TAMPA, Fla. — A local dance studio lost all of its holiday costumes and props after someone stole a trailer earlier this month.
Stephanie Tsitsikronis, co-owner of The Dance Haus, said the trailer was stored on George Road in Tampa.
She said the theft happened on January 5 around 5 a.m. She said someone drove up in a van, cut the lock, and hauled away their bright blue trailer.
The trailer contained the dance studio's costumes and props for their performance of The Nutcracker.
"We had our Nutcracker performance this past December. It was our first one ever. It was at Countryside High School. It was amazing. A lot of hard work went into it. A lot of the props and costumes we had were handed down from our previous studio, so it had a lot of sentimental value," said Tsitsikronis.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is investigating the theft.
Security footage shows someone driving away in a van with the stolen trailer.
Tsitsikronis said the costumes were passed on and donated by the Elsa Pardo Dance Center. The owner retired after 56 years in business and donated the costumes.
"You can't find them in costume catalogs and stuff like that, so now it's like we have to start from scratch. Everything, we have to rebuild, and it costs a lot of money," she said.
The Dance Haus opened nearly two years ago on West Linebaugh Avenue in Tampa.
The dance studio is collecting donations online to help replace the stolen costumes.
"We really just want our stuff back. Again, this stuff can be replaced, but it can't because it holds so much sentimental value to us, and us being a fairly new studio, those are things that are costly to come up with, and we may not be in that position to do that right off the bat. It's going to take a while to rebuild all of that."
The sheriff's office urges anyone with any information to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office at (813) 247-8200.
