FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

From the filed FDD — automated extraction, check the source

2026 FDD

SBA-eligible · directory code S5362 since 2020

DivaDance (Unit)

Dance fitness · parent company: not identified

DivaDance is a dance-fitness company offering choreography-based group classes and private party experiences for adults. A franchisee runs the business locally by hiring instructors and booking classes in rented studio space rather than owning a facility, selling memberships, drop-ins, and events.

DivaDance (Unit) net unit count grew 34.4% over 2023–2025 per its FDD Item 20.

New to franchising? Start here

A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.

Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. Most numbers on this page come from that document; others come from federal SBA loan records and labor and census data, each labelled with its source:

  • Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
  • Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
  • Item 20 — how many locations opened, transferred and left the system, the main basis for our verdict, which rates how strong the disclosed record is, or says when the system is too new, the filing too old, or the disclosure too thin to judge.

Our rating · opinion

Too little disclosed history

40 franchised units over 3 disclosed years of Item 20 is too little history for a rating. Judge the disclosures, not a rating.

Exit rate · fiscal 2025

5.7%

vs 5.2% median across 35 comparable systems (fitness)

Cost to open

$57K–$226K

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan losses

Too few to rate

0 seasoned resolved loans; 30 needed

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Data as of 2026-10-29. Figures come from DivaDance (Unit)'s public FDD filings (latest: MN 2026, extracted 2026-07-23) and SBA FOIA loan records (through FY2026), extracted by us and possibly containing errors. The rating is our opinion, not investment, legal, or tax advice. Franchisor or owner and see something wrong? Report a correction — we review every request.

What each source says

FDD record · SBA loans · model · auditor

Our answer: Too little disclosed history

The Item 20 record is too short or too small to rate; the loan record and model are context, not a verdict.

FDD record · Item 20

Too little history

Units grew 34% (2023–2025: 32 → 43); exit rate 5.7% (fiscal 2025) vs 5.2% median.

SBA loans · vs same-year loans

Too few seasoned loans

0 resolved loans approved by FY2020; 30 needed.

Modeled risk

Not scored

Too little evidence for the model.

Auditor opinion · Item 21

Clean opinion

Unqualified audit, 2026 FDD. Says nothing about franchisee results.

Behind the verdict

the record, factor by factor · Item 20

hi-1.0.0
Net unit growth41%

latest consecutive years · Item 20 Table 1

Strong
Exit quality29%

terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3

Fair
Transfer / churn18%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Weak
Promise-keeping12%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Strong
Transparencynot in verdict

Item 19 disclosure + completeness · shown, not counted in the verdict

Strong

Systemwide units

2023–2025

+34.4%
322023392024432025

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

In fiscal 2025, 2 of 35 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 5.7% (fiscal 2025), vs a 5.2% median across 35 comparable systems (fitness). An exit is not a failure: this counts terminations, non-renewals and "ceased — other reasons" as reported, and excludes transfers to new owners.

Show the outlet tables ↓
Status (FTC)202320242025
Outlets at start303239
Opened5137
Transfers474
Terminations112
Non-renewals000
Reacquired by franchisor100
Ceased — other reasons150
Outlets at end323943
Net change+2+7+4

The franchisor's own finances

FDD ITEM 21 · AUDITED STATEMENTS · 2026 FDD

Full read →

Kezos & Dunlavy, LLC (FY2025); Reese CPA LLC (FY2024/2023/2022) gave an unmodified (clean) opinion on the statements in the 2026 FDD; revenue rose 26% from FY2023 to FY2025 and it reported a net loss in every year shown (FY2023–FY2025).

This is the company selling the franchise, not any franchisee. A clean opinion means the statements are fairly presented — not that the business is healthy.

Audit opinion

Unmodified (clean) opinion

Kezos & Dunlavy, LLC (FY2025); Reese CPA LLC (FY2024/2023/2022) · p. 91

Revenue · FY2025

$2.4M

p. 79 · matched to statement

Net income · FY2025

−$279K

p. 79 · matched to statement

Where FY2025 revenue came from

16% royalties

initial-fee share not extracted

Show the statement figures ↓
Fiscal yearFY2023FY2024FY2025
Total revenue$1.9Mp. 94 · matched to statement$2.4Mp. 94 · matched to statement$2.4Mp. 79 · matched to statement
Royalty revenue$231Kp. 94 · matched to statement$282Kp. 94 · matched to statement$398Kp. 79 · matched to statement
Initial / development feesline: Franchise fees$241Kp. 94$428Kp. 94not extracted
Net income (loss)−$173Kp. 94 · matched to statement−$423Kp. 94 · matched to statement−$279Kp. 79 · matched to statement
Equity (deficit) at year end−$433Kp. 93−$856Kp. 93not extracted
Cash at year end$35Kp. 93$81Kp. 93not extracted

The lender's view

SBA 7(a)/504 loan outcomes · compared with franchise loans of the same years

Banks have made 3 SBA-backed loans to DivaDance (Unit) franchisees since 2025. Only 0 of its loans approved by FY2020 have resolved — fewer than the 30 we need to compare it fairly with other franchise loans, so we don't rate it.

All-time, 0 of 0 resolved loans charged off (—). That raw figure mixes every approval year since 2025 — loans made in 2006–08 failed at several times the rate of loans made in 2010–13 across all franchises — so it is shown as evidence, not as the score. 100% of the brand's loans have not resolved yet.

