Check Out Regina Owens’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Regina Owens.

Hi Regina, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My husband and I opened my dance studio in November of 2003. At the time, I was dancing for a professional dance company in Phoenix and the owner of the studio announced that he would be selling his studio and moving our company rehearsals to another location since he was selling. I approached him regarding the sell of the studio and told him that I was interested in purchasing the studio. He gave me a price and one month later, we moved in! We started with about seven students that he had and by the end of the season, we had 50 students. With a lot of hard work and trial and error, we now have over 210 students (post-pandemic).

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely has not been a smooth road due to many events, both personally and professionally. I have put in a lot of hard work outside of the studio to help my studio grow, which took me away from family time. I wasn’t able to take many family vacations or travel with my son when he was at his peak in the dance world. I missed many sporting events that my son was a part of and just normal day-to-day hangouts with my family.

The death of my mother, grandmother, and great uncle, all in the month of November of 2014, also took a major toll on me. I had a hard time focusing on my business and getting back on track.

The pandemic really hit everyone hard but we were definitely effected by it. We lost around 80-90 students during the Covid spike in July of 2020. This took a toll on all of our students, staff, my family, and my business. We definitely had some moments of wondering how long we could stay open with our numbers dropping. We vowed to keep our studio going even if we had to do Zoom and we wanted to keep our staff taken care of and not go without pay. We were able to do so and got through it. We have since gained about 40 students since the July spike. We are nowhere near where we were when Covid hit but honestly, we are just happy to still be standing. Our studio is a safe place for many of our students and I would hate for them to go without dance and their safe haven.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Not only am I a dance studio owner (co-owner with my husband) but I am also the Artistic Director of our Dance Company as well as a dance instructor. I teach all forms of dance, including ballet, jazz, tap, tumbling, hip hop, contemporary, and pointe. The studio is known for our hip hop but I specialize in tumbling training and technique-based instruction. I am also judge for three dance competitions and travel all over the US.

I am most proud of the way I run my studio. I treat everyone equally and like they are family. I try to get to know all my parents and their children and connect with them on a personal level. I treat them the way I would want to be treated by any other business.

I feel what sets us apart from other studios is that we are minority-owned and have a diverse group of students and staff. We encourage our dancers to have a life outside of the studio and spend time with their family. We also have a teacher assistant program that trains our dancers to eventually become part of our staff once they graduate high school. We also give our higher-level students an opportunity to choreograph a short piece for their fellow classmates and teach it to them in a class setting. At the end of the choreography project session, one student is picked to create a piece on the students of their choosing and have them perform it onstage. The student gets to experience the life of a choreographer. They have to pick music and edit it, set up rehearsal times, choreograph a piece with 4-8 students, chose costumes, create lighting cues for their piece, prepare a small paragraph or two of what their piece is about and present it on stage at our annual Company Showcase.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I have a subscription to CLI Studios that I use every now and then for helpful exercises for strength and flexibility. This program offers dance classes that can be watched at any time, along with teaching tool classes for teachers as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.edc03.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/encoredance03
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EDC2003