nucat78
Active Member
Ummm, doesn't that blow your amateur status for NDCA?
Aside from that, is that $25 net or $25 gross?
Dance teacher salary in a studio
- Thread starter Twilight_Elena
- Start date
Ummm, doesn't that blow your amateur status for NDCA?
Aside from that, is that $25 net or $25 gross?
SDsalsaguy
Administrator
No, only for competing as a student in pro-am.
dancerman
Active Member
I would imagine it depends what country you are in. To compare the pay to the US one would have to compare minimum wage there vs here, would you not?
Never having been a teacher (and never planning on being good enough to), I can't speak on pay scale except to say that most customers I deal with have eventually elected to go independent and have said the franchises are the worst payers by a long shot.
ProgressNotPerfection
Forum Master
Do dance instructors ever resent their students due to their disposable income? I realize this thread is 10 years old, so presumably (hopefully) the numbers have increased with inflation, but from what I can tell, ballroom dance teachers still don't make great money. And then they have these students who come into the studio, paying hundreds...thousands...of dollars for lessons, for what might be just a hobby to them. The instructor is personally being paid only $x per lesson, but he knows that the students are actually paying the studio $x-times-4 (or 5 or 6) per lesson. In addition, he sees the students spending thousands more dollars each year on dresses, fees, travel, etc., sometimes for multiple comps.
What would it be like to know that some of your students spend more money in a single year on their dance budget than you earn in that same year? How could a dance teacher NOT feel resentful about that?
What would it be like to know that some of your students spend more money in a single year on their dance budget than you earn in that same year? How could a dance teacher NOT feel resentful about that?
PNP,
I think the tendency is more for a teacher with a stable clientele to become resentful of the size of the cut by the studio. They are less likely to resent the students for merely having money.
Everyone can debate the relationship between what students pay and what teachers get. But in this field, the spread is very obvious to the teacher and it's a personal service so they know that a specific $60-$120-$160 / hour the client pays is linked to a specific class. The costs are less visible to the teacher. So it becomes very easy for a teacher to think their cut should be more substantial.
But really, if they look around, they are likely to find that life as an itinerant independent can be quite difficult especially if you can't poach your clients to get your start! Advertizing is hard. Building a reputation is hard-- especially since things like wedding preparation is a big way to get first time clients.
I think the tendency is more for a teacher with a stable clientele to become resentful of the size of the cut by the studio. They are less likely to resent the students for merely having money.
Everyone can debate the relationship between what students pay and what teachers get. But in this field, the spread is very obvious to the teacher and it's a personal service so they know that a specific $60-$120-$160 / hour the client pays is linked to a specific class. The costs are less visible to the teacher. So it becomes very easy for a teacher to think their cut should be more substantial.
But really, if they look around, they are likely to find that life as an itinerant independent can be quite difficult especially if you can't poach your clients to get your start! Advertizing is hard. Building a reputation is hard-- especially since things like wedding preparation is a big way to get first time clients.
Warren J. Dew
Forum Master
Keep in mind that the very low wages discussed in this thread are for a specific circumstance: employee teachers at chain studios. I don't have recent experience with chain studios, but I'd bet that you're already a better dancer than some of teachers at some chain studios a few decades ago.
The situation has changed substantially, at least in the Boston area, and I suspect the income situation has changed with it. There are a lot of teachers in the area that immigrated with good dance skills, and there are starting to be a number of teachers who got reasonable dance skills in college teams. They've set up a lot of independent studios. Owners who teach still have to pay overhead, but can keep a lot more of the lesson price for themselves. Owners who don't have to train teachers can also afford to pay the teachers more.
All that said, I doubt many instructors ever resented affluent students. To the contrary, most likely appreciate affluent students as steady sources of income. Posts from pros here tend to be strongly in the camp of, "it's their money, they get to spend it on what they want to."
I once worked on a project team doing work for a Saudi prince. Millions of dollars were nothing to him, but why should I resent it? That's what kept me and my coworkers employed.
That said, it's not that easy to guess someone's income from their dance budget. There are people who spend the majority of their income on dance.
ProgressNotPerfection
Forum Master
Yes, you’re correct that my question was focused on the chain studios, and the instructors who are not owners. Thank you for presenting the other views! As you know, I’m still learning.
I've never been a dance teacher, but I am a teacher. My first post was a pretty lowly one, too--ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher. A significant fraction of my classes were purchased by international corporations that wanted their C-suite executives to be competent English speakers. Which is to say I've been in exactly this position; teaching a skill at which I am extremely competent to people who often have lukewarm interest in mastery, when I earn peanuts and they seem to be awash in cash. Furthermore, my employer is a school that takes a hefty chunk of my earned income without providing services that seems to warrant it (or so it seems to many).
