Battle on the dance floor

Tisto Chapman’s face lights up when he talks about the Creative Performing Arts Center he opened nine weeks ago. He envisions performances on a stage built in the middle of the room and dance studios around the outside of the stage in his space at Park Lane Mall.

But his dream of a performing arts center may not happen. Chapman says that an antique store in Park Lane Mall wants his spot, which would leave him with a studio one-fourth the size.

“We are in a little trouble to hold onto the place,” Chapman says.

But finances are strained for the mall on the corner of South Virginia Street and Plumb Lane. The antique shop owner is reportedly offering much more money than what Chapman now pays for his dance studio, which Chapman says is $2,000 a month.

Park Lane Mall Property Manager Vicky Harley says she wants to see Chapman survive but isn’t convinced that he can fill a 20,000-square-foot space.

“He’s just getting started,” Harley says. “It’s going to take a whole lot of money to build a 20,000-square-foot space. We want people to see a great performing arts center, not an empty space with mirrors.”

Harley said that the mall has given Chapman six months to come up with an architectural blueprint for the desired changes and a means of paying for them, something Chapman says he doesn’t find in his copy of the contract. She did stress, however, that Park Lane Mall does want to see Chapman’s center in the mall.

“We are thrilled to have him here,” Harley says. “We are in the business of helping people make their business work. When he’s done, it’ll be great.”

Chapman has already installed a stage and, with a donation from the Peppermill Hotel & Casino, put in enough chairs for 200 people. Along one wall are large mirrors that J&L Windows donated for the dancers to practice their moves.

And even after just a few weeks of practice, Chapman’s hip-hop dance students have moves. On June 8, two groups of students from the program took first-place trophies in the Broadway Magic performances at the Pioneer Center. Chapman said the kids went up against students who had been dancing all their lives.

Chapman’s dance program began in March of 2001, with financial support from the Reno Parks and Recreation Department. City funds helped Chapman offer scholarships and pay for space for his studio, but when Chapman moved to Park Lane Mall, the city could no longer offer scholarships.

Nancy MacCartney, of Reno Parks and Recreation, said she told Chapman to pursue competitive cultural grants that the city offers every year, but those grants will not be handed out until the fall.

To help raise funds for the program, Chapman is holding a hip-hop dance-a-thon June 15 at his studio. (Call 356-8872 for details.)

Although Chapman hasn’t filled the 20,000-square-foot space at Park Lane, he says the move to the 5,000-square-foot space occupied by the antique dealer wouldn’t allow room for growth.

“We’d be going in there at capacity,” he says, referring to the 70 or so students he already has. Chapman estimates that his program could eventually serve as many as 1,000 students. Also, Chapman couldn’t put on shows at the smaller location, something that is very much a part of his plan.

Chapman said that he understands the business side that the mall and the antique dealer are taking but said he believes that young people in Nevada need a good place to participate in activities.

Parents of the dancers seem unanimous in their approval of Chapman’s program.

“Our son had been severely injured in a karate studio,” says Mardelle Jensen, whose son, Erik, can no longer participate in contact sports. “Physically, he’s getting in shape. He feels better about himself. He was really down, of course, both physically and emotionally.”

Leslie Fisher, who used to bring her daughters to ballet, says that Chapman’s studio is more comfortable than ballet studios.

“There was a snotty attitude,” Fisher says. Fisher says that many ballet and dance studios cater to wealthy people, often ignoring or ostracizing lower-income dancers.

Chapman says he doesn’t turn away students who can’t pay for the classes, saying that his reason for bringing his dream to his hometown of Reno wasn’t financially motivated.

“It’s going to put it in the same area as other dance studios," Chapman says, dejectedly. "That’s OK. But I want to do more, help more, offer more."