How are dance teachers paid?

[MadamSamba]

One thing that I've been pondering is how dance teachers are paid. My studio charges $55 for a private lesson. Obviously it will vary depending on the studio, but how much of that goes to the teacher and how much to the studio?

I'm wondering because the studio has only one full-time teacher and about 20 part-timers who do group classes or privates in their own time, according to their own schedules, but I can't figure out how they make any money on it.

For example, one teacher I know is a real-estate agent by trade and every Monday night teachers a group class with about four students in it. If they're only paying ten bucks to get in, what portion (about) would the teacher get or are they paid a flat fee?

I know people run dance studios for the love of it, but do they or the teachers make any money?

[Spitfire]

Around here I'm pretty sure they are paid by the hour for the time that they teach.

While the hourly rate might be high the actual pay is low since the hours spent teaching are not substantial; I'll use a friend of mine who is a pilot as an example. He once had a job making charter flights that paid 17 dollars an hour, but sometimes he would only fly 10 hours a week and thus not much pay for that week. At least I think this is how it works.

I've been told by teachers that one could do pretty well teaching if they had a lot of students.

[pygmalion]

At my former studio, they were paid a combination of an hourly wage (low, I think), a premium for lesson hours logged, and a commission for number of lessons, showcases, etc. sold. I don't know if every studio does it that way.

[DancingMommy]

I'm wondering because the studio has only one full-time teacher and about 20 part-timers who do group classes or privates in their own time, according to their own schedules, but I can't figure out how they make any money on it.

Let's just say it really depends on the studio. 8)

If you aren't working at it "full-time", you will not make any money as a dance teacher. I taught as full-time as I could and hardly made enough $ to pay the taxes on what I made extra. It kept me in lunches at my "day job" though.

Most of the time it works like this:

If you are "on the floor", you get paid. If you are present in the studio but not on the floor, you don't get paid. You get paid an hourly rate that can vary depending on the studio policy. The one here in FLA, paid one rate for private lessons, one rate for group lessons and one rate for parties. There was also a commission structure, but it was pathetic. AND it caused the teachers to try to sell way more lessons so they could get a "better" check every week.

Also, there were no benefits like insurance coverage or anything since all the teachers were considered "independant contractors" by the studio (although this violated IRS code - long story won't go into it).

[pygmalion]

Yikes! Yes. I knew it was complicated, because one of my former teachers accidentally left his pay calculation sheet out where I could see it once. I didn't look at the bottom line, honest, because that would have invaded his privacy. But everything was on there, from how many hours he taught to how many hours he was in the studio to how many lessons he sold that week. I guess that week's pay must have been really tight for him, poor guy.