San Mateo Dance School - 10 Years In The Making

This Fall, Small Fry Dance Club and Principal Creative & Performing Arts announced the expansion of their studio in San Mateo, CA. Their school will now include 4 dance rooms, a homework room, two lobbies, and a dressing room. All of this in over 7,500 square feet of space.

Their newest dance room on the second floor of 1528 S. El Camino Real, will have large windows overlooking various areas of San Mateo. It will be 1500 square feet with high ceilings, making it the largest room at the studio. Starting in August, 16 new classes will be added to the schedule. We wanted to look back at how a small company, and one woman show, grew to be one of the largest dance schools in the area.

Back in 2007, Jana Chapeton was doing what many other dance teachers do, driving. Driving from South Bay, to East Bay, to SF and back again on daily trips to teach her classes. One morning on her way to work she was told the dance school she was working for would be closing, immediately! That never makes for a good day. After going home and discussing her options with her boyfriend, and future husband, Carlos. They decided that she should launch her own dance company.

Jana had a dance degree, and years of teaching experience. It made sense to go out on her own. Carlos had a background in computer graphics and marketing and offered to help setup her marketing materials and website. They sat around and brainstormed names as well as how to start a business. In February of 2007, Jana had a few preschool clients in place and was able to launch Small Fry Dance Club.

Getting those first schools to sign on was key, as it opened to door to more centers to come on board. By 2009 SFDC had grown enough for Jana to make her first hire. Always exciting when you get to hire your first employee! So it continued until 2011. Carlos and Jana setup a make shift office in their garage, where Carlos was working part time on customer service while teaching classes at Cañada College. It was around that time that Jana and Carlos started to get a lot of phone calls inquiring about public classes. It had never crossed their minds to open a physical location. The calls were enough to convince them to rent space on weekends from Challenge School in Foster City. The school had a full dance studio and was willing to rent it out.

Those first Saturday classes would fill up quickly. Jana made additional hires to cover the extra classes. It wouldn't be long before those classes had wait lists. It was at this point where everything clicked into place. After crunching numbers, Carlos realized that if he quit his teaching job and worked on SFDC full time they could likely expand. Jana and Carlos took that leap of faith, and in 2011 signed the lease to their own studio in Foster City.

It was a cute space in the Charter Square Shopping Center, in Foster City. They painted and setup the space themselves. The gamble paid off quickly, as the studio had a full weekly schedule within months of opening. That's when SFDC began to gain traction and become a well known name. It started the string of 7 years of gold medal awards from Bay Area Parent Magazine, along with awards from other publications.

The plan was to teach dance classes for kids 18 to 5 years of age. That changed as the parents of dancers who were aging out continued to push for older classes and stay with SFDC. In 2013 they expanded their offering to include 5-7 year old classes. It was at this point that Jana realized their small studio space may not be able to accommodate all of their needs.

Around this same time it was announced that Charter Square would be redeveloped. The landlord informed them that they would not be renewing their lease past 2014. It seemed like a devastating blow. Where would they go? It was time to look for a new home. It would take Carlos and Jana 18 months, and the help of a good friend and former SF Giant, Pedro Feliz, to secure a new location in San Mateo. The move was a scary one. Would they lose their current client base? Would the new space prove to be too large? Would new students come? All of those questions and more kept Jana and Carlos up at night.

The larger space meant they would need to add more classes. As part of the move they announced the launch of Principal Creative & Performing Arts. A program designed for kids 5-18 years of age. They were set to start classes in August/September of 2014. The construction process had a few setbacks and cost them the ability to open at the start of Fall. The doors would not officially open in their new space until November 1, 2014.

Now with two programs, Jana and Carlos began to work out all the kinks that came with them. Hiring new staff, installing office procedures, figuring out optimal schedules, working with new property managers, learning how to market two programs,and the list goes on.

About to enter their 4th season with both SFDC and PCPA, Jana and Carlos are still learning, still tweaking, and still evolving the programs to be the best they can be. 10 years has given SFDC a huge curriculum that teachers can use in classes. They have also invested in developing their own curriculum for PCPA classes.

Today they are just a few days away from opening a 4th studio at their San Mateo location. They now have close to 15 teachers on staff. The best part is there is still so much more to do, so much more left to improve, and so much more left to add.

"The best part of our school is how it's grown organically. We have made decision based on customer needs since the beginning. From opening weekend classes, to our own location, everything has been based on customer feedback." - Carlos C.

Now that their core students are getting older, the need for performance teams, and teen classes are what's next for this dance studio. 2017 will also see 16 new classes added to the schedule. Many will be designed for older, first time dancers. PCPA purposefully didn't add advanced older levels when they opened their doors. "It wasn't what our customers needed, and we didn't feel like it was right to do so. Adding advanced classes for older kids would have meant those kids would be transferring from other local dance schools. We are not in business to hurt other schools." Says Carlos. 'In fact we would love to promote dance more, and help all the local dance schools thrive."

It's been a decade since Jana and Carlos sat at their dinner table and circled "Small Fry Dance Club" on a brainstorming sheet. They had no idea that that little seed of an idea would grow to be one of the largest dance schools in the Bay Area. With an expected enrollment of close to 1000 kids for the upcoming year, they will have another busy dance season. Jana and Carlos will continue doing what they have always done, grow slowly, tweak, improve, and provide a safe, welcoming home for any dancer that walks in their doors. We can't wait to see what they have in store for the next 10 years!

SFDC and PCPA classes are filling up fast. Check out their websites below to see their schedule for Fall. It is recommended you add yourself to a wait list for classes that are full. Additional classes will be added based on demand. So let your voice be heard!

www.SmallFryDanceClub.com | www.PrincipalArts.com