Dance studio instills confidence

By Katie Mills Giogio, correspondent

Name: Charlie and Stephanie Vogl

Title: Directors

Company: The Dancer's EDGE

Address: 750 N. Center Point Road, Hiawatha

Phone: (319) 892-4340

Website: www.dancersedgeonline.com

Elevator speech: Teaching more than pliés and shuffle steps

HIAWATHA - For Charlie and Stephanie Vogl, things have gotten busy. And that's good.

“We knew we would always dance, and I did see myself owning a business someday,” Charlie said. “But the fact that those two worlds collided is wonderful.”

Stephanie has danced for 18 years and Charlie for 20. They grew up in Cedar Rapids and met while dancing in high school.

After studying at the University of Iowa, they moved back to Cedar Rapids to start their careers. They spent time working at other jobs and teaching for other local dance studios.

“We'd been teaching for five or six years and (as they weren't the owners) didn't have the authority to try new things,” Stephanie said.

“We were hungry for something different, so we took a leap of faith,” Charlie added.

“We wanted to be a little bit more innovative and cutting edge in the dance market, to bring big city education to a smaller market. And being something different played out well because people were hungry for something young and fresh,” Stephanie said.

Their studio, the Dancer's EDGE, opened in June 2008 and has seen tremendous growth since.

They initially offered 25 classes for about 75 students. This fall they will offer more than 70 classes for some 350 students.

The Vogls teach about half those classes between them - Stephanie focusing on lyrical and ballet and Charlie concentrating on tap and Tiny Dancer (students ages three to six) classes.

“We feel this is very important because it keeps our hands firmly on the pulse of students and their progress as dancers,” Charlie said.

While owning a dance studio is not a typical 9 to 5 kind of job, it isn't all tutus and ballet slippers.

“People who have no dance experience assume you are just learning how to plié and shuffle step,” Stephanie said. “But we put emphasis on building confidence, teamwork, waiting their turn.”

The Vogls started their business with classes for middle school to high school students.

“We had people ask if we'd add younger kid classes,” Charlie added.

What began as a few sessions turned into 8 to 12 classes, then 18 to 20 this fall.

They now have 100 dancers between the ages of 3 and 6 taking classes at their studio.

That increase has caused growing pains. The Vogls look forward to moving into a new, undisclosed space soon.

The venue will feature state-of-the-art flooring and one of the largest single studio spaces in the state of Iowa, they said.