May 15, 2017

Meet Kari Hollingsworth of Center Stage Dance Academy in Stevenson Ranch

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kari Hollingsworth.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started dancing at the age of 3. I loved to dance but honestly wasn’t very good at it. Around the age of 14, I noticed that I wasn’t very good at just ‘following along’ and that I had to put in extra work on my own to remember dances and to do the moves with more precision. That’s when I realized that everyone learns differently and that I could help others by explaining things in another way. I started to help a teacher with her ballet class at my studio and that’s when I realized that I loved to teach! It wasn’t long before I had my own classes at the studio and I was asked to choreograph for many dance productions at my school and community theatre group. I took many classes but loved hip-hop and tap the most. I told my friends that I wanted to be a dance major at UCSB and they laughed at me telling me that I did not have enough ballet and jazz technique to get in. I took that as a challenge, to show them that anyone could do anything they put their minds to! I took an intense summer course in ballet and even though I didn’t make the first audition at UCSB, I pushed even harder and made the second cut to get into the department! I focused heavily on choreography and was asked to do two pieces for the student showcase and even to teach a hip-hop class at the college! I was part of the hip-hop club Black Reign, and started my own dance club “Amatory”. At the same time, I was teaching at a studio, and heading the performance team of the non-profit “Everybody Dance Now”. After college, I started my own studio in Santa Clarita, and now 6 years later, I have a thriving dance studio that keeps growing each year!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There have been many struggles along the way:

1. We rented out space from someone who was not qualified with the county and lied to us about it.

2. I got my own place and had to get my own permits with no knowledge of how to go about that.

3. I had a crazy parent who was not paying tuition and yelled at me about it like it was my fault.

4. We started growing too quickly and we ran out of space to add more students.

5. Before we got to our current location, we had a run-in with our landlords who did construction without telling us. They proceeded to cut huge holes that went through their walls into our studio and made a mess on our floors, they cut off our electricity and AC, and were so noisy we couldn’t even hear our own music!

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Center Stage Dance Academy – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Center Stage Dance Academy is an award winning, prestigious dance academy that educates not only in the advanced dance field, but also in dance education, college preparatory, audition skills, competition teams, and future dance careers. All of this is taught in a positive, fun, loving, and accepting environment, where kids and parents help each other and lift each other up to create a dance family.

Our mission is to enrich the lives of our students using dance as a tool to bring children with different abilities, backgrounds and personalities, into a positive, accepting, and non-judgmental environment.

Our vision is to create a ‘Dance Family’. This creates long-lasting and meaningful friendships as well as advanced social skills. We teach our students to go above and beyond to welcome a new person into our studio, and to never put anyone down for something they can’t do yet. We cultivate new found pride and self-esteem! Concurrently, we nurture healthy lifestyles by creating a fun way to stay active while promoting age-appropriate routines and costumes. We nourish the spirit, mind, body, and soul by having programs that educate, inspire, promote growth, accomplishment, and camaraderie. By providing positive role-models as teachers, we help instill the value of self-discipline and dedication. We have created opportunities for our advanced dancers, to learn how to compete, teach, and even become entrepreneurs. Our motto is: “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it!”

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
In the future, we plan on opening another studio in the area, as we have so many students that have to travel great distances to get to our facility.

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