Meet Jennifer:

Jennifer grew up in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, lived in the Kempsville area and graduated from Kempsville High School. She then attended Norfolk State University and earned her Bachelor's Degree in Social Work.

Before opening Spotlights, Jennifer worked for in management at Target for 5 years and was a stay at home mother. Jennifer has two daughters, ages 6 and 3, both of whom are dancing.

Jennifer brings to Spotlights her enthusiasm for business and the arts.

"It makes me so proud to see a student performing on stage, it takes confidence and courage to get in front of an audience. Our goal at Spotlights is to instill a love for the arts, build confidence and self-esteem, encourage our students to strive hard to make their dreams a reality, and provide the foundation they need to do so".

Join Jennifer in this Q&A about In the Spotlight dance Center and how it got started.

Jennifer Knighten is the founder nad director of In the Spotlight Dance Center. She is a dance and arts lover herself. Jennifer brings to Spotlights an enthusiasm for the arts and business. She holds a Bachelors in Social Work and is a mother of two dancers.

What made you go into business? I opened the original studio with my partner because we saw a need in the area for a dance studio that would create and offer a warm, friendly, and family environment that was interested in meeting the needs of the students. We also noticed that many of the students we knew were interested in theatre but had to go all the way to Norfolk to be able to participate in such a program. This goal is value system is continued in the new location of In the Spotlight Dance Center.

Here at Spotlights the students can take the dance classes they are interested in as well as the musical theatre that compliments the dance programs. We see and hear from parents that many studios loose sight of the bigger picture and that is to pass on the love of dancing and the freedom within it causes to the students they serve. At Spotlights, we make this one of our main focuses……to pass on the love of dance……here the students come first in every way!

What makes your business unique? Our business is unique in the fact that we designed our business, the classes, the dance, the theatre, the camps, etc. to meet the need of the individuals. We have even offered night time camps over past summers so that students who often don’t get to participate in camps due to their parents schedules can still enjoy their summer and this also allows for the parents to get a little time off as well to relax and enjoy their summer evenings. Our main purpose is to be able to reach out to the parents and the students and offer these for them.

Describe your business mission and philosophy? Spotlights School of Dance and Theatre was founded on one principle; to instill a love of dance and theatrics in a nurturing and positive environment. My goal as the director is to make dance and musical theater available to everyone in hopes that through the arts, every students will take with them the confidence and esteem to reach any goal in life.

What’s your goal for the future? Our goal is to continue to offer quality services to our students while adjusting to meet the needs of all involved. By doing this we continue to make our business a family atmosphere where everyone is valued. We would love to expand our business to multiple locations in the future as well, which would be a major show to us that we are continuing to offer the services to our parents and students that we originally set out to do.