Robin Horneff's Performing Arts Center: A Recipe for Success
The sun is streaming through the windows of a spacious studio in Waldwick, NJ - a welcome oasis in the mid-day commotion at one of the most successful dance schools in the Northeastern United States. Robin Horneff, the studio's owner and its founder, seems relieved to have the interview as an excuse to take a break from a hard day's work. We talk about what makes dancers dance, teachers teach, and parents participate, drawing a recipe for success for any studio owner starting or continuing their business.
How did it all start?" I ask, preparing myself for a long-winded answer about years of planning, realization of dreams, discussion of business aspects and first practical steps. Instead, Robin smiles: "I never thought I would end up building a big performing arts center. I just took over a tiny dance studio that a girlfriend of mine left behind when she moved to Mississippi, to stay in shape after the birth of my son. It's now a Dunkin' Donuts," she adds after a pause, laughing, and I understand that there is much more to the story of Robin Horneff's Performing Arts Center.
Raised in the family of Danny and Betty Hoctor, who pioneered the concept of dance conventions in the United States, Robin was not new to the world of dance when she opened the doors of her tiny studio in 1979. By that time, she had already performed in the Broadway musical "Sugar," appeared on the "Dean Martin" and "Jonathan Winters" shows with The Golddiggers, toured nationally and internationally as a well-known tap dancer, and collaborated as assistant choreographer with the legendary Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire on the motion picture, "That's Entertainment, Part 2." She had also worked with the National Foundation for Excellence, where she developed a Gene Kelly college scholarship award for talented young performers.
Her considerable background in dance served her well in putting together the curriculum for the school, but it did not prepare her for the challenges of running a studio. Although she had taught at her parents' Dance Caravan conventions since she was 13, Robin had little understanding of what it takes to ensure enrollment and promote the school as a business. "It was almost easier for me to teach a class in front of a thousand students and teachers at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York than to figure out how to properly put together an advertisement," she recalls.
This is where Van Horneff, Robin's husband, stepped in. Educated in finance and business administration, he set up electronic bookkeeping, systems for managing cash flow, accounts payable and receivable, and a general structure within which the school operated. "If you are a creative person like me," Robin says, directing advice to studio owners everywhere, "Make sure you have a business partner who can keep you grounded. I am very lucky to have Van by my side; it allows me to concentrate on the artistic part of running the studio."
Left with the initial group of 75 kids who had already been attending the studio, Robin realized that it takes just as much work to keep the current students as to increase enrollment - the goal of every studio owner. She quickly figured out that the best way to keep children coming back is to offer them something contemporary and new to keep them interested and excited. She learned to use her reputation as one of the best performers of the time and a cutting edge teacher to help promote the school - and soon, through publicity and word of mouth, the enrollment began to grow.
Teaching all the classes by herself at first, Robin soon realized that for the school to develop, she must hire other teachers. She began looking for teachers specializing in ballet, jazz, modern dance, tap, and other disciplines. "I remember aerobics was just getting to be very popular, and to keep current with the trends, I decided to include aerobics with the other classes. But the priority, of course, was on hiring the best dance teachers I could possibly find."
This still remains a top priority for the school. Now, almost 30 years later, Robin still spends most of her time looking for the very best teachers in their respective fields and on finding opportunities for the students to learn and perform the most contemporary, cutting-edge choreography. Through the years, the studio's guest teachers and choreographers have included Joe Lanteri, John Mineo, Tyce D'Orio, Carlos dos Santos, Sheila Barker, Joey Dowling, ABT's Sascha Radetzky, Michelle and Kelly Larkin, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Freddie Moore, and the founders of Youth America Grand Prix, Gennadi and Larissa Saveliev. One of the leading teachers who has been with the studio for many years is Kelly Larkin of the famous Larkin family. "The Larkins have one of the best dance schools in the country, and keeping the connection to their school through Kelly gives us access to some of the top teachers and the latest trends in the industry."
"Getting the top teachers to teach at your school is obviously of utmost importance," says Robin, "But there are also other very important things to consider. To build a successful dance studio, you really have to create an atmosphere that feels to the children like a second home."
