The Soleunique Dance Complex (”SUDC”) is Aurora, Illinois’ newest dance training facility catering, not only to entry-level dancers, but also guides pre-professional dancers towards their artistic career paths. They stand firm in their belief that early exposure to the arts is critical to the discovery and advancement of a child’s potential. The Soleunique Dance Complex has been created to further the physical, mental and artistic development of their community’s youth utilizing dance training as a direct-link of communication. Their organization is equipped with a multi-faceted and well-experienced staff and faculty qualified to work with children as young as three years of age upwards into adulthood. Decades of observation and research have lead them to identify three specific customer types for their business model: (1) Children and individuals between 3 and 18 years of age who are seeking an extra-curricular, physically recreational activity for their child or themselves. (2) Young adults between 9 and 18 years of age who strive to enhance their physical abilities in order to compliment an athletic program or sport. (3) Individuals who have a passionate relationship with dance artistry and have committed themselves to becoming professional dancers and/or performing artists.
From the simplicity of fundamental motor skills to the grace and agility of contemporary ballet; the Sole Unique Dance Complex provides an assortment of movement classes catering, not only, to first time dancers, but up to adult and pre-professional and artists. Ballet, Children’s Classes, Contemporary, Commercial and Classic Hip Hop, Improvisation, Modern and Classical Jazz techniques, Partnering and Tap Dance are just the tip of the iceberg. They occasionally offer a few specialty classes and workshops with guest artists too!
In the opinion of Anthony Foster, Vice President and Co-Owner, the most noteworthy qualities that define the Soleunique Dance Complex are: (1) Their family-oriented and home-like atmosphere whereas every student and parent who walks through the door is greeted with a genuine “Welcome home” from any of their staff members. (2) The facility itself which, in design, caters to comfort and productivity both in and outside of the classroom by way of spacious lobby and reception areas for students and parents to start or continue any school or work-related projects between classes or while waiting on their child. (3) The proficiency of their management team who has been working together for many years prior to opening their facility allowed them to design programming and common practices geared towards steadily increasing faculty productivity both artistically and professionally. Each of the team members (Victoria Bunch: President/Owner, Anthony Foster: Vice President/Owner, Gera Klug: Treasurer/Owner, Diana True: Secretary/Owner) is adept in their position, which decreases most requirements to outsource additional services. The alliances that have been formed with local dance studios are continuing to develop healthy and non-competitive business 
relationships between one another.
Every year that the faculty has taught and coached dancers has presented far too many proud-teacher moments to recall just one remarkable standout. It is when they see and hear from former students with whom they have worked during their childhood, that have not only made the transition into professional dance, but are continuing to prosper in their chosen field – this makes them proud. Many have made careers for themselves in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and even one is now performing in Dresden, Germany with the SemperOper Ballett. Seeing students succeed and love life. If a student is sent home from class feeling more positive and successful than when they walked in, then the teachers feels like they have done their job. Sometimes it is success in the dance room with their skill work and sometime that means success in other areas of their lives. Dance training translates into so many facets of life. Some students are lifelong dancers and some use the skills, focus, discipline, determination, etc to propel them into college and careers outside of dance.
The Sole Unique instructors collectively believe that some of the biggest mistakes dancers can make are continually dancing, training, and/or performing in their comfort zone. They know what they do well and that is all they ever want to do, but do not yet realize that tricks are impressive to a certain degree, but have a very short shelf life. His attempts to combat this particular obstacle include sometimes starting barre combinations on the opposite side, beginning across the floor combinations from the left, have them demonstrate a sequence on their “bad-side” and then ask them to verbally dictate the “what” (went wrong?), “why” (did it happen?) and “how” (do they address it?). In the same example, Anthony could have students in a jazz or contemporary class comfortably and confidently improvise through 64+ counts of music prior to performing a combination; yet in a hip hop class, some will patiently await the phrase to begin rather than exploring alternative movement qualities that don’t include a battement. To combat this, he recently had a discussion with a group of dancers about the importance and necessity of improvisational hip hop skill and why it is fundamental to put it into practice both in and outside of the classroom as nearly every hip hop driven audition makes initial cuts in the improvisation stage of the call. His contribution to this aspect of their training is introducing them to “grooves” and historical movement vocabulary that they can develop and pull out of their bag at any given moment. Not every child is outgoing, but dance requires a student to come out of their shell. Anthony thinks the biggest mistake a dancer can make is to dance “safe,” to not explore their range of talent, to not take a risk. I try to draw some emotion out of the dancer and find some way to connect with them. It might be a funny joke or a shared experience that has nothing to do with dance, but once they can connect he can help them expand their horizons.
As this is SUDC’s inaugural year for the studio, what is most important to them is consistency. They opened their doors to a committed student body and client base that expects an unfiltered, brand-quality service and their goal is to ensure continued momentum to that respect as they approach their first, annual recital and progress into their summer session.
Prior to opening a studio of their own, the owners/directors had been approached by a local studio owner with an offer to sell their business to them. While interested, intrigued and enthusiastic to accept the offer, they found it more comforting to build their own from the ground up and to be able to share their very own, signature service into the community.
SUDC hosts two resident performing companies: SoleSquad Dance Team (season 1) and Soleunique Dance Company (season 12). They have 5000+ square foot facility containing three dance rooms with floor-to-ceiling mirrors and suspended flooring, kitchen, office, dressing room, stall bathrooms, large lobby/reception areas, bountiful parking and conveniently located near highway and local amenities. They also have state of the art security and HD video monitoring systems.
If you would like more information about Soleunique Dance Complex, visit their website at www.soleunique.com, call them at 630-340-4336 or email info@soleunique.com. You can also “Like” them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, check them out at Feedburner and connect with them on Instagram.
Please post a comment if you have had any experience with the team at Soleunique Dance Complex.
