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 When
“I Do” Means “We’ll Do”
By Rhee Gold
Marriages and business meld as husbands join partners in the
studio
Check out a comical companion piece to this article . . .
click here
What
launches a lifetime of commitment? Most couples would say it
all started with the words “I do,” but not in the Legeins’
case. “[My wife] pre-qualified me for the ‘I do’ by asking me
if ‘I will do!’ In other words, would I take her and her dance
studio for better or worse? I did, she did, we did, and we
still do 33 years later,” says Chip Legein, husband of Terrie.
The couple owns and operates the Legein Dance Academy of
Performing Arts in Coventry, RI.
How common
are husband-and-wife teams in the dance school business? If
what I see at Project Motivate is any indication, it’s more
than you might think. Each year the number increases; last
summer there were about 20 couples out of 200 attendees.
Often, these businesses are flourishing, with the wife, in
many cases, being the artist/teacher/choreographer and the
husband focusing on the business side of their enterprise.
Patrick
Perna, wife of Hedy and co director of the Perna Dance Center
in Hazlet, NJ, approaches his job with a sense of humor. “I
take out the garbage. I am the chief cook and bottle washer,”
he says. “I am responsible for keeping the business running. I
work with an office manager and two additional people to take
care of the day-to-day operations and oversee the studio. I
also do the bookkeeping, banking, taxes, and payroll. I order
lunch for the staff. I do studio maintenance and upkeep. I try
to shield my wife from the business end of the studio while
she is in the classroom creating. I rub my wife’s feet at the
end of a hard day. I work on sets and scenery for the show. I
have input to the show’s themes and ideas, although they
aren’t always used. My job description is ever evolving —we’re
still working on the owner’s manual. I take care of our
daughter and our dog, Daisy. I am Mr. Pat!”
With a bit
more seriousness, Kenneth Kane, husband of Jeanne and director
of The Dance Carousel in Spotswood, NJ says, “I’m not just the
husband of a dance school owner. I’m an owner too, and that
goes a long way in the operation of the studio. We share
equally in the operation of the business, each with specific
areas of responsibility and other areas where we share it. I
think being together, understanding your spouse’s work and
stresses, and sharing in the successes of the business are
particularly rewarding.”
Tony Corso,
who, with his wife, Maureen A. Gelchion, directs the Astoria
Dance Centre in Queens, NY, says, “I have gained a tremendous
respect for my wife—the amount of responsibilities that she
has and how well she juggles all the balls in the air and does
it with such grace and charm.”
Successful
husband-and wife partnerships don’t always consist of one
artist and one business partner; in many cases, both players
teach and handle the business responsibilities. Bruce Lea and
his wife, Cristi, own the Bruce Lea Dance Factory in Fort
Worth, TX. The most rewarding part of being a husband and-wife
team, he says, is “being able to share my life’s dream of
owning a dance studio. Teaching my life’s passion to future
dancers along with the one I love is extremely rewarding.
Also, seeing your children learning the love of dance from
both their mom and dad gives you a sense of happiness that
can’t be explained. That is as good as it gets.”
Working at
the studio seems to bring out their sensitive side of these
men. Like their wives, they become emotionally attached to
their students. “One year a child may be awkward, gangly,
pimple-faced, and the next year she or he is leaping with
strength across the floor and doing wonderful dance moves,”
Corso says. “It has become so apparent to me that everything
we say to children affects how they perceive themselves and
the world. I try to be positive and uplifting and to always
see the miracles that we witness every day with our students.”
Perna
chimes in, saying, “I love to see the kids grow up, and I love
that we have been an important part of their lives. After 18
years in the business, I know that our studio is an important
part of our community and has made an impact on thousands of
students. We love what we do and we happily work hard to make
it a success.”
The men
have plenty of advice for others who are considering joining
their wives in the dance business. Legein says, “I’d tell them
that if they could go at least two rounds with a tiger on
caffeine, then go for it!”
“Leave your
ego at the door and exchange it for a large dose of patience.
And be secure enough in your masculinity to admit who the boss
really is,” says Perna.
Corso
smirks and remarks, “He must be very clear on the policies
for making his own decisions. It might cost him his life, or
at the very least he will be sleeping on the couch!”
Lea takes a
more serious tone, pointing out the risks of mixing your
personal and professional lives. “Make sure you keep your
marriage and family life first,” he says. “Don’t let the
problems of running the studio pull your relationship apart.
Always make time for each other without studio involvement.”
Corso
agrees that it’s not always easy. He describes the hardest
part of his partnership as “taking a back seat to her first
love, the studio,” but then echoes Lea’s words. “To not only
work [together] at the studio, but also have a life at home
together [is important]. Togetherness for 24 hours a day is a
real challenge. Also, I have to separate the fact that Maureen
is the boss at the studio and we are equals at home. The lines
of communication have to be very strong. I’ve discovered that
we always need to be open to communicate our feelings and not
let them fester.”
A man in
the studio creates a different dynamic, which can have
positive or negative effects. Kane says, “Having a male in the
studio changes the chemistry. And sometimes he is somewhat of
a father figure to some of the students.”
But Lea
thinks that men who take on authority roles can be
intimidating to some clients. “I have noticed that parents and
students will not talk to me or ask me questions, but they
will talk with a female staff member or our [female]
secretary. Many times when I answer the phone, parents will
hang up on me knowing I answered. Just hearing my voice
intimidates them.” Men who interact with the families at their
school may need to make an extra effort to appear warm and
receptive. Not only is an intimidating presence bad for
business, it can also force the female partner (or other
female employees) to handle all client interactions.
These men
love their roles in the dance business, and their partnerships
have proved to be successful both as businesses and
relationships. If husband-and-wife dance school teams are
becoming a trend—and if the benefits these men have pointed
out are typical of such relationships— that bodes well for
everyone involved. The mom-and-pop corner grocery may have all
but disappeared, but it looks like the concept is being reborn
in the dance world as more and more dance schools become
family-owned businesses.
While we're on the subject of the dance teachers husband, be
sure to see a comical companion piece to this article . . .
click here
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