Making a Living as a Ballroom Dance Teacher

You’ve heard it many times; you can’t make a legitimate living in dance let alone teaching dance. In fact, many if not most dancers who are performing or competing supplement their income by teaching dance. The unfortunate truth is that for many styles and genres of dance, making a living is tough. The good news is that Ballroom is unique in that it can offer the income potential to do quite well financially. So how do you do it?

• Develop a Plan: Yup! You heard it. The dreaded “P” word. The thing is that without a plan you’re a bit like a rudderless ship. Going with the flow is fine but actually achieving your definition of success is better don’t you think? Do you want to be an American or International dance teacher? How far do you want to progress? Will it be Bronze or will you go through to the Gold as well?
• Commit: Entering and committing to a Teacher Training Program is an excellent way of getting first rate and intensive training regardless of certification.
• Take Private Dance Classes: Make sure you are taking private lessons on a regular basis. The one on one time with a great teacher is invaluable.
• Practice, Practice, Practice! Remember what your Mom used to say? Practice makes perfect. Guess what? She was right!
• Be Social: By that we mean attend Socials. It’s a fantastic way of practicing your skill set and meeting great people who may end up being your students.
• Compete: At the early stages compete with your dance instructor. It is a fantastic way of learning the ins and outs, getting to know the industry better, being seen and upping your game.
• Align with a Great Dance Studio: There are a variety of ways a studio will pay. Sometimes, a studio offers teachers a salary and may give commissions on lesson sales. There are also studios who pay on a per class or per hour basis.
• Promote Yourself: With today’s social media climate you have the chance to start building a fan base and engaging through your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ Blogs and more. They cost nothing and they work if you keep at it.
  Business Cards: At Socials and competitions have a business card available.

Gradually, you build profile and reputation and may be able to move toward being an in demand and independent dance teacher who is paid directly by their students. In this situation you would then pay the studio an hourly or monthly fee for use of the floor (i.e., floor rent). What this means to you is that as an independent ballroom dance teacher, you take home the greater percentage of students’ fees.

We hope this post has helped you see that becoming a ballroom dance teacher can be a lucrative and rewarding career. Let us know if you have any further questions or comments concerning this topic. We will answer as quickly as possible. Besides, we love hearing from you.

Happy Dancing!