I'm just one person with one anecdote, but I can honestly say that the disparity never bothered me. It's common knowledge (in USA culture, anyway) that teaching is a significantly underpaid profession, so nobody goes into teaching just for the money. That's what Economics (hedge fund management) and Engineering are for in my cultural circles.
Because of that, I've only seen three reasons that people end up teaching.
- They love teaching for its own sake. Sure, it would be nice to also make money doing it, but given the choice between teaching and earning peanuts vs. doing some drudgery that earns well, these folks would rather teach.
- They love the skill, and teaching is their only way to use that skill as their career. These folks are mixed. Some are grateful to be doing the thing they love, and have the same attitude as above.
Others are indeed resentful. Not because of the money per se, but because they feel they should have "made it" as a practicing professional rather than as a teacher (in most of the arts, the vast majority of professional practitioners are no better off than teachers financially, so money is still not really the problem). These people tend not to stay in teaching very long; they discover that they are much happier with a predictable day job that gives them lots of free time to practice and pursue the skill on the side.
- They want to use teaching as a vehicle for having an adventure. Whether that be to have a long-term, subsidized vacation in a foreign country (common among ESL teachers), meet a whole bunch of interesting people you otherwise wouldn't, or just generally experience another face of humanity, teaching a niche skill (one that doesn't require a teaching credential) is a pretty good way to do that. These folks are grateful for the experience also...but they don't stay long in the business, either.
So true - we came in originally for our wedding. I was not planning to stay past that milestone. How things have snowballed.... or avalanched.
Very much this. Most people are spending as much on dance as they can without totally breaking the budget or going bankrupt. Instructors know/sense this anyway thanks to the sales pitch conversations asking students to to more. Eager students don't usually say "no" just because they don't feel like doing something, it's almost always a financial barrier.
I won't repeat all the insights that have been shared, but my general observation is that any student who is resented, it is because of their behavior and demeanor towards staff and/or other students, not because of their perceived financial situation (though that can feed the former, but it is not a given).
DanceMentor
Administrator
This may sound a little unexpected but some people don't become teachers for the sake of wanting to teach. Rather they recognize that if they can sell something intangible like dance lessons to some very wealthy people, they make end up having some bountiful experiences in life. I'm reminded of the Filipino couple that were brought in as professional dancers about 8 years ago by a studio owner, and now they are often accompanying a student on a private jet for quite a few dance (and non-dance) adventures. Becoming a dance teacher can offer some amazing opportunities like this.
Someone once told me "if you can sell something intangible like dance lessons, you can sell just about anything". I am not going to tell you that I can sell anything, but I definitely feel a lot more confident with the process of selling, and have benefited greatly over the years from what I learned as a dance teacher.
If a teacher's motivation to learn to how to teach dancing is the hope that they will eventually land extremely wealthy clients who fly them around the world, they are probably going to be disappointed. If they eventually land that client, it will probably only happen after quite a few years of the teaching grind!
After it happens, the teacher who hit the jackpot students might discover that at least some clients like that are pretty demanding (even if they think the aren't demanding.) Then the employee/teacher finds they need to put on a good 'happy' face during the entire trip no matter what happens. Also, the student will likely select almost everything they are going do while at the destination. If they like hiking and you like art, you're probably going to be hiking. If the client is a bit rude to waiter... you have to sit there and watch them be rude. If they drink too much, maybe you have to haul them back home.
Meanwhile, this client might represent 1/2 your income and you really don't want to lose them because you wanted to visit the Louvre and they wanted to shop for perfume, make up ad jewelry.... with you there to "help".
The reality of clients taking you on "adventures" might not be a blissful as it seems from afar.
After it happens, the teacher who hit the jackpot students might discover that at least some clients like that are pretty demanding (even if they think the aren't demanding.) Then the employee/teacher finds they need to put on a good 'happy' face during the entire trip no matter what happens. Also, the student will likely select almost everything they are going do while at the destination. If they like hiking and you like art, you're probably going to be hiking. If the client is a bit rude to waiter... you have to sit there and watch them be rude. If they drink too much, maybe you have to haul them back home.
Meanwhile, this client might represent 1/2 your income and you really don't want to lose them because you wanted to visit the Louvre and they wanted to shop for perfume, make up ad jewelry.... with you there to "help".
The reality of clients taking you on "adventures" might not be a blissful as it seems from afar.
Well Rounded
Well-Known Member
Studio takes 1 or 2 cruises per year. It's true that the teachers are working and they have to put on a happy face when they are with the students. It's also true they are having fun and getting paid to take a trip they might otherwise be able to afford. They make sure they carve out time for themselves each day so that they have some down time. The alternative is they would be in the studio that week, putting on a happy face for most of their waking day. Same goes with some of the comps. Students will take the teachers with them for sightseeing, dinners off site, etc. The instructors I know, see this aspect of teaching dance as a benefit and one of the more enjoyable aspects of their work.