Arrival

Please…

• Be considerate and arrive on time to class

  • It is important to arrive on time to class; warmups are necessary for dancer/performer safety.

• Do not arrive more than 10 minutes early to class.

  • Although instructors may be at DCT earlier, they are preparing for their classes and not to be watching students.

• CONFIRM that your student’s instructor is present before leaving.

• Derby Children's Theatre is not responsible for students that are dropped off at any class or Derby Children's Theatre sponsored event without confirmation of an instructor being present.

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Pickup

Please…

• Arrive promptly to pick your child up from class. 

  • This is especially important if your child takes the last class of the day. 

  • Instructors are not paid overtime for staying late.  They cannot watch over children left unattended, either before or after class. 

  • Although we currently do not have late pickup fees, we may need to impose these in the future if this becomes more of an issue.

• Instruct your child to wait inside until they are picked up, for their safety.

 

Absences

• Notification

  • Please notify DCT of all absences by emailing derbychildrenstheatre@gmail.com.  

• Illness

  • Please be respectful to our staff and students and do not send your child to class if they are sick.

    • If they did not attend school due to illness, they should not attend class at DCT.  

    • Although there are no refunds due to illlness, a child may make up a class by attending the class of a lower level (with prior approval).

• Production Class Absences:

  • Production classes heavily rely on great attendance in order to be successful.

    • Students should not enroll in production classes if they plan to miss more than 3 rehearsals. 

      • This is for fairness, mental wellness, and physical safety of the entire cast and staff.

        • Please email us prior to enrolling if this is an issue for your student.

    • There will be no excused absences during tech week

    • We are understanding of emergencies and illness.

• Weekly Class Absences

  • Weekly class attendance is also important, as students often rely on each other to learn routines.  

  • Enrolling in weekly classes means that your student and family will prioritize that class and make every effort to attend, weekly.

• Dropped classes are not assumed.

  • If enrolled, we will assume your student(s) are continuing in a class for the entire semester, and therefore you are responsible for the next month’s tuition.

    • We must be notified in writing by emailing derbychildrenstheatre@gmail.com that you wish to drop a weekly class by the last day of the month in order to avoid the next month’s charge (see payment policies).    

  • We encourage students to complete the full session of classes, but understand that emergencies do happen.



Dress Code:

• For ALL classes, please follow our Dress Code under the class description on our website, derbychildrenstheatre.com - If there is no dress code listed, please wear comfortable clothing that the student can move in 

• No “street shoes” are allowed on the Dance floor.  Please wear dance shoes or socks.

 

Children needing clothing assistance

• Costumes/Microphones

  • Children in performances may need assistance with their costumes and microphones. 

    • Students in performances should always wear underclothes in case they need help changing or a microphone attached- which may involve clipping onto underclothes or feeding a wire underneath clothing.

    • It is the responsibility of the student and parent to let the instructor/DCT know that they are uncomfortable with assistance with costuming and/or microphone attachment BEFORE we help them, so we can plan another way for them to get their costume and microphone in place.

• “Littles” 

  • Children in the “Littles” classes (ages 3-5) should be fully potty trained and taken to the bathroom before class.

  • If a child would need any help using the restroom, or removing their dance clothing (leotard/tights) in order to use the restroom, their parent must stay in order to help them do so. 

Food/Drink

• We encourage students to bring their own water bottle. We do not have a water fountain available.

• No gum chewing is allowed.

• Please help us keep our studio clean and smelling nice by avoiding bringing in/trashing large amounts of food waste.

 

Parent Observations

• Parents/guardians are allowed to stay to observe classes, as long as space allows, or drop off their child(ren) for class.

  • Please be aware that some children do better in class when the parents drop them off vs. watching them. 

• Parents/guardians are not allowed to attend rehearsals for performances such as recitals and musicals.  

  • This is largely due to legal reasons as per our contracts with Music Theatre International 

 

Casting

• Fair casting is of the utmost importance to DCT staff and we take measures to make sure we cast shows and soloists as fairly as possible.

• We will not accept threats, bullying, bribes, or any other types of coercion in response to. or in order to influence, casting decisions.  Doing so may result in removal from DCT.

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Disruptive and unsafe behavior

• We will not accept inappropriate behavior around our students or teachers. This includes, but is not limited to, physical or verbal altercations, threats, or use of foul language.  

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We reserve the right to refuse service.