Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Cardno.
Hi Michelle, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m originally from London, UK and began dancing as a young child. After graduating from dance school and embarking on my professional dance career – I was fortunate to get my first job with a British dance show ‘Spirit of the Dance’ which first brought me to America in 2004. A few years later, after touring around the world with various shows, I decided I wanted to make a move back to USA and this time to Los Angeles. A dance injury put a pause on performing full time and so in 2010, I opened Blue Starz Dance & Theatre School in Sherman Oaks, CA. I had always thought that teaching and owning a studio would be my second career after performing.
I started with one student, a little girl named Elle, in a small studio we rented by the hour. Fast forward a couple of years and we had our own beautiful studio in Sherman Oaks with 300 dancers coming to classes each week. We specialize in young dancers starting as young as six months in our Petite Performers program and go up to 12 years in our non-competitive junior classes.
We now have a second location in Toluca Lake, CA that we just opened up and are excited to expand into another area of the Valley!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
We have been fortunate to have a smooth run thus far!
Even this last year with Covid, it was all incredibly uncertain at the start of the pandemic and we weren’t sure which direction to go in and if we would make it through. We pivoted to zoom classes along with every other business and did that for a few months. We opened back up for a few weeks last July only to be told we had to close again after just a few weeks, and this time it was for the long haul. We were not allowed to operate inside for the last school year and our only option was to find an outside venue. We have a church over the road from our studio with a beautiful courtyard that became our home for the last year so we could continue to run our studio and our dancers could keep up their weekly classes. It was certainly a tough period for our studio but we made it with the support of our families and wonderful staff and believe we’ll come back even stronger this upcoming season.
As you know, we’re big fans of Petite Performers LTD. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
As well as owning Blue Starz in Sherman Oaks & Toluca Lake, I also am the co-founder (along with my Sister) of Petite Performers Ltd which is a franchise of dance & drama schools in the UK and USA for children ages six months – six years. After having taught respectively for many years in London and Los Angeles, we realized there wasn’t one company that did it all – a preschool-aged curriculum for ballet, tap, hip hop and drama – and so Petite Performers was born. A bespoke curriculum with original songs and music following Bella Ballet, Tilly Tap, Digby Drama & Harry Hip Hop on their adventures. It’s like Glee Club for little kids! We now have 15 franchises in and around London in UK as well as Williamsburg and Greenpoint in NY and of course, Blue Starz is the home to Petite Performers Sherman Oaks and Toluca Lake, CA.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Seeing the happiness in children’s faces when they achieve a new skill they’ve been working so hard on, or even going in the studio and doing their first class all on their own! Huge milestones for these little dancers and I feel so proud to be a part of that. The best day of the year is Recital Day! The excitement you can feel coming from the dancers up on stage, sometimes for the first time is absolutely magical! I feel incredibly proud that Blue Starz has created a safe, non-competitive place for children to experience the joy of performing.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.bluestarzdanceandtheatreschool.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluestarzdts/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bluestarzproductions/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvV0A84i_TZhU7H2CbGAcXA
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/blue-starz-dance-and-theatre-school-sherman-oaks-sherman-oaks
- SoundCloud: https://open.spotify.com/artist/22jbiEQ9Qk8TjtotZaRoF3?si=NoFaVQDjRWeO_ai4AW7ghQ&dl_branch=1
- Other: www.thepetiteperformers.com
Image Credits:
Elsie Rose Photography (studio shots)
