Cassie Rounds

  Cassie Rounds has a positive effect on people all around her. She is a small business owner of a dance studio as well as a behaviorist at a local elementary school. Working with kids and seeing the enjoyment in their eyes and having fun is one when Cassie feels most free.

She always wanted to work with little kids ever since she was a child. She wanted to help and teach kids something they would love doing. She opened her dance studio about 3 years ago, when I asked about challenges with the studio she replied “I think the overall challenge was just navigating so many people and their different personalities” “Sometimes the things I do is out of character for who I am, like, I like to be happy and cherry but there are times when owning a business I need to be more serious and calculated.”

Cassie wanted space where everyone could dance and the more she talked about it she realized she was taking a chance and a risk opening a business and hoping it would be successful and profitable.”Between wanting to give people a chance to dance and wanting to take a chance of opening a business I meshed the two and came up with Chance Dance Studio” She's taking a chance and she wants to give kids the chance to dance- something she likes to remind herself if she's having a bad day or feeling stressed it gives her a reason like why did I do this? A clear message to herself and others of why she did that and reminds her of the importance of Chance Dance.

Cassie also has another career. Teaching. She got her Masters degree in behavior analysis and got her board certification in behavior analysis specialized in autism. She always wanted to work with kids and slowly started her career from there at a young age.

“It's tricky balancing both environments due to everyone's different expectations.” She had an easier time managing the dance studio because it's only her, however when she's in a classroom she respects the teachers' expectations. “I think the biggest thing I've learned from both is to just let go just a little bit and just to have fun.” “ As an adult it gets harder to just kind of let go of our expectations. Both my jobs have taught me to let go in both ways!”

When I asked Joe, Vice Principal and Hailey Principal at a Buckland Shelburne Elementary School about the importance and impact on the kids of Cassie and her dance program they said when Cassie showed up in the cafe the kids new what there was something special waiting for them the kids were giddy with excitement knowing that they were going to be on stage. She was into the music that the kids enjoyed and dances that the kids knew and added on things that were easy for their skill set already.

“The way she presented herself with a smile she was always enthusiastic and wanting them to enjoy and have a good time and she modeled a good time” “ She might have been having headaches could have been sick as a dog I have no idea but what we saw was a splendid Cassie jumping and leaping around and had more energy than the kids.” The kids feel successful and good about themselves. They were working with peers,with other kids and doing fun things such as dancing, singing and making up dances. “They made friendships that will last forever so it really was a class during a day but it was really was something that extended out to community and lifelong friends”