Hard decision to close dance academy
‘‘To walk away from this is gutwrenching.’’
Those were the comments of Shelley Coutts as she prepares to vacate the building that she has used to teach ballet, jazz and contemporary dance for the past 15 years.
Her former Invercargill business, Shelley E Coutts Dance Academy, is in the block encompassing four streets earmarked for demolition in the inner city upgrade plan.
Coutts leased the building and was unable to find suitable premises to move to.
‘‘We looked at a large number of properties and it’s fair to say most of them were in a poor state of repair,’’ she said. ‘‘We were looking for 12 months.’’
The academy closed in January with most of the 80 students on is books transferring to the dance school, La Muse.
Coutts is employed as a teacher there.
‘‘I’m not ready to give up teaching.’’
Coutts, a dance teacher for 32 years, thought about 700 students had been taught at the academy.
Some have gone on to perform for the New Zealand School of Dance (Dominic Burrows), leading Sydney academic and performing arts college, McDonald College (Emily Williams) and Apollo Dance Academy, Auckland (Jennifer McManus).
Coutts said La Muse’s owners, Hana Skeggs and Gina Stevens, had been accommodating to her and the students transferring over.
Since deciding to close the academy, Coutts has often thought about its history, especially the time and effort that went into setting it up.
‘‘It gets beautiful and natural light . . . it was such a creative and joyful workspace.’’
About 30 mirrors, made of safety glass, are being removed from walls at the academy and sold. However, the two speciallymade wooden dance floors are fixed permanently and can’t be removed.
The dance floors were $6000 each to install.
‘‘They are a non-skid and heatsealed [to the original floor],’’ Coutts said.
‘‘We shifted walls and created viewing and changing rooms.’’
‘‘It gets beautiful and natural light . . . it was such a creative and joyful workspace.’’