Business name: The Graceful Planet

Address: 4 Riverside Road, a new address for the studio as of late November 2023.

Owner: Grace Barton

What is your business background? We do dance classes for kids ages three all the way through adults. We focus on ballet, contemporary, modern, and jazz for our main areas of expertise. And we also have acrobatics and aerial arts, so you do silks and lyra as well.

What is the focus of your business? Our focus is basically to teach kids how to be great leaders, and how to be compassionate and accepting to all others. So in a dance class, they learn so much more than just dance steps. They learn how to work as a team. They learn how to lead, some of our teenagers are assistants in other classes with the little ones, so they learn how to be good mentors. So really our focus is creating good humans through dance and making sure everyone has a love for the arts, each other, and their community.

What is something important to you that readers know about your business? We’re family-friendly and family-oriented. Our costumes are all family-oriented, our choreography is family-oriented; we are very family-centered here. I’m a mom of two girls, so I totally understand, we pick our battles when it comes to hair and dress code. And we just make sure that we’re a welcoming environment for all children. We don’t have strict gender dress codes, we have option A and option B. We don’t do pink tights, we do tights that match your skin tone. So we’re very inclusive, and I find that people really appreciate that. So if I have a dancer who’s not comfortable wearing a leotard and tights and would rather wear leggings and a white T-shirt, that’s fine.

Hours: Monday through Friday, 9:30 am to 8:30 pm; Saturday sessions are available as well.

Website: gracefulplanet.com

Phone: 203-426-8215

E-mail: gracefulplanet.@aol.com