App Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy — AURA Dance Studios App

Last updated: 22 September 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

AURA Dance Studios is the trading name of the partnership of Martin Cutler, Charlotte Cutler and James Cutler, based at 28–30 Lincoln Road, Birmingham, England, B27 6PA ("we", "us", "the Studio"). The partnership provides the classes and events and is the controller of the personal data used to run its studio, bookings and member app. AURA is a separate business from James Cutler Dance Ltd.

Studio Pilot is supplied by James Cutler Dance Ltd (company number 16261978; registered office 28–30 Lincoln Road, Birmingham, England, B27 6PA). It provides the app and processes studio member information on our documented instructions. Its platform privacy policy also explains the information it controls for its own business purposes.

Contact AURA about bookings, classes, refunds or privacy at info@auradancestudios.co.uk or 0121 708 0609. If you contact Studio Pilot at admin@thestudiopilot.app for technical help, it will assist or refer your request to us as appropriate. This policy also applies to member booking features accessed through our website; website browsing, cookies and newsletter activity are described in our website privacy policy.

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, an Apple Wallet update token if you add a check-in card and enable updates, 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;
  • provide optional check-in cards, including wallet cards you choose to add;
  • 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).

Health information is optional special category data. We rely on explicit consent for using medical notes to help staff meet a dancer's care needs. You can ask us to remove those notes or withdraw consent at any time. Let us know if you need a different way to discuss an adjustment or emergency arrangement. Providing optional information is not a condition of receiving marketing, and you do not need to enable notifications to book. Account and booking details marked as required are needed to provide the service you request.

You can object to use based on legitimate interests and to direct marketing at any time. You can withdraw consent without affecting the lawfulness of earlier processing. We do not make solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects.

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.
  • Studio Pilot (James Cutler Dance Ltd), providing and supporting the app on our behalf.
  • Service providers that help us run the App:
    • Google Firebase (app infrastructure, database, file storage, sign-in, and push notifications), operated by Google.
    • Stripe processes payments for AURA through AURA’s own Stripe account. Stripe also has its own responsibilities for payment security, fraud prevention and legal compliance; see Stripe’s privacy policy.
    • Resend (delivery of transactional emails such as voucher deliveries and welcome emails).
  • Google Wallet, only if you choose to add a check-in card: the dancer's name, studio and membership information needed for the card. The card does not include contact details, date of birth, care notes or payment information.
  • Apple Wallet and Apple push services, if you add a card and enable updates: the card is generated for your phone, and the update service uses a device token. We do not send the card's name or membership information in the push notification. Apple and Google also process information under their own wallet/service terms.

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, Resend and optional wallet services 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. Contact us if you would like details of the relevant transfer safeguards.

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), or request account and data deletion by emailing info@auradancestudios.co.uk. Tell us the email used for your account; we may verify your identity before acting. You do not need access to the App to make a request.

Account deletion removes the active profile and associated member information handled by the deletion process, ends partner sharing and cancels active membership renewals. We may need to resolve outstanding payments, refunds or disputes separately; deleting an account does not itself refund a purchase or remove a valid amount owed.

We retain only the payment, booking and related evidence needed for accounting, legal obligations and resolving disputes, normally for six years or longer where a specific legal requirement or active claim requires it. Direct contact details are removed where they are no longer needed. A payment reference can still be linked to a person, so retained records are protected as personal data unless they have been irreversibly anonymised. Provider records and backups follow their own applicable retention periods. We restrict access to retained records and delete them when the reason for retaining them ends.

Google Wallet cards are cleared and Apple Wallet update registrations are removed as part of the relevant deletion process. A card already downloaded to a phone may retain its last display until it updates or you remove it. Please also remove it from your wallet. Gift-voucher balances bought for someone else remain available to the recipient. If you are a studio's sole owner account, ownership must first be transferred so the studio is not left without an owner.

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 info@auradancestudios.co.uk. 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

AURA Dance Studios — Martin Cutler, Charlotte Cutler and James Cutler in partnership. 28–30 Lincoln Road, Birmingham, England, B27 6PA. Email: info@auradancestudios.co.uk. Telephone: 0121 708 0609.

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