Love to Dance Academy exceeds goal in new floor fundraising

MERRITT – The Love to Dance Academy surpassed their fundraising goal in their attempt to get a new dance floor.

“It was amazing, thank you so much to Merritt and the Nicola Valley for your support,” said Toni Stewart, President of Merritt Dance Society.

Stewart explains a little more about the new dance floor they can now expect after getting the funds.

“It’s an industry grade, professional type dance floor. It’s a mat that you can roll over an existing sub floor or stage and it is made of vinyl. This originally started about 4-5 year ago we noticed that the stage itself is getting to show its age and no matter how well they put it together it’s just a bit older. Some of the seams pull apart when the dancers are moving, sometimes they lift or shift, and it can be dangerous especially, for our dancers so we wanted a surface that we could simply lay over the existing stage and that could negate a lot of the problems and create a flat surface for them to dance on safely.”

The fundraising came from generous donations and a lot of hard work from the dance academy which Stewart is super grateful for.

“We had three families donate privately to the drive, the TNRD also supported us with a grant, we sold popcorn and drinks at the Easter extravaganza, we had a Mothers Day flower sale in partnership with Miss Vickies Petals and Plants, Walmart also gave us a grant, and we found out that the BC Interior Community Foundation (BCICF), in partnership with the Nicola Valley Community Arts Council, has also donated more money so in fact we exceeded our target.”

With the extra donations, Stewart said they can jump straight into phase two of their plans, something she didn’t expect to have happen for another 2-3 years.

“Originally when we got this flooring, we were going to use it to travel to outreach programs and that kind of thing that was only going to be for a year or two until we could get portable floor that we would reserve specifically for outdoor venues and to moving to day care or senior centres for work. Given that we raised so much money we can actually move ahead to that right now. We will use the mat for the stage in the dance studio, and then we can have more weather proof stuff to use for outdoor venues and going to outreach programs that will be easier to transport and we won’t have to constantly pick up the floor off the studio and move it around.”