New Mexico Success Story
Susan Baker-Dillingham, Director
New Mexico Dance Theater School and Performance Company

Earlier this year the New Mexico Dance Theater School and Performance Company was named the Success Client of 2005 for the University of New Mexico – Los Alamos Small Business Development Center.  They were honored together with the other 18 Success Clients from the remaining 18 Small Business Development Centers located throughout the state on February 2, 2006 at the New Mexico Small Business Development Center Network’s “Day at the Legislature” event held at the New Mexico State Capitol Building located in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

New Mexico Dance Theatre School and Performance Company, a Limited Liability Company, was created by Susan Baker-Dillingham in August of 2004 and began operating out of the White Rock Community Center in Los Alamos, New Mexico with only 17 students.  The dance school is currently located in the heart of downtown Los Alamos in Central Park Square and enrollment is now over 120 students.

The mission statement of New Mexico Dance Theater School and Performance Company is to provide well rounded, professional dance training in a warm nurturing environment, as well as offering children and young adults a professional setting to learn and perform in.  Currently, the school offers classes ranging from creative movement, modern dance, jazz, tap, stretch and strengthen, and all levels of ballet, including adult.

Susan Baker-Dillingham initially came to the UNM Los Alamos Small Business Development Center (UNM-LA SBDC) for assistance in finding a permanent location for the dance studio to help her increase her student base.  There Susan met and worked with Vanessa Finn, one of UNM-LA SBDC’s business counselors.  One of her major issues was looking at the profitability of the company and the ability to service the rent debt she would be required to pay.  Susan stated, “If it were not for the counselors at the Small Business Development Center, I wouldn’t be where I am today.  They helped me realize that I could actually achieve my goal of getting a studio and growing my business.”  The SBDC assisted Susan in finding a location for her studio and negotiating the lease agreement with the landlord.  New Mexico Dance Theater’s increased enrollment is mostly due to word of mouth. Once the people of Los Alamos realized that she had opened her own studio, student enrollment increased significantly. 

The New Mexico Dance Theater School and Performance Company and its faculty focus on proper, professional, and safe training, enhancing young children’s lives through the art of dance.  It also offers a professional setting to intermediate and advanced pre-teens and young adults in which to learn existing classical works, study with teachers and choreographers from professional dance companies around the world, and to perform their highly honed skills.  New Mexico Dance Theater School and Performance Company offers classes on a year-round basis and the studio features a brand new “sprung floor” to enhance the dancer’s daily performance and protect against injury to the lower legs and feet.

The biggest issue that New Mexico Dance Theater faced was finding a great location for a studio. Susan felt that having a permanent home for her business would assist her in obtaining more clients.  There is no way that New Mexico Dance Theater could have gone from 17 students to 91 students without finding a good location for the studio.  Susan stated, “The SBDC helped me believe that I could open the studio and made me feel comfortable in my choice to start, because I felt supported.”  New Mexico Dance Theater is growing tremendously in number of students and Susan is already in research mode to find either a bigger studio or more available space.  Though opening New Mexico Dance Theater is very important to her, Susan’s greatest accomplishment is seeing the growth and development of the students she is teaching.  Susan says, “The world of dance is a truly magical realm.  The theater is an extraordinary place for children and young adults to explore their talents and creativity.  It’s filled with lights and applause, personal challenges, beautiful costumes and sets, and a glamour you don’t find anywhere else.  Whether dance is an after school activity, or taken to its fullest in the professional setting, dance provides fitness, artistry, devotion, team building skills and oh-so-much more.

Susan Baker-Dillingham grew up in Abilene, Texas where she studied dance at the Abilene Civic Ballet Company.  She attended her senior year of high school and one year of college at the highly acclaimed North Carolina School of the Arts and has danced professionally with many dance companies throughout her career.  During her 20 year professional dance career Susan worked with many world renowned choreographers including, Lou Conte, Lynn Taylor Corbett, James Kudelka, John McFall, David Parsons, Kirk Peterson, Michael Smuin, and Glen Tetley.  Susan has performed in a wide range of balletic works from the absolute classicism of Marius Petipa and the neo-classic George Balanchine, to the modernism of Paul Taylor.  She spent three years as the artistic director of dance Arts Los Alamos before branching out to form the New Mexico Dance Theater in the fall of 2004.  Her current students have been accepted to and studied at such prestigious summer dance programs as American Ballet Theater, the Burklyn Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet, the Kansas City Ballet and Ballet West.

The SBDC counselors who worked with Susan believed that she would be a success and knew she had the drive required in business to do exciting things.  Her love for dance and performing arts makes her very willing to take risks to ensure that her company will succeed.  Susan acknowledges when it is time to ask for help and is willing to take the necessary steps to ensure that business goes as planned.  The counselors at the SBDC love working with Susan because she is very enthusiastic about her goals and is easy to work with.  She listened to our counselors’ ideas and gained encouragement to move forward, this enthusiasm led to obtaining a permanent studio and increasing student enrollment over 400%.

Future plans for New Mexico Dance Theater School and Performance Company include expanding their current space or finding an additional location. With student enrollment increasing so dramatically, Susan would like to have an additional studio to facilitate several classes simultaneously.  In the spring of 2004 Susan was nominated as a New Mexico Woman of Distinction.  She was honored to be one of ten women celebrated at the Governor’s mansion in Santa Fe.  For more information about the New Mexico Dance Theater and Performance Company, please contact Susan Baker-Dillingham at 662-6638.

The UNM-Los Alamos Small Business Development Center (UNM-LA SBDC) is part of a statewide network that includes nineteen Small Business Development Centers.  The UNM-LA SBDC may be contacted by calling 505/662-0004.  The New Mexico Small Business Development Center Network is co-sponsored by the Small Business Administration (SBA) through a cooperative agreement.  The SBDCs offer free one-on-one business counseling on a confidential basis to existing business owners and potential small business owners.   To locate a center nearest you, call the New Mexico SBA District Office at 505/346-7909 or visit the SBA Homepage on the Internet at www.sba.gov or visit the NMSBDC Website at http://www.nmsbdc.org.