How to Become a Dance Teacher

Dance teachers educate their students in a particular type of dance. Their job generally involves delivering foundational lessons in dance techniques, providing demonstrations on proper form, and giving students feedback on their performance.

Dance teacher duties sometimes include choreographing routines for students to perform as well as organizing and overseeing these performances. They may also play a role in developing an institution’s dance program curriculum.

You can teach dance to students of all skill levels and ages, from toddlers to adults, and you can offer one-on-one or group lessons. Dance instructors often work in dance studios, fitness centers, or at schools, but they can also teach independently by finding their own students.

If you’re running your own dance teaching business, you can offer private lessons in clients’ homes or work from your own home by teaching dance online.

Types of dance

There are countless different dance styles you can teach. Here are just a few popular examples:

• Ballet (classical, contemporary, and/or neoclassical)
• Jazz
• Modern/contemporary
• Tap
• Ballroom
• Swing
• Salsa
• Hip-hop
• Folk
• Pole
• Traditional
• Latin
• Rumba

Depending on where you plan to work, you may need to be familiar with the technicalities of several types of dance so that you can teach a broad range of classes. However, dance instructors often have a specialty.

For example, if you’ve been doing ballet all your life and it’s what drew you to the idea of a dance teaching career, then embrace it and become a ballet instructor. If you’ve got a passion for hip hop, become a hip hop teacher. The dance genre you have the most experience with and love the most will probably be the type of dance you’re best at teaching.

Being a great dancer isn’t the only requirement for dance instructors. You’ll need several qualifications to get hired as a professional dance teacher.

Education

You don’t need a dance education degree to become a successful dance teacher—in fact, you don’t necessarily need any degree at all. However, if you lack formal education, you’ll need to make up for it with ample skill and dancing experience.

There are plenty of examples of successful dance instructors who’ve proven that it is possible to become a dance teacher without an education degree. Just look at Misty Copeland. Though she never got a college degree, her incredible success as a ballet dancer gave her the foundation she needed to start her own dance program.

That’s not to say you need to be a famous dancer to get away with teaching dance without a degree. It just goes to show that in certain settings, skill and experience are weighted just as heavily as pedagogical knowledge.

Private dance studios and organizations tend to have more lenient degree requirements than schools. Some employers may expect you to have at least a bachelor’s degree in dance. Teaching dance at university level, on the other hand, often requires a master’s degree.

Skills

You’ll need a range of skills to be an effective dance instructor. In addition to advanced dance skills, you’ll need teaching skills to impart your expertise to students of varying ages and skill levels.

You’ll need to be skilled in the following areas:

• Technical proficiency in dance: A firm grasp of foundational dance techniques in your chosen niche.
• Teaching skills: The ability to plan out classes, deliver structured lessons, and conduct student assessments.
• Communication skills: The ability to explain concepts in multiple ways, both verbally and through physical demonstrations, to get through to students with different learning styles.
• Adaptability: Willingness to adjust or tailor lessons to meet the evolving needs of dance students.
• Injury prevention skills: Knowledge of common injuries in your dance specialty, ability to spot warning signs in students, and ability to correct problematic behaviors to minimize the risk of injuries.
• Choreography skills: The ability to create choreography that captivates students’ interest while challenging them to learn and enhance their dancing skills.

If you decide to open your own dance studio, you’ll also need business-related skills. These include people management, budgeting, and scheduling skills.

Dance instructor certification

You don’t necessarily need to become a certified dance instructor to get hired. With that said, it is pretty standard for employers to require a dance teacher certification, especially if you don’t have a dance degree.

Even though you can get into dance teaching without a certification, you may choose to undergo specialized training in a particular type of dance instruction. This would be a huge advantage to your career development and may help you qualify for better jobs.

Before you jump into a program, decide for yourself which type of dance you want to teach and in what setting. After that, do your research to find a reputable certification program that aligns with your goals.

Teaching license

If you plan to teach school children, you’ll usually need a teaching license. The process of getting this license varies from state to state.

There is one possible exception: You may be able to get a job teaching dance in schools without a teaching license or education degree if you become an alternate route teacher.

In this case, after a school has hired you as a dance trainer, you’ll be able to work toward getting your teaching license in your first year of teaching. This is only a practical option for highly skilled or experienced dancers.

Insurance

Some studios require dance teachers to have their own dance insurance. This coverage protects the company from liability in the event that one of your students gets injured during one of your classes.

Make sure to choose a policy that’s specifically for dance teachers. If you’re a member of a professional dance organization, they may be able to offer recommendations and even discounts.

There are many different places you could potentially work as a dance instructor, including in your own home. Here’s a glimpse into your career options as a dancing teacher.

Dance studios

Dance studios are an excellent option for your first dance instructor job. Some studios allow you to begin teaching as an assistant dance instructor while you’re still working toward a degree or certification, and others even offer specialized training programs for aspiring instructors.

On top of that, working in a dance studio will give you ample opportunities to learn from more experienced dance instructors. If you’re already a member at a dance studio, then this is a great first place to look for work as a beginner instructor.

With that said, dance teacher requirements will vary depending on the studio. While privately owned dance studios have more relaxed education and certification requirements than schools, some can be stricter in terms of required dance experience.

Gyms

These days, many gyms offer dance classes as a group fitness option. Working as a dance instructor at a gym is much different from working in a studio. There’s a greater emphasis on dance as a form of exercise than as an art.

You won’t need to plan for performances or recitals, and the choreography may already be planned out for you. This type of work can be fairly repetitive since you’ll be delivering the same classes to different groups. In most cases, your students will be adults of various ages and skill levels.

