Carve Lab
Dance Studios Committed to Creating a Culture of Care
Hi, I'm Annika!
I’ve spent over 30 years in dance studios, as a dancer, instructor, teacher trainer, choreographer, and dance studio and mobile dance franchise manager. In each of these roles, I experienced burnout consistently throughout the year, between recitals, competitions, conventions, and events. I saw parents struggling to get by, teachers showing up without intention, and studio owners who needed emotional and organizational support. After my own burnout, I embarked on a journey to understand why burnout happens, and how to prevent it. After years of education, training, and accumulating my own knowledge and lived experience, I’ve created Carve Lab, a year-long program made for every person under the umbrella of a dance studio community, from the owner to the students, teachers, parents, and staff. I’ve created solutions to problems I know to be prevalent in the dance studio community, with the intention of supporting you and your dance community all year long. Enrolling in this program means access to my knowledge, skills, ideas, and systems. It means access to me as a coach, trainer, mentor, consultant, administrator, and cheerleader. It means real work and real intention, but it means you’ll receive real support that is both consistent throughout the year and customized to fit the specific needs of your studio.
Grow Your Vision
As a dance studio owner, you have a lot to juggle: students, their parents, your instructors, and staff. You have class registration to worry about, payments, conventions and competitions, planning events and recitals, ordering costumes, and making sure your instructors are showing up on time and prepared... not to mention the emotional needs of your dancers, parents, and teachers throughout the year. Burnout is real, and it happens every year that you're open.
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It's a lot, and it all rests on your shoulders.
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But it doesn't have to.
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What if I told you I'd address and support the well-being of your entire community so that you could focus on what really matters to you?
How would it feel if you had systems in place to take care of the physical and emotional needs of your dance studio?
What if I told you I'd train your instructors how to manage their classes and their own stress, provide choreographic support, and help them show up in a way that honors both themselves and the studio?
What if I told you I'd help create a support system for parents to support one another so you don't have to do all of the hand-holding?
How would it feel to know that you, your staff, and your students will feel a sense of personhood inside the studio?
You already have an incredible community that you've cultivated, and I want to help address how to sustain that throughout the year by addressing the physical, mental, and emotional needs of all who walk through your studio doors - including you.
Services
Throughout the dance year, there are moments when you, the students, the parents, and the instructors all experience stress and overload. It's inevitable for high-performing studios. It's not about the fact that it happens, because it does, but it's about how we approach the year to continually and consistently check in with our dance studio community to help minimize the ways that stress and burnout can show up.
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Have you had a student standing in the wings before competing or performing who is about to have a panic attack? Or parents who just couldn't understand what needed to be done in order to have their dancer ready to perform? Or instructors who didn't finish choreographing their pieces in time, making everyone involved stressed for the show, not knowing if the piece will turn out?
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I have spent time considering the ways in which I can help most, based on my own experience. These are the pillars of the work I offer when supporting you, and the rest of your needs will be addressed through coaching and integrating processes throughout the year. I want to help you sustain the integrity and culture of your studio so that you begin each year with support, intention, and excitement around all that is possible.
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