In October 2024, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm. Milton was the third hurricane to hit Florida in 2024, and many businesses felt the devastating effects of the storm. Local areas saw months’ worth of rain all at once. The Dance Center, a Brandon business that has been serving the community for over 30 years, was forced to close temporarily due to flooding at its location on Bloomingdale Avenue.
The floors were soaked. The costumes had extensive water damage. The owners, Brent and Hannah Townend, did not feel comfortable opening the doors and letting children dance on the floors. Insurance wouldn’t cover damage due to the hurricane. The Townends had a mold test done and made the difficult decision to break their lease due to a Florida statute that allowed them to legally break the lease due to mold.
What ensued was a testament to our community pulling together.
Thanks to the incredible generosity of other local business owners, the studio was able to resume classes in December 2024 by temporarily operating out of a yoga studio (Karma Yoga), an event space (Celebrations Venue) and another dance studio (Dancing for Joy).
The Townends give credit to the incredible generosity of those business owners and their staff being flexible.
“We had plans for what we thought we wanted and what should happen. Throughout all of it, we kept thinking, let’s just wait. But then an opportunity would come up and we would think, let’s just do this,” Hannah said.
“All of our people (staff) stayed and had faith and were willing to step in whenever needed,” Hannah added. “They were supportive and made sure our students felt at home during the transition.”
After months of uncertainty and upheaval, The Dance Center has reopened in a convenient location at the corner of Bryan Road and Lumsden Road. The Dance Center is now located at 911 Bryan Rd. in Brandon.
The Dance Center trains students of all ages in discipline, strength, artistic expression and character development. Programs include ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary, tap and pas de deux. There is a Young Children’s Program (18 months to 5 years old), an Adults Program, an Fundamentals Program for beginners ages 6-10 and an Intermediate and Beyond Program for intermediate-to-advanced dancers.
For more information on The Dance Center, visit https://brandondance.com/, email info@brandondance.com or call 813-684-4282.
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