Kaos Dance Elite (KDE), a children’s dance school in Yelm, is moving into a larger studio location in town ahead of its summer sessions, Monday, June 17.
The business, currently located at 201 E. Yelm Ave. on the second floor of the suite that houses Pho Yelm, will relocate to 209 W. Yelm Ave., where Yelm Valley Pump & Irrigation was previously located.
Interested patrons can get their first look at the new studio with an open house from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 13. The space will include two full-size classrooms instead of KDE’s current one, and the parking lot will be much larger.
The owner of KDE’s current studio decided not to renew its lease early in the spring, which gave the business about three months to find a new space before the summer sessions began. Because of such a quick turnaround, one classroom will open in the summer while the other is expected to open in the fall.
“This was actually a very quick turnaround. We’ve been in our current location for five years, and we’ve been through a couple sales of that building,” said Alissa Clark, an executive administrator at KDE. “We are looking to increase our overall volume. Since we’ll have two full-size classrooms instead of just one, that will allow us to offer bigger class sizes or offer two classes instead of trying to fit everyone into one.”
Clark said the new studio will also help KDE become more accessible and visible to Yelm residents and visitors.
“We didn’t have great access before. There were pretty steep stairs up to our space, so we’re looking forward to being on the ground floor and having easy access right off of the main drag,” she said. “I think people don’t know that we’re there. The signage and the accessibility of the other building allowed us to get our start and build in the community, which we really appreciate and are grateful for, but this new location will allow us to expand that even more.”
With its open house, visitors can sign their children up for summer classes and purchase dancewear. Clark said the event will be on a smaller scale before its grand opening in the fall once the entire studio is complete.
KDE hopes that its increased presence in Yelm will bring more opportunities for local youth to get involved. Clark said the school wants to work with Yelm Community Schools due to its double levy failure and increase its offerings to fill the potential need in the community as extracurricular programs are on the chopping block.
“If all the changes that are being talked about really take place, we’ll be a place where those kids can still have the option to dance and so some of those fine art things that are potentially going to be lost,” Clark said.
KDE offers dance classes in jazz, ballet, agility, creative movement and more this summer. To learn more and to register for classes, visit https://kaosdanceelite.com/class-schedules/.
