Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Schreiner.
Sara, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In 2006, my business partner and I began to plan a studio. Our studio would be a place for students of all ages to learn dance, music and acting, while developing a strong connection and relationships with other artists. After years of dreaming and waiting for circumstances to be just right, we decided there would never be a perfect time to turn our dream into a reality. So, despite the awful recession and a lack of funds & experience, we acquired a 1600 square foot space in an industrial park in 2009 and opened our doors. 2 students came to our first open house, and when our session began, we had 14 students, all of whom took piano or voice lessons. For the next year, we would both work other jobs (and eat a lot of ramen noodles) to ensure that our dream could continue to be realized. After years of knocking on doors, doing mailers, and trying to get our name out any way we could, our dance program began to blossom. By 2011, we were finally able to take a small paycheck. For the next few years, our business began to grow simply through word of mouth. By 2014, we were bursting at the seams and underwent a renovation to expand our studio to 4800 square feet. We also added a store and began to sell dance apparel, shoes, merchandise, and accessories. In 2016, the partnership changed, and I acquired a new business partner, Kourtney. She and I have continued to grow the business (with the help of our wonderful staff) to over 150 families with 530 enrollments. We have flourishing music and acting departments, and an award-winning dance competition team! While we both remain completely overwhelmed working a typically 60+ hour week, we also wouldn’t have it any other way. We love what we do, and we love watching our students transform and grow as they come to understand more about themselves and their art.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Owning a business is rarely a smooth road, and there have been many challenges. Particularly in the beginning, my partner and I were both putting in our own money each month to pay the rent and bills, rather than taking out a paycheck. We would do whatever we could to try and market our studio, get more students in the door, and develop the highest quality training programs for our students. It was incredibly difficult, and there were times when we would find ourselves at the studio just praying that we would get two or three more families to register so we could make the rent. As time has gone on and we have grown significantly, our challenges have definitely changed. One of the biggest challenges my new partner and I face is creating a work/life balance. It’s very easy to get completely consumed in emails, registrations, and teaching that you forget to take a break, recoup, or have a life outside of the studio. It’s something we know that all studio owners struggle with, and something we work on improving each year.
Beyond Center Stage – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Beyond Center Stage (or BCS, as our families call us) is a performing arts academy. We teach dance, music and acting to students of all ages through both group classes and private lessons. We also have a store that provides dance apparel, merchandise, and accessories to our students and other performers in the community. BCS is known for being the studio that “does it all,” where students have access to all forms of the arts in one place. Many of our students participate in multiple disciplines, creating more well-rounded artists and performers. I am extremely proud of the quality of training that we provide, and the inclusive environment that we create for the students. This is in large part to our fantastic teaching staff who are inclusive, welcoming, and very knowledgeable! There are no other studios in our area who offer the same type of training that we do, and it has given our studio and students a wonderful uniqueness.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Picking one proudest moment is a tough one. Our very first recital was definitely one of my proudest moments, because it was the start of it all, and we were able to say “we did it!” Since then, we have proud moments whenever we have a senior graduate and go off to study music or dance. We also have proud moments when our students place at a dance competition, or our teachers win choreography awards, which happened several times this season already! I would say out of everything, the proudest moment each year for us would be watching our students perform at our recital and gala. We get to see how far they have come throughout the year with their training and stage presence, and we also get to recognize our seniors and celebrate the time that they spent at BCS.
Pricing:
- Half-hour private lesson: $35 for drop-in, $30 for registered student
- 1-hour group class (acting or dance): approx. $18 for drop in, approx $13 for registered student
Contact Info:
- Address: 770 N Church Rd. Suite G
Elmhurst, IL 60126 - Website: www.beyondcenterstage.com
- Phone: (630)833-0085
- Email: info@beyondcenterstage.com
- Instagram: @beyondcenterstage
- Facebook: @beyondcenterstage
- Twitter: @BCSElmhurst
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/beyond-center-stage-elmhurst
Image Credit:
Sara Schreiner
Tony Bielat
Kourtney Klemczak
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