How to go pro?

[flyingpoet]

I'm interested in going pro in the next couple years. I've been dancing competitively as an amateur for almost two years now and am starting to think about persuing ballroom as a career. As I'll be graduating from college in a year I have a little time to think about this. My partner and I are both interested in training and competing professionally in the coming years. I was wondering if I could get some advice on what everyone feels the best way to enter the profession is. I was wondering what the average salary is for a begining instructor with experience competively through the silver/gold sylabii. I'm not sure whether or not it would be enough to live on so would you recomend a second job teaching in a school and then training and teaching ballroom part-time? Anyway if you have more questions feel free to ask, I'll open it up to your opinions now!

 

[Chris Stratton]

Find a pro willing to level with you, sit down, and talk through the issues.

Amongst them will be very low pay if you work as an entry-level employee, so try to structure your switch in such a way that you skip that stage - hold off on depending on teaching for your income until you have the experience and recognition to get dedicated students, and can set your own reasonable rates, but put a fair fraction of the money in your own pocket - don't get yourself dependent on a situation where you have uncomitted students being charged a small fortune by an employer who then only pays you a trivial amount.

Consider that teaching three or four really good lessons a week (the sort where both you and the student learn from the experience) around another job might promote your development more than wearing yourself out teaching two dozen halfhearted lessons in order to eat.

You also have a new option: if you study for and take the ISTD professional exam before teaching for pay, you can remain USA Dance (but not NDCA) elgible for your own competition efforts... controversial, but it's in the rulebook so it's an option now.

 

[saludas]

I'm interested in going pro in the next couple years. I've been dancing competitively as an amateur for almost two years now and am starting to think about persuing ballroom as a career. As I'll be graduating from college in a year I have a little time to think about this. My partner and I are both interested in training and competing professionally in the coming years. I was wondering if I could get some advice on what everyone feels the best way to enter the profession is. I was wondering what the average salary is for a begining instructor with experience competively through the silver/gold sylabii. I'm not sure whether or not it would be enough to live on so would you recomend a second job teaching in a school and then training and teaching ballroom part-time? Anyway if you have more questions feel free to ask, I'll open it up to your opinions now!

Pardon my bluntness, but you are not experienced thru silver/gold syllabi as a teacher. And, if you've only been dancing 2 years, you are at the beginning, not that far through syllabus. Entering a syllabus level comp, and even winning, does not give you much training as a teacher, tho it gives you a glimpse of what dancing is like. And, honestly, silver/gold in College dancing is really advanced bronze in the real world.

Since you have no training as a teacher, you'd probably get the wedding couple / beginning social dancer typs, for a few years, at least until you got your teaching certification.

Do you really think you can dance competitively at a pro level now or in the next few years? You might consider staying amateur until you get good enough to be competitive. That means making cuts in Championship.

 

[flyingpoet]

I realize what you're saying about collegiate levels being different than instruction and dancing professionally. Also, I'm not currently gold level syllabus, i'm trying to master all of the technique i can and learning moves secondary. So right now I'm dancing at a silver level having placed out of bronze. I don't think I'm near dancing professionally now nor do I think i will be within the next year but this is my goal that I will be working towards during all of my free time. I'm planning on getting certified istd through bronze prior to taking an position as an instructor. I guess my main questions are how much do different teachers make at like a franchise or independant studio? What would you recomend I do in terms of making money in the begining through a second job? And just fyi my goal in the end is to open up my own independant studio. Thanks for the advise so far

 

[fascination]

Find a pro willing to level with you, sit down, and talk through the issues.

Amongst them will be very low pay if you work as an entry-level employee, so try to structure your switch in such a way that you skip that stage - hold off on depending on teaching for your income until you have the experience and recognition to get dedicated students, and can set your own reasonable rates, but put a fair fraction of the money in your own pocket - don't get yourself dependent on a situation where you have uncomitted students being charged a small fortune by an employer who then only pays you a trivial amount.

Consider that teaching three or four really good lessons a week (the sort where both you and the student learn from the experience) around another job might promote your development more than wearing yourself out teaching two dozen halfhearted lessons in order to eat.

You also have a new option: if you study for and take the ISTD professional exam before teaching for pay, you can remain USA Dance (but not NDCA) elgible for your own competition efforts... controversial, but it's in the rulebook so it's an option now.

This is AWESOME advice and one would be wise to take it....I know several instructors who would have given anything for that kind of advice when it mattered the most :?

 

[DancingMommy]

I'm interested in going pro in the next couple years. I've been dancing competitively as an amateur for almost two years now and am starting to think about persuing ballroom as a career. As I'll be graduating from college in a year I have a little time to think about this. My partner and I are both interested in training and competing professionally in the coming years. I was wondering if I could get some advice on what everyone feels the best way to enter the profession is. I was wondering what the average salary is for a begining instructor with experience competively through the silver/gold sylabii. I'm not sure whether or not it would be enough to live on so would you recomend a second job teaching in a school and then training and teaching ballroom part-time? Anyway if you have more questions feel free to ask, I'll open it up to your opinions now!

Having BTDT (albeit briefly), unless you are teaching independently, you will not make much as instructors. And benefits? Insurance? 401(K)? Nah. You most likely won't *be* salaried. You'll be paid based on the hours you are actually teaching (floor hours).

As my coach puts it, you do it because you love it, not because you want to make a living. I daresay that the only peple making a living wage are those that are top traveling coaches or those that own their own studios.

 

[Porfirio Landeros]

If your goal is to compete professionally, this means that you will need to get lots of dance training for yourself. You do not have to be a dance teacher to get dance training. All the same coaches will coach you whether you are Pro or Amateur. I would chime in with the advice of Chris and say you should try to get a job out of college (possibly related to your degree ) and then train in dance around your work schedule. Also, attend NDCA competitions and get an idea of the level of dancing out there and find the style that inspires you the most. Then, you can be informed before you dive in full force. You may also find that the community you live in may not be the best for your training, so you will probably want to travel to a few out-of-town competitions and studios to see what else is out there.

Good Luck.

 

[Chris Stratton]

One additional comment: in addition to coordinating with your partner so you are both elgible for the same division, you also really want to have compatible work schedules. If one is working a day job but the other is teaching dance students, which is to say working evenings, you'll have very little overlapping available time to practice in.