Photo courtesy of Tippi Toes
Tippi Toes instructor Sumiyah Morris leads a ballet class.
Vallie Pate doesn’t have a deep background in dance, but that hasn’t stopped her from building a growing business that teaches dance to children.
In 2017, after becoming burnt out in her art business, Pate was offered an opportunity to start the Birmingham franchise for the Tippi Toes dance company. Tippi Toes began in 1999 in Oklahoma and started offering franchises in 2009, but it didn’t have a strong presence in the Deep South.
Pate, a resident of north Shelby County, launched a Birmingham area franchise and became the company’s rookie of the year for 2017, growing it faster than any franchise in the history of the company at the time, she said. In less than six months, Pate had 10 locations with at least 10 students each, and since then, she has grown to more than 50 classes in more than 35 locations, including Lakeside Baptist Church, she said.
Other classes are in Hoover, Birmingham, Homewood, Mountain Brook, Pelham, Irondale and north Shelby County.
There are classes for children ages 18 months to about 10 years old.
“Our main segment of children are ages 3 to 5,” Pate said. “That’s our largest category, and it’s a combo class of ballet, tap and jazz in one class. They’ll get an introduction to all of those disciplines.”
The class for 18-month-olds includes a parent and covers things like how to stretch their legs and point their toes, and the older kids in the after-school programs at Hoover and Shelby County schools are called Tippi Pro, Pate said.
“That’s a little more advanced than the combo class, and it’s more ballet heavy, more structured as far as the ballet discipline goes,” she said.
There’s a full recital at the end of each semester.
“It’s only about an hour, which parents love,” Pate said. “It’s their favorite thing because of the horror stories of dance recitals lasting five and six hours, and you get to see your child for two minutes. That’s not what we do.”
Tippi Toes’ dance instruction may not be as stringent or serious as a traditional dance studio, Pate said. “We’re really whimsical, and we weave in storytelling and theatrics.”
But the instruction is quality, Pate said. She has hired an amazing team of dancers to lead the instruction, and she focuses on running the business, she said.
There were 365 students this past school year, and Pate’s goal for the coming year is 500.
“Our motto at Tippi Toes is we encourage children, and we cultivate character, and we build confidence through the love of dance.”
For more information, visit tippitoesdance.com.
