App Privacy Policy - AURA Dance Studios

Last updated: 22 August 2026

This policy explains how your personal information is collected and used when you use the AURA Dance Studios mobile app (the “App”). We handle your data in accordance with UK data protection law (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

1. Who we are

AURA Dance Studios is a trading name of 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”). We are the data controller for the App and for the classes and events you book through it.

The App is built and provided on Studio Pilot (thestudiopilot.app), our dance-studio app platform, which is also operated by James Cutler Dance Ltd — so your data stays with the same company. Studio Pilot acts as our data processor; its platform privacy policy explains how it handles your information on our instructions.

For any privacy question or request, email info@auradancestudios.co.uk or admin@thestudiopilot.app, which is the address shown inside the App.

2. What this policy covers

This policy covers the AURA Dance Studios mobile app and everything you do in it. If you book through our website instead, that is covered by our website privacy policy.

3. 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 us balance partnering in social classes), and optionally a photo. For children we also collect a date of birth; for adults it is optional. You can add optional care details for a person — an emergency contact and any medical notes you want our teachers to know, such as an allergy — which are visible to our 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 we record for a dancer’s progress.
Payment information — payments are processed by 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 save a card for faster checkout it is stored by Stripe, and we hold only a summary (card brand, last four digits, expiry date).
Memberships — status and billing history, with recurring payments handled by Stripe.
Gift vouchers — if you buy a voucher for someone else, the recipient’s name and email address and any message you write, so it can be delivered.
Content you write — class reviews and ratings, and any enquiries or requests you send through the App.
Teacher profiles — if you teach for us and appear in the teacher directory, your name, bio, photo and chosen contact method are shown to our members in the App.
Waiver acceptance — a record of when you accepted our participation waiver.
Technical data — a device notification token if you enable push notifications, a separate token if you add a check-in card to Apple Wallet and allow it to update, sign-in times, and the basic technical information needed to run the App reliably and securely.

4. 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, they are supplied by the adult account holder, who confirms they have authority to provide them.

We use a child’s date of birth to manage age-appropriate bookings and, where the birthday perk is switched on, to offer a free-class birthday reward — the notification goes to the adult account holder, not 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.

Photos and content in the App’s updates feed are posted by us, and we obtain consent from a parent or guardian before publishing an image of a child.

5. How and why we use your information

To create and manage your account and the people you book for.
To take bookings and process payments for classes, events, courses, packs, memberships and vouchers.
To record attendance and run our classes safely on the day, including acting on any medical information or emergency contact you have given us.
To provide a check-in card for the dancer, and — if you choose — to put that card in your phone’s wallet.
To deliver gift vouchers you buy and welcome emails when you join.
To send notifications you have enabled, such as booking confirmations, reminders, class changes or cancellations, news, 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.
To contact you in urgent circumstances where you have given us a phone number.
To run the loyalty, rewards and progression features we offer.
To understand class attendance so we can plan and improve our 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, marketing messages, and adding a check-in card to your phone’s wallet, which you can withdraw at any time); and legal obligation (keeping financial records we are required to keep). Medical information is special category data, which we handle on the basis of your explicit consent, given when you choose to provide it, and use only to keep the dancer safe.

6. Who we share it with

Our teachers and reception staff, who can see the booking, attendance, membership and payment-status information they need to run classes. Staff cannot see your card details.
A partner you choose to link with. If you invite a partner and they accept — or you accept theirs — you can each see the other’s bookings and book classes for each other. The link has a dependant-sharing 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 a child’s photo or photo consent). Either of you can end the link at any time in Profile → People, which stops all sharing going forward. Payments always stay separate — whoever books, pays.
Service providers who help us operate:
- 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).
- Google Wallet (only if you choose to add a check-in card to Google Wallet), operated by Google. We send the dancer’s name, the studio, and their membership details so that Google can put the card on your phone, and Google holds them until the card is removed. We do not send contact details, date of birth, care or medical information, or anything about your payments. If the dancer leaves the studio, or you delete your account, we empty the card so that it holds none of those details and can no longer be scanned.
- Apple (updates to a check-in card added to Apple Wallet). Apple Wallet works differently: the card is created and signed by us and sent straight to your phone, so Apple never receives your name or your membership details. If you allow the card to update, your phone gives us a token so we can ask Apple’s push service to tell it the card has changed — Apple sees that token, not the information on the card.

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

7. 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, push-notification delivery, and Google Wallet if you add a check-in card to it — run on Google’s global infrastructure and may process limited data (such as your email address, sign-in times, device notification token, and the details printed on a wallet card) outside the UK. Stripe, Resend and Apple’s push service 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.

8. 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 check-in card added to Google Wallet is emptied — it keeps none of your details and can no longer be scanned — and any Apple Wallet card registration held for updates is deleted. A card already downloaded to a phone that never connects again will keep whatever it last showed, which is why these cards carry no payment or contact information;
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.

You can also ask us to delete your data using the contact details above.

9. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to access your data, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, to object to or restrict how we use it, and to receive 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 at ico.org.uk, though we would appreciate the chance to put things right first.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it last changed, and we will give prominent notice in the App of any significant change.

11. Contact us

James Cutler Dance Ltd, 28–30 Lincoln Road, Birmingham, England, B27 6PA.
Email info@auradancestudios.co.uk · Telephone 0121 708 0609.