Schools

As a dance instructor at an elementary, middle, or high school, your job is primarily focused on teaching the foundations of different types of dance to younger children. You’ll have many of the same duties that come with a traditional teaching job, including lesson planning, grading, attending teacher staff meetings, and communicating with parents.

You may have the opportunity to teach more advanced and focused students, but in many cases, your students won’t have a dedicated interest in dance. Teaching dance at a school sometimes involves planning shows for parents.

Teaching dance in colleges is also an option, though the education requirements are stricter. In many cases, you’ll need a master’s degree to be considered for the job.

Your own studio

If you have space available to you, you can open your own studio. The same factors that make it undesirable for some make it a perfect opportunity for others.

Opening your own studio generally requires a more entrepreneurial slant, as you won’t just be teaching dance in your role. You’ll also be running and managing a business.

You’ll need to take on a range of tasks beyond dance instruction, including:

• Hiring, training, and managing other instructors
• Marketing your business
• Selling your services to students and/or parents
• Determining your studio’s overall focus and curriculum
• Planning, organizing, and overseeing all class recitals, competitions, or shows

This is not a comprehensive list of all the requirements for owning and running a dance school, but it’s a starting point for what you can expect if you decide to go this route.

Online

With the continual advancement of online learning, there’s no shortage of opportunities to teach dance online from the comfort of your own home. Online dance teaching has a few huge benefits going for it as a career option for dance teachers.

There are three main ways to teach dance online:

• Selling prerecorded dance courses: Create educational content to sell online via learning platforms like Udemy. These platforms allow you to create educational content on your own time, upload them for students’ use, and then earn money when students view or download your content.
• Offering live online dance classes: Meet with students one-on-one or in a group using a service like Zoom. You can teach live dance classes either independently by finding your own students or through a dance studio or conservatory that offers virtual dance tutoring.
• Monetizing a dance-teaching video channel: Record and post dance-related educational content on social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, or Facebook. While the content would technically be free for students, you can earn via online ad revenue or brand partnerships, if you gain a large enough following.

Of these dance teaching career routes, selling online courses offers the highest income potential, assuming your dance courses gain popularity. Since you don’t need to meet with students one-on-one, you can amass thousands of paying students without needing to invest additional time or resources.

Some dance instructor jobs involve stricter application requirements and hiring processes than others. But unless you plan on working for yourself as a self-employed dance instructor, there are a few key elements you need to have to maximize your employability.

1. Become a pro in your dance specialty

If you want to get hired as a dance teacher at a studio or find students for your own dance teaching business, your dance skills will be the most important factor determining your success. And while your actual performative skills may not matter as much if you’re working at a school or gym, being able to demonstrate your talent will add to your appeal as a job candidate.

This advice applies regardless of whether you’re going to teach a single dance genre or teach dance foundations across a range of specialties. However, how you prepare may look a little different from one job type to the next.

For jobs teaching dance at public or private schools, focus on refining your knowledge of foundational techniques in a broad range of different dance genres. For dance teaching jobs at a gym, you should regularly attend classes at nearby gyms to get a sense of their teaching style and format.

2. Hone your teaching skills

Don’t overlook the importance of being a great teacher. In the end, it won’t matter how skilled a dancer you are if you’re not able to pass on those skills and knowledge to your pupils.

If you’re pursuing a teaching-focused certification or degree, your coursework will lay the groundwork for being a good dance teacher. But if you’re pursuing an alternate route, you’ll need to study the pedagogical aspects of dance instruction and get some teaching practice.

You may be able to apprentice or intern at a dance studio where you can shadow experienced instructors and learn more about how they approach dance education. If you’re truly going the DIY route to becoming a dance teacher, make use of the wealth of online educational resources on the principles of teaching.

3. Build a good dance teacher resume

No matter your experience, it’ll be difficult to get a job as a dance instructor without a well-written resume that clearly explains your qualifications and what you can bring to a studio, school, fitness center, or other institution. Be sure that your resume lists all your related education as well as past work related to dance.

Since you’ll be applying as a first-time dance teacher, you likely won’t have any direct experience teaching dance. However, you can include work you’ve done in similar fields (e.g., fitness or arts) to flesh out your resume.

Just be sure to include roles where you developed skills that would transfer to a dance teaching position. As you gain experience through different teaching roles, you’ll be able to strengthen your resume by listing accomplishments you achieve along the way.

These could include producing acclaimed recitals or shows, teaching students who went on to attend prestigious dance schools, or growing a studio’s dance program to expand the number of student enrollments or service offerings.

4. Keep an open mind about what genres you’ll teach

Ideally, you’ll teach a form of dance you have a true passion for. However, it’s crucial to also consider the demand and market saturation for your dance specialty. These factors will have a substantial impact on your earning potential and how easy it is for you to get into dance teaching.

For financial success as a dance instructor, look at what types of dance are popular where you live and what dance teacher jobs are being advertised. You may come across niches you’d never considered before that turn out to be a lot of fun to get into.

Teaching dance is a particularly great job option for professional dancers who are no longer performing, be it due to injury, retirement, or just an interest in a career shift.

If you have no background as a dancer and you’ve never taken a dance class before, it’ll take you a lot of time and effort to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to make it as a dance instructor.

Pros and cons

Becoming a dance instructor has several pros and cons to consider.

Dance instructor salary

How much you’ll make as a dance instructor depends on a wide range of factors, most importantly where you work and your experience level. Online estimates for average dance teacher salaries are around $10–$45 per hour. 1

There are a few different ways you might get paid as a dance teacher. If you’re working independently running your own business, you’ll probably charge a set fee for each student. As a dance instructor at a studio, you may get paid hourly or earn a base rate plus commission based on the number of dancers in your class.

You’ll generally earn more money teaching college students than school-age students, and your earning potential will increase if you’re able to provide additional services, such as choreography.