What goes into creating such an atmosphere? I was surprised to find out how many ingredients there are in RHPAC's recipe for success.
"We start with the facilities," Robin begins. "We put a lot of time, effort and resources into creating the facilities that feel like home. The studios are large and have the best floors available in the market; the hallways are carpeted, well lit, and decorated with the photographs of all our kids; there are comfortable, air-conditioned areas with TVs for the parents to wait for their children and large socialization areas for the kids with tables and vending machines."
Another important aspect is education that goes far beyond mere dance instruction. At RHPAC, students spend much of their time learning about the meaning of their art, social responsibility, sharing, discipline, and how to be respectful of their peers and other people around them. Kelly Larkin, who is in charge of the school's performing company, "PAC kids," explains: "We constantly sit the kids down and talk to them about what it means to dance. You are not just doing the steps, you have to show the person behind the moves, open yourself up. This takes courage and an understanding of oneself. To help them find that, we have kids write about what they feel and experience when they dance, and ask them to tell us why they choose to dance to begin with. We also explain that to miss a rehearsal means not just to break your own commitment, but also to mess up the rehearsal for your friends, so they begin to understand responsibility. We have a lot of parents thanking us for that, because they notice that the kids become more responsible at home, as well."
The results of such education go well beyond the walls of the studio or students' homes.
"When we are at competitions, people always tell us that they are happy to see dancers in RHPAC jackets - because they know that our children will be some of the nicest kids they ever met," says Robin. This brings us to the conversation about the role of the competitions in the life of the studio.
"We go to just about every competition we can get to," says Robin, "And the reason for that is that it not only gives the students a chance to perform, but also motivates them in their studies. It gives them a goal to work towards." Kelly Larkin, who choreographs many of the production numbers and prepares the company for the competitions, makes sure to emphasize that the important part is not winning, but having fun while dancing, and using the opportunity to learn from other dancers. "When they go into the competition thinking, 'This is fun - we get to dance and meet other dancers like us,' then the experience is always positive, and it does not matter whether we win or not," says Kelly. Ironically, such positive attitude usually results in winning, as evidenced by the many trophies from virtually every dance competition in the country decorating the studio's hallways. "Our latest achievement is the Victory Cup from the Starpower Nationals in Florida," says Kelly proudly, quickly adding that the most important thing is that the kids had fun.
Keeping performance as a major goal, the studio does not limit itself to competitions in choosing opportunities for exposure - which include the famous Orange Bowl half-time show in 1995, televised performances at the 1996 (Atlanta) and the 2000 (Sydney) Olympics, and a special performance at the celebrated Princess Grace Awards in 1999, when RHPAC became the first dance school in the history of the awards to perform at the gala evening.
A huge component of students'education at RHPAC is learning compassion and how to share with their less fortunate peers - so charity performances have been a part of the studio life from the very beginning. Robin recalls, "We started by performing at events like the benefit concert for Tomorrow's Children Foundation, an organization that raises money to help treat children with cancer. It was a unique experience, because we didn't dance on a stage. We danced on the steps and in the aisles of the Hackensack Medical Hospital in Hackensack, NJ, and any patient who could physically be moved was invited to see the performance. We also participated in a huge carnival for kids with cancer at the home of one of the board members of Tomorrow's Children Foundation, and around that time started performing at the Ronald McDonald House in New York City for families with kids undergoing cancer treatment."
Besides raising spirits, the studio also raises money for charitable causes - which include the Make a Wish Foundation created with a poignant idea to make terminally ill children's wishes come true, the Greek Children's Fund, which over the years has raised over 5 million dollars to help treat over 5,000 cancer patients worldwide, and Dancers Responding to Aids (DRA). For DRA, RHPAC raised some $12,000 in 2001 and was named the studio of the year, earning a rare privilege to perform at Lincoln Center.
Pausing for a moment to ponder the studio's accomplishments, Robin continues with another key component for the success of any studio: parent participation. "We take parents very seriously, and feel it is just as important to educate the parents as it is to educate the children. After all, a child's dance career affects the whole family."
