TZP Group Makes Strategic Investments in Leading Dance Entertainment Companies; Forms New Combined Brand “DanceOne”

TZP Group (“TZP”), a multi-strategy private equity firm, announced it has made strategic investments in Break The Floor Productions and Star Dance Alliance to create Dance One Holdings, LLC (“DanceOne” or the “Company”), the largest holding company of dance brands in the world. This investment is the first for TZP Capital Partners Fund IV and represents the largest institutional investment in the dance industry to date. The transaction closed in August, 2023, and financial terms were not disclosed.

DanceOne combines the leading dance innovators to deliver the best dance training and competition offerings in the world. With more than 60 years of educating, choreographing and producing exceptional experiences for dancers, the new combined company will address the complementary training and competition segments within the broader dynamic dance ecosystem. Together, the organizations have hosted more than 500 events annually and serve more than 10,000 dance studios across the world per year.

Following this transaction, the Break The Floor Productions brand will be discontinued and its premier brands that include the elite conventions Jump, Nuvo, 24 Seven, Radix, Kaos, The Dance Awards, Dance Teachers Summit and DancerPalooza will be held directly under the DanceOne brand name.

Star Dance Alliance will sit separately under DanceOne. Star Dance Alliance events such as Starpower, Nexstar, Revolution, Believe, Imagine, Dream Maker, The World Dance Championship and others will continue to run independently.

Gary Pate will become Chief Executive Officer of DanceOne and will continue to focus on development of the Star Dance Alliance portfolio and will bring his more than 40 years of dance event experience to the company.

Chris Ganan will become President and Chief Strategy Officer of DanceOne, with oversight of the Jump, Nuvo, 24 Seven, Radix, Kaos, The Dance Awards, Dance Teachers Summit and DancerPalooza as well as overall DanceOne company strategy, including merchandise expansion, sponsorships and business development.

DanceOne also announced the naming of renowned film and television director, producer and choreographer, Adam Shankman, as the Company’s new Chief Creative Officer. Shankman, whose credits include award winning hit films such as Hairspray, Hocus Pocus 2, Disenchanted, Rock of Ages, Step Up, Bringing Down The House and A Walk to Remember, will work closely with the DanceOne teams on long form and digital content development, faculty assessment and the overall program strategy and creative direction for the Company’s competitions and tours. The three-time Emmy Award nominee was also the choreography lead for over 100 film and television projects, including the 82nd Academy Awards, for which he also served as a producer. Shankman also appeared as a judge for eight seasons on So You Think You Can Dance.

Russell Geyser, former CEO of Break The Floor, will remain on the board of directors and serve as Non-Executive Vice Chairperson. Dan Galpern, Partner, and Zack Vertsman, Principal at TZP Group will both join the board of directors.

DanceOne’s highest priority is the continued elevation of industry leading safety standards for all events and programs across the Company’s platforms.

“We believe strongly in the growth of the dance category and are investing in events like competitions, as well as the creativity, production and tremendous community of studios, dancers, choreographers, instructors and participants from around the world,” said Dan Galpern, Partner at TZP Group. “These two companies have proven to be world leaders in dance competitions, workshops, on-line dance training, theatrical and video productions. We believe there is tremendous potential for continued elevation of the authentic dance event experience for dancers and studios, professionalization, and systemization, as well as expanding the types of partners with which DanceOne brands engage. We look forward to leveraging Gary’s more than 40 years of experience in the dance community and to partnering with Chris and Adam to supercharge our growth efforts across live events, apparel, media, sponsorship, and new business development channels.”

“I’m thrilled to be joining the incredible DanceOne team. Personally, I would have nothing without dance. It’s who I am, and what gave me a life. Elevating dancers, choreographers, teachers, and putting them on the global digital stage while developing unique educational, scripted, documentary, and non-scripted content is something I’ve always dreamed of. This is deeply personal for me, and I couldn’t be more grateful for this opportunity,” said Adam Shankman, Chief Creative Officer of DanceOne.

“Star Dance Alliance is very excited to be joining forces with TZP Group to launch this exciting new combined brand, which will create significant new opportunities for growth,” said Gary Pate, Founder and CEO of Star Dance Alliance. “We are immensely proud of our decades of international dance competition leadership and believe this combination will elevate opportunities across all of dance. We look forward to building on our combined platform to enhance and expand the reach of our events. I am also thrilled to continue to expand the Star Dance Alliance business as a part of DanceOne.”

“We are elated to partner with TZP Group to create the premier dance brand in the world, delivering unparalleled experiences of joy and freedom to the entire dance community. We cannot wait to see the incredible artistic expression our dance studio partners bring to our competitions for years to come.” said Chris Ganan, President and Chief Strategy Officer of DanceOne. “We have been working on this for quite some time and believe this combination will create many new opportunities for studios, choreographers, instructors and all our constituents, to supercharge and energize the community. We look forward to accelerating our growth and serving new and existing studios and dancers in the years ahead.” 

TZP’s infusion of capital enables DanceOne to focus on three tentpoles for investment:

• Creative and production enhancements for events, along with expansion of digital and content opportunities, spearheaded by Mr. Shankman.
• New commercial opportunities to create value for DanceOne studio partners, including a companywide loyalty program which will feature exclusive incentives such as first access to our events, custom merchandise, travel perks and more. The transaction will create new commercial opportunities for choreographers to enhance their career development to grow their personal businesses.

• The development of new platforms for choreographers and members of the dance community, including the reintroduction of the foremost event for teachers in the dance community, Dance Teacher Summit; the expansion of Star Dance Alliance’s Wild Dance brand; and the launch of the premier hip-hop experiential dance studio in 2024, Kaos, which will serve as a community and cultural center in Los Angeles.

 For more information, visit dance.one.