Loss vs same-year loans

—

0 seasoned resolved · 30 needed

All-time charge-off · raw

—

0 of 0 resolved, every approval year

Loss given default

—

charged-off $ ÷ approved $, defaulted loans

Avg. loan · FY2020+

$72,533

what recent franchisees borrowed

Median time to default

—

shown with 10+ defaults

Lenders · FY21+ vs FY16–20

—

distinct banks lending

Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%) · dashed line = all franchise loans that year

SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO DIVADANCE (UNIT) BY SBA FRANCHISE NAME/CODE · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL · EXPECTED = SAME-YEAR RATE ACROSS ALL SBA FRANCHISE LOANS, LOANS ≥ ~6 YEARS OLD

What it costs — and what it drags

FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty

Buying in means a $36,000 franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $57K–$226K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.

To open (Item 7)

$57K–$226K

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

$36,000

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

10%

of sales, ongoing

If a unit does this in annual sales…$70K/yr

Starts at the Item 19 median of $71K from DivaDance (Unit)’s latest FDD. Read which units built that figure, then check it with current and former owners.

Royalty you'd pay / yr

$7K

10% of sales, before profit

Over a 10-yr term

$70K

royalties alone, excl. ad fund

This estimate is computed by software from the brand's public filings and any inputs you enter. No CPA prepared it for you and no assurance is provided on it. Actual results will differ, and the differences may be material.

This is not profit. It covers what the FDD fixes: what you put in, and the royalty you owe on sales. Your take-home depends on rent, staff pay, equipment payments, and the months to breakeven, none of which the FDD fixes for your unit (some Item 19s include cost data — read it).

Build a real pro-forma for DivaDance (Unit) with a buyer-paid CPA

How the earnings claim is built

FDD ITEM 19 · BASIS · 2026 FDD

This filing makes an Item 19 earnings claim; we have not yet read how it is built. Open Item 19 and check which units it covers, which it leaves out, and whether it shows costs.

Show the basis ↓

Public records

Bankruptcy, closure & federal court records · coverage is selective · dockets are not scored

We have no verified public-record signals published for DivaDance (Unit). This is not evidence that no events exist. Check PACER, the FDD's Item 3 (litigation) and Item 4 (bankruptcy), and recent news yourself.

8 questions to ask a DivaDance (Unit) franchisee

Built from this brand's own disclosures · take it to your validation calls

The franchisor will give you a list of owners to call. Most buyers ask whether they like it. These questions come from what DivaDance (Unit) has disclosed. Each one carries the number it came from, so you can check the answer against the record.

  1. 01

    DivaDance (Unit)’s own Item 20 shows 2 of 35 franchised outlets left the system in fiscal 2025 — about 5.7%. Do you know any of those owners, and do you know why they left?

    A franchisor will call these “transitions.” An owner three doors down usually knows whether they sold at a profit or handed the keys back.

    FDD Item 20 · FY2025

  2. 02

    4 units transferred to new owners in fiscal 2025. When you look at those, were they people cashing out a good business — or getting out of a bad one?

    Item 20 counts transfers as neutral, but a transfer can be a good sale or a reluctant exit — the filing does not say which.

    FDD Item 20 · FY2025

  3. 03

    You pay 10.0% royalty on gross sales, plus the ad fund, before any of your own costs. On your actual revenue last year, what did you take home as the owner — not revenue, take-home?

    Royalty is charged on sales, not profit. This is the number the brochure never shows and the one your life actually runs on.

    FDD Item 6

  4. 04

    DivaDance (Unit) makes an earnings claim in Item 19. Does your unit look like that number — and do you know which units they included to build it?

    Item 19 is legal to build from a flattering subset. Ask whether they excluded new units, closed units, or company stores.

    FDD Item 19 · 2026

  5. 05

    How many months did it take to cover your own costs, and how much cash did you burn getting there?

    Ramp-to-breakeven working capital is the most underestimated line in any franchise purchase, and the most common reason otherwise-good units fail.

    Not disclosed in any FDD — ask an owner

  6. 06

    What does the franchisor charge for that you didn't expect — required tech fees, mandatory remodels, approved-supplier pricing?

    Required spending appears across Items 6, 8 and 11 rather than in one place, so buyers routinely miss the total.

    FDD Items 6, 8, 11

  7. 07

    If your agreement came up for renewal tomorrow at current terms, would you sign again?

    The single most predictive question you can ask. A hesitation is the answer.

    Ask every owner you speak to

  8. 08

    Who else should I call — including someone who left?

    The franchisor's list is curated by definition. Former franchisees are where the unflattering truth lives, and current owners usually know how to reach them.

    Ask every owner you speak to

Want this as a checklist you can take to the calls?

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This page is what buyers see before they call you for validation. If the record above is wrong — or right in a way the numbers can't show — say so. Franchisors: send corrections with the page reference and we will review them against the filing and update or annotate the page. Corrections are checked against the filings; nothing you write is published with your name unless you agree to it.

DivaDance (Unit) franchise questions, answered from the filings

How many DivaDance (Unit) franchised outlets left the system last year?

In DivaDance (Unit)'s latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 2 of 35 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 5.7% — compared with a 5.2% median across 35 comparable systems (fitness) tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons" as the franchisor reported them; it excludes transfers to new owners. The FDD does not say why each outlet left, and an exit is not the same as a failure.

How much does a DivaDance (Unit) franchise cost?

Per DivaDance (Unit)'s 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $36,000 (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $57K–$226K (Item 7).

What royalty does DivaDance (Unit) charge?

DivaDance (Unit) charges an ongoing royalty of 10.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.

Does DivaDance (Unit) disclose earnings (Item 19)?

Yes — DivaDance (Unit) makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $71K. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.