Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Aleah Durkee and Abel Layug. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Aleah & Abel, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

We started out as dancers at The Facility Dance Studio back in 2018. We rapidly became more involved with the studio and took on more responsibilities and projects. When the pandemic hit, we kept going and never stopped finding safe ways to continue dancing. We had online classes, and we were one of the first studios in San Diego to offer outdoor classes.

By the end of 2020, the original owners of the studio decided to take a break from the business. We did not want to see the community we had built die out, so we took a risk and asked the owners’ if we could continue the business and create Facility Dance Alumni. We kept a majority of our original instructors, created a new website and logo, revamped our social media, and invested in high-quality equipment for outdoor classes. When California allowed us to operate back indoors, we took another risk and found a great studio to rent out space – Dance Headquarters. We have had a lot of success with Facility Dance Alumni. Our classes are doing great, we have had workshops with big names in the dance industry such as Nicole Kirkland, Aubrey Fisher, and Michelle “Jersey” Maniscalco, we have had multiple performances, and we have a lot more ideas and projects in the works. All of those are risks that we took. If you don’t take risks you’ll always be left wondering, “what if?” And we want to live out our dreams to the fullest.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

We offer dance classes, workshops/master classes, dance teams, performance opportunities, and creative content opportunities. We believe that what sets us apart from others is our environment. We pride ourselves on welcoming everyone and making them feel like family. The main problem we solve for our clients is making sure they don’t feel nervous or scared. We make sure they feel comfortable and at home with us. We will always talk to our new students and make them feel at home, encourage them in class, ask about who they are and get to know them on a personal level. We always have fun and joke around with each other as one big dance family. When you come back to dance with us we will remember you and ask you how life is going. We support our students not just with their dancing, but with their other goals and dreams as well. We also all spend time with each other outside of dance. We mean it when we say we are one big, crazy, fun, amazing family.

The thing we are most proud of is how far we have all come and how much we have all grown as creatives. When we say all we mean ourselves, our instructors, our students; our whole community. Everyone has upped their game when it comes to dancing, teaching, performing, creating, and taking charge of their lives while growing their passion. We started out as dance students and now we run and are in charge of an entire dance company. And everyone we work with and have come in contact with through pursuing our creative passions has grown with us by association. We are so happy and so proud that we help create that confidence and those opportunities for people. We want people to know that with us, you will grow and elevate as a dancer/creative and as a person because we want to see everyone succeed.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

We believe that the arts should be more supported. Schools need to incorporate and adequately fund all forms of art: dance, theater, photography, videography, drawing and painting, etc. A lot of people think that the arts and being creative are less important because they are only for “short term fun”. Because of that kind of thinking, people are losing their ability to use the right side of their brain and create works of art. The analytical side of our brain is also very important, but we need to nurture the creative side as well. What would life be like if we didn’t have music, dancing, plays, movies, art museums, etc.? It would be a pretty dull and boring life. We need to encourage and inspire people to create and give the world more amazing things. And those working as creatives in the industry deserve to be taken seriously and paid fairly for their hard work. Creating a dance routine is fun, but it is also a lot of work. Every move has an intention with the music and the story that is being told. Dancers rehearse for hours on end to make it look effortless. Music videos and live events would be very different without dancers. Dancers have constantly run into the problem of not being taken seriously and being underpaid for their work. Other creatives have run into the same problem. Our society needs to realize their importance and value and treat them the way they deserve to be treated. That is how we believe we can all thrive.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

We want to bring life back into the dance community. Covid really hurt the dance community in an unexpected way. A lot of studios closed, instructors were out of a job, the entertainment industry had to put a lot of things on hold, and a lot of people lost their will and their passion for dance. No matter what the world has thrown at us we have kept going. During the pandemic we offered online classes and outdoor classes to keep the community alive. With the world slowly getting back to normal, the dance community is starting to come back to life again. However, things are still very different and not fully repaired. Our goal and mission is to fully revive and bring life back into the dance community. That is why we work so hard and care so much about our company and about our customers and instructors. That is why we will continue to give our all by offering classes, workshops/master classes, dance teams, performance opportunities, creative content opportunities, and more. We want to remind everyone why they love dance and why everyone else should love it too. The San Diego dance community is one big family and we want to bring the whole family back together.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://facilitydancealumni.godaddysites.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/facilitydancealumni/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/facilitydancealumni
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyDyEerUAHJ0_NTzW0zW1IA
• Other: Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/FacilityDanceAlumni

Image Credits
Leah Michelle Photography