust God, a faithful friend on the hunt, possibilities found in the nick of time, a chance mention of things hoped for at an unrelated moment, and needs which aligned perfectly to make the best option ALSO the most affordable!
Thanks for reading, and for being part of building something wonderful that I hope will bless the lives of many. Tune in to the blog again to learn how you can be a part of the miracles, and see the progress of the studios!
