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Meet Shawn Nerdahl of Arizona Ballroom Champions in McClintock and Baseline

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Shawn Nerdahl.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
This is a great question. A group of friends decided it was time to do something different in the world of Ballroom Dancing. I got my start in 2014 teaching out of a dance room inside of a gym. Within a short year I was able to open my own location in Tempe.

I left our former studio to create my own dance studio because I wanted to make a difference in the community. I wanted to make a difference with dance. I got my inspiration from Stroke Survivors and their community. Shortly after I set out to start my own studio, I volunteered my services at a Stroke Camp. I spent the weekend with these wonderful people. They had such an appreciation for life. It was truly inspiring.

After spending the weekend with this wonderful group of people, I found out that the stroke camp was going to be the last one. The hospital that sponsored the camp had run out of funding for the program. After finding this out, I knew I had to do more, and I would use dance to help.

So, I decided to do two things. The first was to create a FREE dance class for the stroke survivors and their caregivers. We have been dancing now for a little over 3 years. I use dance as a form of therapy for the survivors and for the caregivers. For the survivor, we work on coordination and strengthening the parts of the body that were affected by their stroke. For the caregiver, they are given the opportunity to reconnect with their partner in a special way that can only be done through dance. Everyone is welcome in the class. We have people in wheel chairs, walkers, and canes.

The second thing that I decided to do was to create a fundraiser with my friends Terri Lamb and Patrick Hernandez. I thought it would be fun to create a “Dancing with the Stars” type of fundraiser using doctors and nurses from different hospitals as the contestants. As we were deciding how this was going to work, we got introduced the Dignity Health Foundation of the East Valley. After pitching our idea, the loved it and helped us create Dancing for Stroke. We put together the first fundraiser in under 3 months and managed to raise over $150,00! We are currently on our 4th year and have raised over $750,000 for Stroke Survivors, their caregivers, and various other neurological research.

Our first Dancing for Stroke inspired Kris Anest, a Schwab Employee, to create something similar with her co-workers. So, we helped her create a mini version of the Dancing for Stroke. We held it in the Schwab cafeteria and managed to raise close to $50,000. They then donated the money to Dancing for Stroke. We are currently on our 3rd season for Dancing for a Cause with Schwabb. The winner of Dancing for a Cause gets to compete in the Dancing for Stroke competition.

This fundraiser has also sparked interest with other large companies and we are currently working on creating additional “mini” fundraisers for their companies.

What has been truly special about this whole process is watching my business grow and become a staple in the East Valley. I am inspired to give back to the community. My employees and my students are all on board and we do what we can to help. I feel that this is a huge part of our success. We went from teaching in a small gym with just a few students, to now having a staff of 10 teachers, and close to 100 students. We are still growing and we just keep getting better every year!

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?
No. It has not been an easy road. Not even close, lol. My first struggle was with my former employer. They were not ready to loose me as a teacher and tried to start a lawsuit and keep me from teaching. Luckily, I had an amazing lawyer that helped me with my case and was able to keep my former studio from being able to keep me from doing what I love to do.

The next few mistakes, I had to make a few times just to make sure I learned the lesson. Do not hire your friends. Most of the time it will not end well. We hired a friend to design our studio, and after 3 months of designing and working, we realized we were not on the same page. We had a very tight budget, and the design that our friend made for us would cost us 5 times our budget. Now the work was beautiful and amazing, but we could not afford it. So we wasted 3 months and a lot of resources on something that we could not use. Unfortunately, this had to be settled between lawyers. I hated every second of it.

After that happened we had a month before we were scheduled to be open and a completely empty studio. Another friend who is a house flipper, decided to help us out. She had her own team and was able to turn an empty building into a dance studio in under 30 days. She was awesome, however, she hired an outside person to do our floors. This person did not do our floors right, and they were completely ruined. This was a $25,000 mistake. This time I refused to sue, mainly because it wasn’t her fault and she saved us to get open in time. I didn’t want to do another lawsuit.

So, I made that mistake a few more times with a few other friends and acquaintances.

Then 2017, was probably the hardest year of my life. We tried to open up a second location. We were booming, business was great and we felt like we were ready to expand. This was a big mistake and almost caused us to loose everything. In March of 2017 my husband was hospitalized unexpectedly. We did not know what was wrong and we didn’t find out what was wrong until he was diagnosed with lupus a few months later. When this happened, I realized how much I do for the company, and I had not taken the time to train my staff to run the place in my absence. So I would be in the hospital trying to spend time with my husband, and my phone would be going off all day. It was such a hard position to be in. I needed to be there for my husband, and I needed to keep my business running. So many people were counting on me and I couldn’t do everything. I couldn’t focus on our second location; I couldn’t train the new staff. And unfortunately, I had to close it. But no one lost their job, I brought the entire staff to our Tempe location, and the employees are busy and happy.

Although, it was a tough experience, it has made me stronger. I am now focused on training my replacement and setting up my business in a way that it can run even if I am not there.

Arizona Ballroom Champions – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are a ballroom dance studio and we specialize in teaching people how to dance. We teach social dancing, competitive ballroom dance, and show dances. We are known for our teaching style, our community service, and the dance family that we have created.

I am most proud of our community involvement and my staff. My employees truly care about their students and their community and have been such a joy to work with.

I think the thing that sets us apart from other studios is our family like atmosphere. All of the students and teachers go out of their way to make everyone feel welcome. We are a big family and I love it!

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I think, the proudest moment of my career is watching a stroke survivor get out of his wheelchair and dance with his wife for a few steps. It was an honor to be part of that experience and to be part of his journey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovlyLEyhXtA

Pricing:

  • Our Intro Program is 3 30 minute private lessons for $47
  • We also have 2 weeks of unlimited group classes for $30

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
Marshall Arts photography and Randy’s Vision Photography

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix 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.

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