Scala arts center is bankrupt. Two students, Féya de Jong (17) and Roos Smit (18), have written a letter to all municipal councilors of De Wolden, Hoogeveen, Meppel, Westerveld and Steenwijkerland.
The duo does not want to stop, but continue with the culture lessons. Scala’s teachers have come up with a plan to continue the lessons. That will probably not be possible in the coming weeks. A study is underway into a feasible alternative for cultural education in the five municipalities. The results are expected in May. The teachers hope to find a solution so that they can start teaching earlier in the meantime.
In various municipal councils, several speakers have spoken about Scala and the future of cultural education. Two students also wrote a letter:
“I’m Féya de Jong and started as a 4-year-old with Lindy Kaper in children’s dance. Later I also took up ballet, because my childhood dream was to become a ballerina. After a few years of ballet, I wanted to expand to more styles, such as jazz. I was asked for a demo. After I came into the demo, I feel that I have risen a lot in my level. This has helped me to be myself. In the meantime I have been dancing with Lindy and Claudia Damman for 13 years and I so also very grateful for the lessons they teach.”
“I am Roos Smit and started as a 5-year-old girl with Lindy. My childhood dream was also to be able to dance on pointe shoes. Besides ballet, I have tried out some styles over the years, but in group 8 I wanted more. I noticed that dancing makes me happy and gave me a good feeling. From this moment on, this became very important in my life. Then I started with modern dance, jazz and participated in the demo. There were also lessons from Claudia. After 13 years I can I honestly can’t imagine a life where I wouldn’t dance.”
“The dance lessons are not only sports-oriented. We can do so much more here than just dance. It is a safe, cheerful, but also somewhat serious place where everyone can be who they are. It is a place where we can chat with each other and where everyone can exercise their passion together, young and old.”
“Because we have been dancing in the same groups for so long, we have met many people who are no longer just friends, but also a kind of family. And that is what is so special about Claudia and Lindy. They are involved with their students, which makes this safe and cozy atmosphere has been created, in which they explain and pass on their profession to us with so much passion.”
“Their involvement with the students is not only tangible during the lessons, but you can also see it very well during a performance. Everyone helps: parents, students, grandparents. Everyone works hard and with great pleasure making costumes, or with face painting, the decor and guiding the children. This really shows what kind of teachers these are. This makes the performance a highlight for everyone in our opinion.”
“One of the things we love to do is help the younger groups. We would hate to see the happy faces of the children during the free dance, the concentrated heads during an exercise, the hectic during performances, the relief after a performance, the great lessons and our little family and great dance teachers should be missed.”
“Why do we want to stay with Lindy and Claudia? That’s a good question with a very simple answer. Besides the fact that they teach great, their lessons are suitable for everyone. There can be several levels in a group, so there are no bad feelings come to others.”
“In addition, we simply have nowhere else to go. There is nowhere else that teaches classical ballet and pointe and nowhere else that similarly teaches children to dance early in a fun way and express themselves. The lessons really contribute to our development.”
“It is such a shame if these cultural forms become more difficult to practice or disappear from our municipality. I and more than 260 other dancers would not know what to do if this disappeared. That is why we would like to continue. Preferably as soon as possible!”
“Because this is not only a hobby, but also an outlet and passion. That’s why we want to continue dancing. Not with someone else, but with Lindy and Claudia. We hope you can help us with this.”