Mamma Mia

A Modern Dance Studio Project Empowering Mamas

Research Member

Fab. 2017

The Project Overview

Mamma Mia, designed during the Art Education Course by a group of four (Xinyi Tan, Yutong Zhu, Mengjiao Xing, Katie Ellis, and me), is a dance studio that serves stay-at-home moms by providing community and teaching self-care, empowerment, and self-expression through dance. This project targeted mothers who had never worked before, who had worked previously, and were currently employed through an analysis of the status of mothers in Beijing.

The group conducted case studies of adult dance studios in the U.S. and Beijing. Finally, we created a dance studio proposal for mothers in the Haidian district based on a comprehensive plan that included potential obstacles, resources, activities, timelines, personnel, and budgets.

The project is a collective result developed from my initiative. I am primarily responsible for investigating the project's background to discover the breakthrough point and providing detailed solutions based on analysis.

Introduction

In the Haidian District of Beijing, the family’s primary focus is to educate the child. In an area where high-caliber education is the main draw of the area, manysiteilies relocate to this district to create opportunities for their children to have high academic accomplishments and career opportunities. To afford to live in this district, most men in the family have high-power jobs that require much time away from the family. These factors create a lifestyle filled with pressure and stress for young mothers. Many women in this situation left their jobs in business when they started to raise a family. These women, who were once driven professionals, live in pressure and isolation, feeling the stress of raising high-performing and affluent children while leaving little time and energy for self-care. The Haidian District is a community of mothers feeling this way, and our goal is to connect and empower these women through dance.

Mamma Mia is a modern dance organization that partners with schools, community centers, and other dance companies to host dance classes for stay-at-home moms. The purpose of these classes is to teach modern dance classes and build community connections with stay-at-home moms. We hope that women are attracted to this dance organization because of the convenience of dance classes with childcare. Still, it ends up being a vehicle for empowerment, self-care, and connectivity.

In this project, we will explore the following:

●   The Need and Opportunity
●   The Program Design
●   The End Goal
●   Metrics and Evaluation
●   Budget

The Need and Opportunity

Here is a video that introduces the needs.

The Needs—Discovery from a Psychologist

Video Credits Dr. Hongmei Shi, a Psychologist from China Rehabilitation Research Center, Beijing

Status for Mothers in Beijing

Opportunity/Problem Statement

Situation of Dance Studios in Beijing

● Target customer groups
Many dance studios are located in Beijing, and dance studios can be found in every district of Beijing. Some of them became chain brands and set up classes in multiple districts. However, the target groups of those dance studios are children or adolescents. Unless it is the dance studio which on a relatively large scale normally offers classes for both adults and children, they hardly target only adults.

● Classes
Classes for children are usually set at the weekend, and classes for adults are set at night. For teaching adult dance, classes usually include traditional dance, Latin dance, Jazz dance, ballet, belly dance, modern dance, and yoga.

● Cost
Most dance studios charge monthly, seasonally, or yearly, and most have different professional-level classes with additional costs. The cost of these dance studios is relatively expensive. The low level of professionalism costs 50-100 RMB (about $8-$15) for one hour. 90-200 RMB (about $14-$30) an hour is for the class more professional. The private class, where one teacher only teaches one person, costs around 350 RMB (about $50) an hour.

The general situation of those dance studios gives us a guideline for our dance class and an understanding of the scarce aspects that may bring us opportunities. We can take advantage of the small quantity of adult-focus dancing clubs and offer this kind of class to show our high professional level. The cost is another point we can show our Strength. We will become a competitive dancing class in the Haidian district by charging a relatively low price to attract mothers.

Cases of adult dance classes in the U.S.

There might be many differences between the U.S. and China, including policy, demography, geography, etc. But still, we can dig some excellent cases as an example and learn from them.

2 Examples of Dance Studios:

● Breaking Boundaries is a multi-function dance & fitness studio. Its mission is to enrich the lives of anyone who steps foot in its studio. They recognise the importance of body mechanics and work with participants to help them grow in total body awareness. It also offers special workshops and events beyond classes.

● Liberated Movement is another example which may make us think. They offer an array of genres and modify exercises to the variety of abilities and levels in the class. They invite students to explore movements from the point of joy, not judgment. Through constant encouragement, positive feedback and seeing their progress, students begin to thrive on dance as a form of exercise and expression. Liberated Movement’s signature class is a meditative movement class that integrates breath work; yoga stretches, Qi Gong movements, a dance segment with an energetic cardio focus, free movement, and meditation, all to improve mood and sense of well-being.

Solution/Design

Mamma Mia is a specialised dance studio for moms having children from three to twelve years old. Understanding the needs of moms, both those who work and those who stay at home, we have classes tailored for their specific life phases. To provide easy transit for ladies, our core studio locations will be in large communities near schools and youth centres in the Haidian.

With us, they would explore the beauty of freeing themselves with music through body language based on methods in both traditional Chinese culture and contemporary dance. They can design their performances and show the beauty of their movements in the classes. They could also dance with their children and share the joy of dancing.

We invite women with all levels of experience to join us. Beginners are more than welcome. What we provide is not only a place to dance and exercise but also a playground to reshape the body, a quiet escape zone away from the daily trifles, a community to harvest new friendships, an opportunity to find their track back to society, and an emotional harbour to seek support and understanding.

OWP + Logic Model

OWP+Logical Model

Example of the Weekly Schedule

Staffing

Timeline

This Gantt Chart shows us the timeline of our project in each step of our plan.

Gantt Chart

Evaluation

The main objectives of Mama Mia are to:

● Dance: To Increase appreciation for modern dance through history and practice

● Community: To provide opportunities for stay-at-home moms to build community with other local women in the same stage

● Professional Development: To empower women to grow their professional skills while raising children and create pathways for connection to future employment opportunities.

KPIs