Our Story
Emily gets on a call on her birthday in the April of 2008. Cassie, on a whim, had applied to be a make-up artist for a magazine photo shoot, despite the fact that she had little to no experience as a make-up artist. She had unexpectedly gotten the job and needs Emily to come with her to the shoot to pretend to be her assistant. Without thinking twice, Emily agrees. While Cassie is working with the models, Emily makes fake phone calls to fake clients on her Blackberry. Everyone is so impressed by the dynamic duo. In order to celebrate after, Cassie and Emily go shopping around Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. At the Steve Madden store, they tell the gentleman who is helping them that they own a company. He asks them “what kind of company,” and they blurt out “dance and entertainment company.” Three years later Cassie and Emily opened the doors to CaRu Entertainment – a dream turned reality.
Cassie and Emily met their rookie year on the Philadelphia Wings Angels Dance Team. Just weeks after becoming friends, over a casual lunch, Cassie and Emily decided that someday they would open a business together. Cassie said it would be her dream to open a dance studio in New Jersey and Emily said “I’m in.” Words that later would seal their fate.
Over the next two years Cassie and Emily created all sorts of adventures for themselves. They landed a gig co-hosting for the Comcast OnDemand’s series Girls Night Out. They launched and directed the second-ever dance team in the U.S. for the American National Rugby League, The Philadelphia Fight Vixens Dance Team. They flew to Phoenix, Arizona to audition for So You Think You Can Dance? They took a weekend trip to L.A. to meet with professional choreographers about starting a traveling dance convention. All of this while Emily was completing her first master’s stint and working a full-time job, and while Cassie was living in NYC pursuing a career as a professional dancer.
CaRu Entertainment started out as a dance troupe in New York City that booked performances at charity events, music videos and concerts. Cassie was running the company out of her tiny Chelsea apartment and performing as the lead in the dance crew. Emily was spearheading the marketing and communications. Eventually the two realized that teaching dance was their true calling, so they started hosting weekend dance workshops throughout the tri-state area. CaRu even traveled as far as Arizona to host a dance intensive. But renting space and traveling became cumbersome. Cassie and Emily wanted a home.
In the May of 2011, Cassie called Emily late one night. She said, “Let’s do this. I want to open a studio. Are you in or are you out?” At the time, Emily was in full-time graduate school for Broadcast Journalism. Without hesitation, Emily said “I’m in.”
Just days after Cassie completed a series of summer camps in Avalon, NJ and Emily completed her second master’s degree…they walked into the doors of the CaRu Entertainment Dance Complex. That was in August 2011. In September, they welcomed their first students and in October created their first-ever competition team.
And that’s only the beginning…