I want to start my own school of dance....?

Question

Im 21 years old... and I love to dance, and teach others my great moves... I really wanna start my own dance school! I never took any dance classes before or anything like that.. I was a high school cheerleader four years. Do I need some kind of schooling to start my own school, or can I do so with what Ive got?

Answer 1

Hi! I do not have any formal education on dance. In fact, I earned my graduate studies and my post graduate studies in the social sciences. I am, in fact, a relluctant dance teacher. I was forced to become a dance teacher and establish my school because the cost of learning to dance in my country is prohibitive especially for young students. In other words, enrolling in a dance school is expensive.

I started with clarifying my rationale in teaching, and the goals of the school. My goal is to revive the dancing culture of my people. How can this be possible if the dance schools here in this country is charging rates that only those in the upper echelon of society can afford? How can this be possible if everytime you want to dance, the only available to dance with you are dance instructors who will charge you expensive rates! I often feel that dancing has become a commodity and it saddens me. People should not be deprived of dancing simply because they do not have money. Therefore, I attempted to start teaching it, since I can dance and I have the courage to teach. I did not start with a formal curiculum. I got friends who believe in me. Fundings were coming in from abroad, and I started to rent a small space in a school. I also offered private lessons, and whatever proceeds I get, I use to buffer the needed funds to support my sponsored dance classes. Then, I experimented asking my students to pay a small amount to cover the expenses in our dance classes. It works! I share with them my philosophy of dance. Now, they are helping me, not only financially to support the classes, but also in teaching other students as well.

I do not have formal lessons in dancing, but I do study a lot. Dance professors from the US and Europe came to visit me and gave me crash courses. Because I offered my classes almost for free, I also reap free lessons from visiting instructors. Generesity begets generosity.

All it take is... Passion.... you've got to have it. Then, let the Spirit of Passion be the one to take over!

Going back to your questions. My answer:

1. Be sure to have the passion to teach and dance.
2. Clarify your goals and objectives.
3. Look for the resources and support.
4. Look for the students who would enroll to your classes.
5. Take a lot of courage. It won't be easy. Competitors will try to bring you down especially if you do not have the needed trainings.

Then, that's it!

Answer 2

Please don't. There are way too many without professional training doing that already. Great moves have almost nothing to do with dance. How do you teach foot positions, much less proper technique, if you're untrained yourself? As a minimum you should spend several years in a professional studio learning the business before you even consider such a thing.

Answer 3

you need wayyyy more experience =/