An obvious part of parent education is helping them make the right choice of a studio. "It often is confusing for parents to make an appropriate choice, especially when there are so many studios around. When a parent calls to find out about our studio, we take time to educate them about the many aspects of dance training, to show them our facilities, explain to them why professional facilities are so important, tell them about the teachers at our studio and about all the extracurricular activities. Then they can make an informed decision and fully commit to it."
Robin emphasizes the importance of making the right choice from the beginning: "Sometimes parents are swayed by smaller costs at studios with less professional facilities and less qualified teachers; they later bring their children to us, but it is often too late to unlearn all the bad dance habits children pick up. Bad habits are hard to get rid of in any area, but especially in dance: muscle memory is very hard to undo."
Another, less traditional, but more fun, aspect of parent education at RHPAC is "walking in their children's shoes." Dance shoes, that is. Robin explains: "A few years ago we started a group called 'PAC [Performing Arts Center] Moms and Dads.' The Moms and the Dads would learn production numbers and perform at the end-of-year recitals. This allows them to participate and have fun, to get to know each other, and in the process to gain respect for their child and the hard work that goes into being a dancer."
The studio is filling up as the dancers get ready for another class, and Robin smiles, letting me know that our interview time is almost over: a dancer's life must go on. Before we part, I ask for Robin's advice to other studio owners.
Her advice to studio owners who are just starting out is to start small and expand slowly. "Opening a dance studio is a big commitment, and with the many financial options available today it is very tempting to borrow a lot of money with the good intention to invest into a big studio and repay the debt quickly. However, after you start the business, you may soon find out that the building needs alterations to better suit the needs of the students, that the area you have chosen may not be the best for maximizing enrollment, or even that running a studio may not be for you, if that is a life change you are not yet ready for. If you had invested too much, it will be harder to rebuild, relocate, or otherwise adjust to the surprises - of which there will be many, no matter how much you prepare."
Robin cites her own experience in illustration to her advice. Opening with one small studio in 1979, it was not until four years later that she and Van had made the decision in 1983 to expand to a much larger facility with three studios at Berkeley College. It was another five years before RHPAC moved to its present location on North Street in 1988. The Horneffs converted an office building and a warehouse into a modern performing arts center featuring 6 large studios, spacious hallways, students' lounge and vending areas, parents' waiting room, bathrooms, and offices. Finally, in 1997 RHPAC expanded to a second location in Westwood, NJ. "As you can see, ours was a perfect example of a small, but steady growth," Robin explains. "If we had rushed, we may not have been able to sustain the studio financially."
For studio owners who have passed the initial stage of establishing their business, Robin's advice is to put the most effort into selecting the artistic and administrative staff. "The people who work for you are the face of the studio, and they will be the reason why students either come to study at the school or choose not to."
For administrative staff, the hiring decision should be based on each individual function. "Our office is divided into three distinct areas of responsibility: bookkeeping, front-of-house, and management. Those in charge of bookkeeping must obviously have superb attention to detail in addition to great business and accounting skills. Front-of-house receptionists must have outstanding communication and people skills in order to be able to answer questions and resolve issues with the teachers, students, and their parents in an effective, friendly manner. Managers must also have great people skills and be good at directing others, keeping a larger picture in mind; that is a completely different skill than, for example, greeting parents, even though a manager should be able to do any of the jobs in the office." The best way to determine skills is to ask lots of questions during the interview and, for the final candidates, to arrange for a mutually agreed-upon trial period.
Robin uses the same tactic in selecting artistic staff for the school. "For me, the best way to select a teacher for the studio is to invite them as a guest teacher or choreographer for a week or two in the summer. This gives me enough time to see how professional they are, how the kids respond to them, whether they get along with the other teachers and are able to become an organic part of the studio. If any of these aspects need improvement, I look elsewhere. If, on the other hand, the teacher is very professional, knowledgeable, personable and establishes a great rapport with the children, I do everything I can to hire that person for the entire year."
Robin's biggest piece of advice to all studio owners - whether they are just starting out or have been in the business for many years - is to be passionate about what they do. "To run a dance studio is not a job - it's a lifestyle. Do not expect it to be easy, and be prepared to devote your entire life to it - especially in the beginning. In short, don't do it without passion."
And that is advice we can all learn from - whether we are running a dance studio, a company, a bus-iness, or a marathon.