Meet Jodi Shilling of Relevé Studios in Tarzana

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jodi Shilling.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Jodi. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When I was a little girl, I had an extreme case of shyness. I would rarely speak and felt very insecure, so much so that I was placed in classrooms with extra support for students like me when I started school.

My mom thought enrolling me in a dance class would help me overcome my shyness and insecurities. I could express myself without having to speak, and I would be in a safe environment to grow my confidence. She was right! Dance classes were the thing I most loved and looked forward to each week.

By the time I was 12, I told my guidance counselor I wanted to open a performing arts studio… 16 years later, I did!

Dance provided me with a scholarship to Oklahoma City University, and I was blessed to have a career performing in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles as an actress and dancer. My husband and I settled in Los Angeles in 2002, and I took some money I had earned from doing a Disney television show called “That’s So Raven” to open Relevé Studios in 2008.

Relevé means “raised and lifted up” and this December we’ll celebrate 10 years of lifting up our students.

It’s the greatest gift to have an impact on so many young lives, and I am grateful and humbled to have the opportunity to do so each day.

Has it been a smooth road?
It’s a good thing I was so naive when I opened my business because if I had known how difficult it was going to be and the challenges we’d face, I’m not sure if I would have had the courage!

From opening and getting approved by building and safety, coming up with the initial funding for the first year in business, growing our student numbers, hiring the best possible staff and instructors, managing and leading, learning business and marketing on the fly… boy, oh boy, it’s been an uphill climb from the day we first opened, but I wouldn’t have it any other way…

Through struggle comes growth, which leads to perseverance, which builds character, which leads to wonderful opportunities.

Grit is a great thing! It’s served me well!

It’s something I try to teach our students because it doesn’t usually matter how much talent you have, it’s more about passion and perseverance. Passion and perseverance outrank talent every time.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Relevé Studios – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Relevé studios offers dance, voice, acting and piano lessons to students age 2 through adult in a supportive, family-friendly, wholesome environment.

Our instructors are united in the belief and the power of mentoring wonderful performers, but more importantly, encouraging the development of joyful, well-balanced, awe-inspiring young people.

In an industry that often rushes children into adulthood as far as concepts and content, music choices, overly sexualized costuming and movement… we do not. We never have, and we never will.

It’s so important to us to help this generation understand their self-worth and confidence are much more meaningful and impactful than wearing a bra top and booty shorts while twerking to unmentionable lyrics.

When we perform and compete regionally and nationally, we are often commended and praised by judges and audiences for our creative concepts, age appropriate music content and costuming and performance quality. I love that world-renowned choreographers call us “refreshing.”

Relevé will continue to lift up our students and try to be a light in a sometimes dark industry.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Los Angeles has definitely become our home. It’s quite different from rural South Whitley, Indiana, but I love the culture, diversity, and opportunities that are available to our students here.

It’s so wonderful when I can call or email a casting director friend about a student, or send out an audition notice that’s happening just 10-minutes from the studio or gather all my industry friends to come and do a master class with the students. We are lucky to be in a major entertainment hub like Los Angeles!

Part of me will always miss living in the Midwest though. I miss my family in Indiana and my husband’s family in Nebraska and Colorado. The only downfall about living in Los Angeles is being so far from family and that our children Pixie (4) and Whimsy (2) are not growing up alongside their cousins.

We know we are where we are supposed to be though, and it is an amazing blessing to be living my dream of owning a performing arts studio. I’m as energized and passionate about Relevé Studios now, maybe even more so, than when I first opened 10 years ago!

Contact Info:

• Address: Relevé Studios
  18356 Oxnard Street #100
  Tarzana, CA 91356
• Website: www.relevestudios.com
• Phone: 818-343-7353
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/relevestudios/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/relevestudios/

Image Credit:
Focused Love Photography
Mark Baer
Laurie Hayball

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.