The Davis Plan
OUR STORY
During her Summer break, in 1997 while working on her BFA from Howard University, Tamyia "Tugené" Davis started her first studio in Claremont, Ca. as TuSoul. Not long after, life changed and with it, went the studio. Several years later her second start at studio ownership came through Testimony Movement Ministries in San Bernardino. Although her passion for dance stayed strong, life transitions got the best. More than 10 years later, in 2018, her eldest daughter said "Mommy, can I take dance classes?" and on January 5, 2019 Davis Inspiration Studios was born! "Just dance" wasn't enough for Tugené as a parent and advocate. With a longstanding commitment to solving the starving artist dilemma, incorporating Life Planning from young kids to adults was vital. The whole artist, not just the creative part.
The dance program was hosted in Elements Dance Space in Pasadena. It was so successful, by January 2020 the studio went from one class to six with the additional classes hosted at Jackie Robinson Center. Tugené found success at home! A 4th generation resident of Altadena, she was confident things were moving in the right direction but by February 2020, Davis Inspiration Studios hosted it's last dance class due to the pandemic. Many attempts were made to continue the classes online but the greatest survival of the program was Life Planning so she continued to forge ahead with the hope that the studio would return during better times.
Getting back to her Girl Scout roots, Davis Inspiration Studios formed Girl Scout Troop 4955 to assist in hosting the Life Planning portion of our program. Despite hardship, setback and leadership divisions we are still going! With a renewed focus on Life Planning, what we've always called "The Davis Plan" now takes the lead in all that we do.
Tugené started dancing at two years old at Pewsey Dance School. It was located on the corner of Lake and Altadena Drive. Now working on her MFA in Film, Tugené and her husband raise their two daughters knowing the balance of creativity and viability.
As filmmakers and creatives to the core, Tugené and her husband, Jay, have an art and parenting philosophy for their daughters to show their own interest in the arts. The goal is set to teach their children and the world, artists don’t need a Plan B but a good Plan A!
Although COVID changed the function of all principal activities, our gift shop took off as we maintained our community through virtual dance classes, dancing in the park and our Friendship Days in 2020 and 2021 until 2022.
Due to the emergency of the Eaton fire in Altadena, we are committed to bringing our dance classes back to the city.
With a focus on self care products, we've became grantees of the FedEx E-commerce Learning Lab, have delivered more than 500 self care kits to women in the Pasadena Community and partnered with Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated, The NAACP Pasadena Branch and the International Association of Blacks in Dance.
Our mission is focused on addressing the problematic issue of artists being unprepared for life’s realities while being a creative. Many artists face homelessness, depression as well as drastic ups and downs socially and financially through the gig lifestyle.
We understand why many parents encourage their artists to have a “back up plan” when they leave home. However, we believe a "Plan B" is encouraged because a concrete Plan A is not in place. "The Davis Plan" is Plan A.
As we develop artists, we expect our artists will fall in love with their craft. As they do, we want to ensure that as they learn their craft, they equally learn how to flourish through life’s eventualities.
OUR MISSION
To model & develop artists who are viable, grounded in Christ and have creative interchangeability so that we can solve the “starving artist” dilemma.
WHAT WE DO
We develop well rounded creative leaders by providing art and life planning classes, events, tools and resources for creative communities to learn and execute their craft for their short and long term goals with a specialization in theatre and film.