Built for the way studios actually run.
The pillars that hold up StageSide. Click any to skip ahead.
Live timing the moment things change.
Most apps show parents the schedule they got from the comp organizer two weeks ago. StageSide shows them what's happening right now. Because there's a real person at the venue updating it. Every parent connected to your studio sees the same authoritative running order the moment it changes.
- Stagehand mode. An on-site reporter (you, your runner, a trusted parent) updates the live running order from their phone.
- On-deck push notifications. "Abby's up in 4 routines." So parents can return from the snack bar in time.
- Per-dancer ETA calculator. Combines current pace and offset from scheduled to project each routine's real go-time.
- Share-to-grandparent links. One tap creates a read-only follow-along that doesn't require an account.
- Awards reach the dancer's profile three ways. Parents enter them, studios enter them, or they auto-import when official results post. Whichever fits the moment.
Everything an owner runs the studio with.
Classes, teams, private lessons, registration, tuition, reports. The desktop dashboard parents never see, designed for owners who actually need rows and columns. New this season stays hidden until you publish it, so nothing goes live before you're ready.
- Class library with recurring schedules, teacher assignments, age and level filters, and capacity caps.
- Competition teams with their own rosters, coaches, and group threads.
- Private lessons: teachers post their availability, parents book from the app, and tuition-included lesson credits count themselves down. Extra lessons bill automatically.
- Seasons that roll over year to year. Every past season stays as read-only history, so nothing from prior years is lost.
- Draft-then-publish. Build a class, team, or event privately, then reveal it to families with one tap (and choose whether to notify now or later).
- Attendance tracking with one-tap mark-present and absence reporting from the parent side.
- Tuition, costume, and competition invoicing with auto-pay, payment plans, and late-fee policies. Payments run through Stripe.
- Reports on revenue, attendance, and enrollment, plus a tax export your accountant can use directly.
- Studio policies, handbooks, and contracts. Digitally signed, versioned, and retained.
We move you over. You don't rebuild from scratch.
Switching studio software is the reason most owners never switch. StageSide is built so you don't have to. Bring your data from Jackrabbit, Studio Director, DancePro, or a stack of spreadsheets, and a guided setup gets your studio running the same week.
- White-glove onboarding. We set your studio up with you, or entirely for you, and hand it over ready to go.
- Import dancers, families, classes, and enrollments from a CSV export of your old system. We map the columns and flag anything that needs a look before it lands.
- A guided setup checklist walks you through branding, your season and classes, staff invites, and importing your roster. Skip what you don't need, come back to the rest.
- Invite your team and families by email, or let families claim the accounts you imported by signing up with the email already on file.
- Request access from the site, and you're in the onboarding queue. Early-access studios get a real person the whole way.
Mobile-first because that's where parents actually are.
StageSide is what every studio owner wishes Jackrabbit's parent portal had become. Phone-first design, dashboard widgets you can rearrange, the schedule that's actually accurate today.
- Personalized home. Today's class, this week's schedule, payment due, comp-day next steps.
- Multi-dancer households. One parent account, all your kids' schedules in one view.
- Book private lessons from the app, and see how many tuition-included lessons are left this month before anything bills.
- Every award your dancer earns, on their profile. Add one yourself, or let it import from official results.
- Tap-to-pay tuition, costume fees, and comp fees. Auto-pay or manual.
- Forms and waivers signed digitally. No paper, no hunting for a scanner.
- Photo-release toggles per dancer. Each caregiver sets theirs separately.
- Absence reporter that pings both parents. No surprise no-shows.
Like Band or ClassDojo. But safer.
Modeled after the secure messaging apps schools already use. Every message is logged so studios meet their record-keeping obligations. Private one-to-one messages between an adult and an unrelated minor are blocked at the data layer, not just hidden in the app.
- Every thread with a minor and an unrelated adult has at least three people on it. Enforced below the app, not in a setting anyone can toggle. When a dancer messages a staff member, their caregiver is quietly added to the thread.
- Class and team threads plus one-to-one direct messages. Share a photo right in the conversation.
- Polls are two-way. Studios can poll families on costume preferences, snack-day signups, recital themes, anything that needs a quick read, and see the count come in.
- Announcements with read-state tracking. See who's opened your "early dismissal Friday" message.
- Full message export for owners. Important for liability and disputes.
A record the dancer and the studio share.
Other platforms let studios wipe records on a whim. StageSide doesn't. Schedules, awards, attendance, signed contracts, comp results. All part of the dancer's permanent profile. The studio and the dancer share ownership. Neither side can quietly delete it without consent from the other.
- Append-only history below the app. No "oops, the studio deleted my kid's 5-year award."
- Consent workflow. Studios request an archive or change. The affected user (or their Primary Caregiver) approves or rejects.
- Achievement badges auto-populate from adjudication results and years-of-service milestones.
- Audit log every parent can read for their own data. "What has been done with my dancer's record."
- Built like FERPA protections in school systems. No other dance app does this.
Roles for every part of the studio.
A teacher should see their own classes, not the whole studio. A teaching assistant should learn the routine without seeing tuition records or parent contact info. A grandparent should follow comp day without seeing your card number. We built the permission system to match how studios really work.
- Built-in roles include Primary Owner, Co-Owner, Studio Admin, Teacher, Teaching Assistant, Parent, Guardian, Student, and Alumni. Studios can add more, and any role can be customized per person.
- Caregiver tiers per dancer: Primary, Secondary, Other Guardian. So divorced or blended families work cleanly.
- Per-user permission overrides. Owners can grant or revoke any single capability for any single person.
- Owners can transfer Primary Ownership without losing the studio. Co-owners share the studio equally.
- Alumni stay connected to recital schedules and adult-class enrollment, without seeing private member data.
Want a walkthrough?
We're onboarding early-access studios hands-on. Half an hour, your phone in your hand, a real demo with your real schedule.