Successful Transition from Dancer to Studio Owner
Amber Sorgato, an original cast member in Celine Dion's Las Vegas show "A New Day," has had a long, fulfilling dance career and is fully prepared for her new venture as studio owner. Nevertheless, the change comes with lots of hard-won lessons.
"I'm looking forward to the next phase of life. I think transition comes and you learn new things about yourself. You learn new things about life. I don't see it as a sad ending of 'I'll never be on the stage again.'"
"No, I have not panicked. I had a preview of what it would be like to be away from the show...I had a rare disease in my knee and I was out for thirteen months...I was not able to walk for about six months so it was very challenging for me. It's called PVNS. It's not cancer but I had a rare growth." In fact, PVNS, or Pigmented Villonodular Sinovitis, is an uncommon joint disease characterized by an overgrowth of the joint's lining tissue. It typically results in chronic joint swelling and ultimately, joint damage and arthritis.
That helped make her decision to stop dancing when "A New Day" closes in December a little easier. "I wish they had a book about this because I would've read it probably ten times. I find that the last two months especially has just been trial and error and staying open. It's hard because you dance from the time you're four or five years old. It's something you begin to know second nature. You don't have to think about it. I mean, on some level it does come naturally and it comes from repetition, from something you know how to do, and then you decide to open a business one day and you're thrust into the world with making some very important decisions that will affect your life for years to come based on very little experience."
"You're used to walking into a room with three or four hundred people and you've got your leotard on, you're auditioning. You're ready for your dance job. And all of a sudden I found myself in these offices, in conference rooms and there's a couple of guys in suits just looking at me and waiting for me to tell them about my business idea to see if they want to let me in their building. And all of a sudden I was like, 'My tap shoes are in my bag. Hold on.' You know?"
So she sought wise counsel. "I've spoken to a lot of my friends who are in their forties and I've kind of unofficially interviewed my friends. 'What was it like for you? Come over for coffee.'"
"Beyond that, it's just been learning things - going down to the county and filing the right paperwork; finding the right accountant, the right lawyer, becoming a corporation - all the things that maybe people learn in business school."
"The long-term goal is to have a studio that gives great training, that has very kind people working in it, that has students that feel good about themselves and get to express themselves through dance. If they want to do it professionally, if they want to do it has a hobby, they all get the same education."
"I don't think dance should be defined by generations. I don't think it should be defined by recreational dancers and competition dancers. I think it should just be, 'Do you want to dance?' Period. It doesn't need to be, 'How good are you therefore you can be in this class.' Obviously, there are going to be levels, but I just think it should be for everyone."
"I personally am not interested in making it a competition studio. So many studios I've been in - and not just in this town, in many towns - have trophies that are in the window and it's all about which competition team you're on and which tricks you're doing and you walk, walk, walk, walk and then another trick. And please don't take it that I'm putting it down because there's absolutely a place for that in the dance world, but I personally don't want to be a part of that."
As a successful dancer and about-to-be successful studio owner, her advice would be this: "Do everything you want to do. Dancers do have a time frame. Again, my unofficial interviews with my friends, I do see, as years go on, a level of sadness that that time has passed. So my suggestion is that while you're in it, be in it. Try everything you want to try and go in every direction you want to try until they say no. Then find another venue."
Amber's venue is Studio 34 Dance Academy- on the web at www.studio34danceacademy.com.