Beloved Founder Of MainStage Dance Academy Sells Business

GREENPORT, NY — Sitting in the reception area of the MainStage Dance Academy in Greenport, it's business as usual as families bring their daughters in to sign up for a new season of classes and young students chatter happily about tap, ballet, jazz, acrobatics — and the progress they've made since taking their first tentative steps at the barre.

Longtime students and parents walking in are greeted by a beloved familiar face — MainStage Dance Academy's founder and former executive and artistic director Lucille Naar-Saladino — and that of new owner Karissa Despres, who recently purchased the business.

Sitting together, owners past and present share their stories, their mutual passion for dance, and a vision for the business that assures Naar-Saladino's legacy and deep love for the studio and her students will continue to flourish.

Naar-Saladino, an accomplished professional dancer and a former Radio City Rockette, had no symptoms at all when she went for an annual gynecological exam in May, 2016 and the doctor found a large lump in her right breast.

The lump was biopsied, and Naar-Saladino was diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that develops from the B-cells in the lymphatic system. The cancer, she said, was found in her lymph nodes, and had spread to her abdomen, esophagus, and to the area right of outside her kidneys."It was Stage 3 already and I had no symptoms whatsoever," she said.

After treatment, she was in remission for a year — and then had a relapse in late March of this year. "It came back, and I had to have a bone marrow transplant," she said. The bone marrow transplant took place on June 27 and she returned home to the North Fork on Aug. 4.

"I feel good," she said, although fatigued – and recovery means she'll have to rest and take things slowly. "When I overdo, which is my norm, I'm sick for two to three days."

After the transplant, Naar-Saladino said she knew she needed to make some adjustments in her life. "Cancer changes your life, anyway," she said. "Things are just never the same."

The decision to sell MainStage Dance Academy, which Naar-Saladino founded in 2008 and which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, was made to shine the spotlight on her own healing. "I did this because I was focusing on me, and on my health," she said.

Still, Naar-Saladino said, selling a business that's beloved is not a move that's made lightly. "It took me a long time; it was a hard decision," she said.

Before the bone marrow transplant, Despres had come to visit Saladino, bringing flowers. "We were talking at my house and I jokingly said, off the cuff, even though I was serious, 'Do you want to buy a dance studio?' And she said, 'Yes, talk to me,'" Naar-Saladino said. "It was a shoe-in."

The sale moved ahead and the deal closed on June 15.

When she founded the school, Naar-Saladino knew that she wanted to teach all the concentrations, including ballet, jazz, lyrical, hip hop and acrobatics, and offer a studio for both children and adults of all ages. "I wanted to give them a good dance background, while having fun."

Over the years, Naar-Saladino added additional concentrations and performances, and the business grew. Her smiling, enthusiastic presence has been a given at a series of fundraisers, parades, and festivals, where she cheered on her dancers and imbued them with a lifetime foundation of confidence and flair.

"It just kept growing, with a really great staff in place. I was able to see the progression in the kids through the years — to have the mothers see their children's progression. My philosophy has always been that it takes a good staff, continuity, and good curriculum," she said.

Both Naar-Saladino and Despres believe strongly in the importance of progression. And both assure that the commitment to maintaining continuity at MainStage is absolute.

The two were "friendly competitors" for six or seven years, with Despres the owner of the North Fork Academy of Dance for five years; the business is now in its 31st year. North Fork Academy of Dance, which originated in Cutchogue at the Parish Hall, now offers classes in Aquebogue and at the Southold Opera House. Despres bought the business from previous owner Harry Manning Precht in 2013, although she'd worked for him for years and had taken over running the studio when he had health complications.

Both agree that selling the studio to Despres was destiny fulfilled. "It's exciting," Despres said.

Naar-Saladino added that now, between both businesses — which will be separate and run independently — Despres will have classes in Aquebogue, Southold, Greenport, and on Shelter Island, where Naar-Saladino also taught for the past few years.

"She's kind of cornered the market, which is really cool," Naar-Saladino said.

And, she added, Despres is the ideal person to shepherd her beloved business into its second act. "I knew that she would carry on my legacy," she said. "It's a perfect fit."

Despres, who grew up in Mattituck and lives in Southold, knows many of Naar-Saladino's students already, a hometown girl with values that reflect those principles and beliefs nurtured in Naar-Saladino's studio for years.

At MainStage Dance Academy, "It's going run business as usual," Despres said."The same staff, the same classes, the same fees and tuition. Nothing is changing; we're keeping the same mantra and the same beliefs."

The two professional schools are run very similarly, both agreed. And both ensured continuity, so important for students and their families.

