March 7, 2008

Dear Students, faculty, parents, friends and supporters,

We are extremely thrilled to announce that we have signed a lease for the Baileys Crossroads property!

The new address for The Center Dance Company will be
3443 Carlin Springs Road, Baileys Crossroads VA 22041-2805

This awesome 20,800 square foot property will provide our highly dedicated and talented students and teachers with the fabulous facility that they have been waiting for and deserving for so many months. It will have five generous size studios that will enhance our unique program by providing our dancers with what they need to grow and develop their skills - SPACE! Expanded studio space is not the only improvement! This facility is already well equipped with ample restrooms, waiting area, break room/homework area, dressing rooms, costume room and storage space, offices and reception. Parents will be able to drop children off right outside the covered entryway, then park and come in wait comfortably, or drive a short distance to shop at the nearby retail areas!

We plan to move our offices in and "set up home" as soon as possible. It will take several weeks to obtain construction permits, build out the studio spaces, and install dance floors and equipment, we are hoping for full occupancy sometime in May. Therefore we will continue as much of our interim schedule as possible for the month of April. Stay tuned for a full and augmented summer schedule of workshops and classes with plenty of room for all divisions.

Our Fundraising Committee is ready to step up to the plate and reinvigorate our capital campaign that they successfully initiated last Fall. Many thanks to all of you who have generously donated to date! We'll soon be setting open house dates to show off our new home. We very much hope you will all come and see for yourself what all the excitement is about and learn how you can become involved in transforming this fabulous building into our beautiful new school and rehearsal facility. In addition to fundraising and individual and corporate sponsorship, there will be many ways to help, from painting, hauling, moving and unpacking, to advertising and getting the word out to the surrounding communities.

We are truly excited about this wonderful location with its tremendous opportunity for growth and development. We thank all our current students, families and faculty for your continued belief and faith in our program and your incredible loyalty. Your beautiful words of encouragement and support have meant so much, as we have worked to keep the program moving forward in spite of the hurdles. We could not have anticipated that the events of the last few months would be so challenging, and we apologize for all the stresses it has caused. We realize that the disruption has been frustrating and at times hard to comprehend. We do appreciate your patience and together we can look forward to the end of this part of the journey and the beginning of the next. With Spring just around the corner the timing is just right for the rebirth of this exceptional school and company for its deserving students, faculty and supporters.

Thank you all so much. We can't wait to see you all at your new dance home!

Very sincerely,

Nancie Woods, Jan Bull, Carolyn Carattini and
The Center Dance Company Board of Directors

Gwynn Hegyi, Joanne Uyeda, Donna Wiedeman, Susan Fickling, Meg Tuccillo, Ann Stretch, Craig Stephanson, Karen Lewis, Brian Gradle