The best never rest....

The 2017 competition season was the best in the 29 year history of the dance studio. We claimed best studio honors for the third consecutive year to open the season in January at the Access Broadway regionals in Mystic, Ct. We traveled to two Starbound regionals (Lowell and Hartford) and eventually to the Starbound Nationals (Foxwoods) where we claimed numerous hi score accolades culminating in our first ever National Grand Championship in the production showcase for “The Ward”. It was an amazing year for the competition team however whilst all of this was transpiring there was a distinct possibility that this was going to be the final year for the dance studio.

Unbeknownst to Miss Jen, I received a phone call in the middle of April 2017 stating that the owners of the building at our current location on Abbott Street were interested in our space to renovate and install offices for their growing business. I kept this information to myself and began searching for a new landing spot for DTRI. I was promised we could stay until the season ended in July.

I traveled to a few different locations in Pawtucket and Cumberland finding nothing that could compare from a space standpoint or a price point that we could afford. It was looking pretty grim. I then received a follow up call from the owners of Abbott Street that plans may be changing and we may be able to stay after all. I had felt confident at the beginning of June that we were good to go and I had made the right decision not alarming Miss Jen in the height of the season and prior to the Artistic Revue.

After that fateful week at Foxwoods, we traveled home and I got back to work. I emailed the current landlord about a few things. The response was heart stopping….they had decided to go forward with the office renovations. This left us little time to find a suitable spot and relocate. I was forced to then tell the director.

We enlisted the help of a former client, Dan Feiner, a commercial real estate realtor. He promptly showed us several locations within the Cumberland, Lincoln area. We were able to strike a deal rather quickly with the owner of The Berkley Business Center located on Martin Street, however a large amount of construction and build out was required. We designed the space to our needs and the construction crews began working. We had hoped to open on the 17th of September however delays pushed us back to October 2, 2017. The floor had been put in that weekend. Friends helped us build all the new furniture we had purchased while the floor was going down. Late that Sunday, October 1, Jen and I began setting up the studio for its opening working well in to the morning.

DTRI has opened, late yes but we had pulled off what seemed to be impossible. During the next two months finishing touches were put on the studio and the bathrooms on the third floor were installed and completed. It had all started to come together.