"When you are working with children and parents, it's important to them for things to be the same. I want them to be comfortable," Despres said. "This is still MainStage Dance Academy. This is their home and their dance family." She added: "I love what Lucille started and I want to keep it that way."

"The business is like a well-oiled machine," Naar-Saladino said, adding that even when she was first diagnosed and undergoing treatment, Dottie Stevens, her right hand person, kept things running smoothly.

Still, Naar-Saladino has poured years of love and dedication into the studio. "It's your baby," she said. "And when children are involved, you have a whole other level of responsibility."

The students, both agreed, bring infinite joy and fulfillment. "They absorb everything. They adore their teachers," Despres said.

Both Despres and Naar-Saladino came from "neighborhood" dance schools; Naar-Saladino, from Miss Kathy's Dance Studio in Astoria, Queens, before she studied in New York, and Despres, Miss Pat's in Austin, TX.

"We knew the climate and what's required to run a small school," Naar-Saladino said. "This was the perfect thing, what happened."

While some may think running two dance studios and also, being a wife to her husband Gary and mom to her son Mason, 6, may seem like a lot to juggle, Despres just smiles calmly. "I have a staff. And when I'm here, all the parents have been so positive and inviting. This is fun for me. I have a lot of energy. I truly believe if you love what you do, it doesn't feel like work." And, she added, she has an incredible support system of family and friends.

Also, Naar-Saladino said, the business was a turnkey operation, and ready for Despres to step in smoothly.

Looking ahead, Naar-Saladino assured she'll still be teaching a tap class at MainStage Dance Academy and some private lessons and will always be "an ambassador with the parents."

For Despres, the businesses symbolize a dream realized. When she was just 23 years old she was working in New York City at Wilhemina, casting in the teen and children's department, when she started losing her vision and losing weight; she was subsequently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. And, she said, it was a turning point — she realized she wanted to return home and continue teaching at the North Fork Academy of Dance.

Precht was the one who suggested she buy the school, she said. Although she was in her 20s and had never envisioned the concept, by 28, she was a "full-fledged owner. It wasn't something I planned on, but it was the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me. I truly love what I do."

Reflecting on what MainStage has meant, Naar-Saladino said, having been in show business for years and on the glittering stage at Radio City, opening the business was all about giving back, sharing her experience and wealth of professional knowledge with students. "It felt great. I loved the feeling, giving them that education, imparting everything I knew," she said. "I didn't care if they ever decided to go professional or not — it was about the enjoyment of learning. I loved seeing the kids so enthusiastic."

Both women agreed that even though they were once competitors, there was always professional courtesy, mutual respect, and friendship.

The passing on of the proverbial torch to Despres was "organic" and felt right, Naar-Saladino said.

To her students and families, Naar-Saladino sent a message of thanks. "I loved working with them. Now that they're not my clients, I can be their friend." Her MainStage dance moms and she can now go for a glass of wine, she added, smiling. "I loved teaching their kids. Through the years, they've been so good to me."

When she went through treatment after her diagnosis, and again recently, Naar-Saladino said not only her devoted husband John, but the community, too, opened its arms with love. "The people in the community, I can't say enough," she said. "The parents from MainStage Dance Academy, they were unbelievable. When I told them, they said, 'Anything we can do, we will do. We'll come over, clean your house.' They were amazing." So many cards, message, rides for treatment — so much love, Naar-Saladino said.

And it's that same sense of community, of caring, that resonates in the classes taught by both women — both of whom say more than jazz routines are learned in the studio.

"I feel like I leave an impression on a child, whether dance related or not, it's really about life lessons," Despres said. "They learn to dance and it's beautiful, but if they just walk out the door knowing how to be a team player, respectful and kind, that means a lot more to me than if the pirouette was clean."

The dance studio becomes a safe haven for kids who may be going through divorce, bullying or issues at school, both agreed.

"You become a family with your clients," Despres said.

And, said Naar-Saladino, the children, in turn, have taught her forever lessons. Always the jubilant, enthusiastic cheerleader for her young charges, their joyful champion — her students, with big, devoted families, have taught her, an only child, about a new way of embracing life and loved ones. Taught her, too, about the true joy of watching a student master a step, of seeing trust and years of devotion unfold in a child's eyes and heart.

"I've loved learning from them," she said.

To enroll in MainStage Dance Academy, call 631-477-1380, email mstagedance.com, or send a message on Facebook. MainStage Dance Academy is located at 74365 Main Road in Greenport, NY.

Patch photo by Lisa Finn.