Show biz

Jackie Robertson has turned her love of dance into one of Jackson's most successful small businesses.

Jackie Robertson's business has got legs.

Literally. Lots of them.

As the owner of Jackson's Dance Extensions, Robertson combines her dance background with business acumen. She's a master instructor with Dance Masters of America and holds a degree in business administration from Southeast Missouri State University.

Dance Extensions opened at its current location on Old Toll Road about a year ago. In addition to the dance studio, Robertson has also opened Keep in Step, a retail store selling dance apparel and supplies she used to have to order from catalogs for her students.

"There's no place in the area to get them," Robertson said. "I did it as a convenience. We have a separate entrance so those who go to other studios can feel comfortable coming in and purchasing things they need."

Sixteen years ago, she began teaching dance Saturday mornings and after school at Immaculate Conception School and St. Paul Lutheran School in Jackson. The venture grew, along with her enrollment to the first Dance Extensions at 1305 Gloria.

When she moved from her old location, she had about 200 students. She now has 270, from toddler to adult, including two boys, and the interest is still growing.

CLASS ACT

Dance Extensions has three roomy classrooms to accommodate classes in ballet, jazz, tap, and rhythms for 3- and 4-year-olds. The studio also offers sideline classes in cheerleading, tumbling and acrobatics. Hip-hop is a favorite class among students because it's easy to learn and fun, Robertson said.

Some of her students develop talent that takes them to dance squads in local high schools and at the university. Some go on to study dance; one of her students has a scholarship to Webster University in St. Louis as a dance major. Some just enjoy the activity on a personal level; some take it to churches where dance is part of worship.

Robertson got her start dancing with the late Margaret Bagby of Cairo, Ill., a teacher and former Rockette, and later from Bagby's daughter, Deana K. Pecord who operated a studio in Cairo. Pecord is now one of Dance Extensions' four instructors along with Niki Laubach, Julie Mier and Amanda Morrow.

LESSONS LEARNED

Robertson has found that her own dance skills lend themselves more to being a teacher and businesswoman.

"I knew I wasn't going to be a professional," she said. "Auditioning and that life was not for me. More and more of my time is devoted to the business. I have a management degree. I go back to budgeting, financing, how to spend advertising dollars.

"When I bought this building a financial expert helped me out. I have banks and lawyers and accountants who are telling me do this, that and the other thing."

Some lessons came harder than others. One real estate transaction fell through, quite literally, when a studio she built collapsed after a heavy rain just days before she was going to move in. After a couple of years getting back on her feet from that financial fiasco, she optioned another location before getting an offer from the father of one of her students who is a Jaycee. That organization had a building that Robertson describes as "a big pole barn with no windows." They used it as a place for line-dancing for a number of years.

Robertson saw the potential. The building is now a fully outfitted studio with windows, an inviting reception and office area with feminine decorations and the roomy apparel shop. There's ample parking, and room on the property to build. Robertson said she hopes to build a "little plaza" for an arts center and move the apparel store to separate quarters, expand the dance studio, and possibly sublet space to fitness businesses, karate studios, and even a studio for voice and music lessons.

Amid the recitals and the other activities that go into a dance studio is a business. Robertson says it's a fun business, and refers to her students and instructors as her dance family. Her husband Ken, who works for the Corps of Engineers during the day, helps out, and of course her two daughters are in class.

"Every day is different," she said. "It's never boring."

---

Meet Jackie Robertson

Position: Owner of Dance Extensions in Jackson

Education: Degree in business administration from Southeast Missouri State University

Personal: Two daughters and husband, Ken, who works for the Corps of Engineers

"I knew I wasn't going to be a professional," she said. "Auditioning and that life was not for me. More and more of my time is devoted to the business. I have a management degree. I go back to budgeting, financing, how to spend advertising dollars."

--jackie robertson

owner of dance extensions in jackson