Privacy Policy — AURA Dance Studios App

Last updated: 21 July 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how your personal information is collected and used when you use the AURA Dance Studios mobile app (the "App"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data in accordance with UK data protection law (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

Who we are

The App is operated by James Cutler Dance Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16261978), registered office 28-30 Lincoln Road, Birmingham, England, B27 6PA ("we", "us", "our"). James Cutler Dance Ltd is the data controller for the App. AURA Dance Studios (the "Studio") is a trading name of James Cutler Dance Ltd and provides the classes and events booked through the App. The App is built and provided on Studio Pilot (thestudiopilot.app), our platform for dance-studio apps — Studio Pilot is also operated by James Cutler Dance Ltd, so your data stays with the same company.

For any privacy questions or requests, contact us at admin@thestudiopilot.app.

What information we collect

We collect only what we need to let you book and pay for classes and events:

  • Account details: your name and email address. You can sign in with an email address and password, with Google, or with Apple — if you use Google or Apple, we receive your name and email address from them (with Sign in with Apple you can choose to hide your real email address, and we receive Apple's private relay address instead). You may optionally add a phone number and a profile photo.
  • People you add to your account: the name of each person you book for (for example a partner or child), whether they are an adult or a child, optionally their gender (used only to help the Studio balance partnering in social classes), and optionally a photo. For children we also collect a date of birth; for adults a date of birth is optional. You can also add optional care details for a person — an emergency contact and any medical notes you want the Studio to know (for example an allergy) — which are visible to Studio staff and, while dependant sharing is on, to your linked partner.
  • Booking and attendance history: the classes, events, courses, and class packs you book or buy, who each booking was for, waitlist entries, whether attendance was recorded, and any attendance streaks, awards, or grades the Studio records for a dancer's progress.
  • Payment information: payments are processed by our payment provider, Stripe. Your full card details go directly to Stripe and are never stored on our systems. We keep a record of payments made — amount, date, status, and how you paid (in-app, cash, or card at the studio). If you choose to save a card for faster checkout, the card is stored by Stripe and we hold only a summary (card brand, last four digits, and expiry date).
  • Memberships: if you take out a membership, we keep its status and billing history; recurring payments are handled by Stripe.
  • Gift vouchers: if you buy a voucher for someone else, we collect the recipient's name and email address and any message you write, so the voucher can be delivered.
  • Content you write: class reviews and ratings, and any enquiries or requests you send through the App (including the contact details you include in them).
  • Teacher profiles: if you teach at the Studio and appear in its teacher directory, your name, bio, photo, and chosen contact method are shown to the Studio's members in the App.
  • Waiver acceptance: a record of when you accepted the Studio's participation waiver.
  • Technical data: a device notification token if you enable push notifications, sign-in times, and the basic technical information needed to run the App reliably and securely.

Children's information

The App is for adults: accounts may only be created by people aged 18 or over. Some bookings are made by a parent or guardian for a child. Where a child's name and date of birth are provided, this is supplied by the adult account holder, who confirms they have authority to provide it. We use a child's date of birth to manage age-appropriate bookings and, where the Studio has turned the birthday perk on, to offer a free-class birthday reward — the reward notification is sent to the adult account holder, not to the child. We do not create accounts for children and we do not send marketing to children. If you would like a child's information removed, contact us using the details above or delete the person from your account in the App.

Any photos or content shown in the App's updates/news feed are posted by the Studio, which is responsible for that content and for obtaining any necessary consent — including consent from a parent or guardian before publishing an image of a child.

How and why we use your information

We use your information to:

  • create and manage your account and the people you book for;
  • take bookings and process payments for classes, events, courses, packs, memberships, and vouchers;
  • record attendance and let Studio staff manage classes on the day;
  • deliver gift vouchers you buy and welcome emails when you join;
  • send you notifications you have enabled — for example booking confirmations, reminders, class changes or cancellations, news about new events, and prompts to rebook a class you recently attended (rebook prompts are on by default and can be turned off in the App at any time);
  • contact you in urgent circumstances where you have provided a phone number;
  • run loyalty, rewards, and progression features the Studio offers;
  • understand class attendance so the Studio can plan and improve its timetable.

Our lawful bases are: performance of a contract (to provide the booking service you ask for), legitimate interests (to run and improve the Studio, and to send you booking and rebook reminders about a service you use — you can opt out), consent (for optional push notifications and marketing messages, which you can withdraw at any time), and legal obligation (keeping financial records we are required to keep).

Who we share it with

  • The Studio's staff. Studio owners, administrators, and reception staff can see the booking, attendance, membership, and payment-status information they need to run classes — for example, the register for a class shows who is booked and whether they have paid. Staff cannot see your card details.
  • A partner you choose to link with. If you invite a partner (for example a spouse) and they accept — or you accept their invitation — you can each see the other's bookings and book classes for each other. Your link also has a dependant-sharing setting — a single shared setting that either of you can switch on or off at any time. While it is on, your linked partner can also see and book for your children, and update a child's care details (never the child's photo or photo consent). You choose what appears in your own lists, and either of you can end the link at any time in Profile → People; ending it stops all sharing going forward. Payments always stay separate — whoever books, pays, with their own payment method.
  • Service providers that help us run the App:
    • Google Firebase (app infrastructure, database, file storage, sign-in, and push notifications), operated by Google.
    • Stripe (payment processing).
    • Resend (delivery of transactional emails such as voucher deliveries and welcome emails).

We do not sell your data, and we do not share it for third-party advertising.

Where your data is stored

Our database and the App's server functions run in Google's London (UK) region. Uploaded photos and our database backups are stored in Google's European Union region. Some Google services we rely on — sign-in (authentication) and push-notification delivery — run on Google's global infrastructure and may process limited data (such as your email address, sign-in times, and device notification token) outside the UK. Stripe and Resend may also process data outside the UK. Where data is processed outside the UK, the transfer is protected by recognised safeguards such as UK adequacy regulations or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement / Addendum.

How long we keep it, and deleting your account

We keep your information for as long as you have an account.

You can delete your account in the App (Profile → Delete account). When you do:

  • your profile, the people on your account, photos, notification tokens, any saved card (removed from our payment provider), reviews, loyalty cards, waitlist entries, partner links and invitations, and progression records are permanently deleted;
  • any active membership subscription is cancelled;
  • records of payments and paid bookings are kept in anonymised form (your name and contact details are removed from them) because we are legally required to keep financial records — typically for six years;
  • if you bought a gift voucher for someone else, its remaining balance stays valid for the recipient, with your personal message removed.

If you are the sole owner of a studio on the platform, you will need to transfer ownership to someone else before your account can be deleted, so the studio is not left without an owner.

You can also ask us to delete your data by emailing admin@thestudiopilot.app.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to access your data, correct it, ask for it to be deleted, object to or restrict certain processing, and request a copy in a portable format. To exercise any of these, contact us at admin@thestudiopilot.app. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "last updated" date at the top shows when it was last changed. Significant changes will be notified in the App.

Contact

James Cutler Dance Ltd, 28-30 Lincoln Road, Birmingham, England, B27 6PA. Email: admin@thestudiopilot.app.