Most people I speak to are really surprised when I tell them my occupation.
'You're a dance teacher? I would never have thought that. What style of dance do you teach?'
To which I always come back with, ' mainly ballet but I also teach other styles like tap, theatre craft and modern jazz.
I enjoy talking about my job and could talk about it for hours, so I will tell you a bit about it.
Teaching dance is all for the love of it. You can not be a dance teacher and want to be rich or have lots of money to buy a house or a car of your dreams, it's not going to happen. What will happen is, you will have money to keep you afloat and you have to find other ways and places to teach to get more money to survive on. It also helps when you have a boyfriend or husband who has a full time job, but I don't have that so no luck there.
The reason I stay with this job is because every day I teach a class of girls who are just as passionate about dance as I am, and that reminds me why I kept going year in and year out. It was a for the escape from whatever was happening in the real world. I could come to dancing for a few hours and forget all about it. Of course most styles of dance you either experience pain whilst dancing or the day after but I enjoyed the regular muscle ache, it meant I had worked hard. I enjoy giving the girls I teach the experience I had at dancing and hopefully when they get to my age they will look back at it as one of their favorite things to do as a child.
Teaching dance does come with a downside. Some people are all enthusiastic and think it's great that I am working in a job I really enjoy. Others are not so enthusiastic.
The question which is really a bug bare to me is, 'so do you have another job to go along side it?'
No I do not, I barely have time to find another job, let alone do it, and if I did have time my lessons would be rubbish for numerous reasons.
The trouble with being a dance teacher is, people hear about how many hours you teach a week and what times your lessons are and wonder, well what does she do all day? Sit around at home watching television? Wrong! The life of a full time dance teacher has a lot more to it than that.
I teach nineteen hours a week, which to most people working nineteen hours a week seems a breeze. The other bits that go along side the actual teaching is what adds up the hours.
I am currently studying to take my Intermediate Ballet exam before I take my Associate Ballet exam which makes me a full qualified ballet teacher. (Yes, I am only qualified in teaching freestyle but the ballet exam takes a lot more time than a small freestyle exam will.) However, this takes up a lot of hours a week.
Along with the principle of the school, I also have to make up all the ballet dances for each grade, as well as the modern jazz dances and learn everything I have to teach the pupils of the school so I don't stand there looking like I don't know what I'm talking about. Surprisingly not everything is there for us to just go in and teach. And that's only in exam year.
In show year it is a lot busier. We have to choreograph the whole show, not only doing one dance for each song, we make different groups do different dances in each song. Plus there's usually a story which we have to fit together. We look at costumes, props, set designs and have to do all the admin which goes along side it.
Ok so some days I have to find bits to do to keep myself from sitting around doing nothing all day, but I work well into the evening of most weekdays teaching.
Sometimes I get tired of the question, 'what do you do all day?' and really go off on one on all of the things I have to organise and choreograph. Soon after I have finished they understand how much work goes in to it.
I have recently been asked to teach cheerleading at a local primary school which is great except for the fact I have never taught cheerleading. The closest I have been to it, is helping teach cheerleading once at the dance school. Now, I wouldn't mind if the primary school teacher who had spoken to me had said, no problem you can do another style of dance if you like. But what she really said was, 'you will be fine, the girls are lovely and they won't cause you any problems.' Hello, I've just told you I have never taught the style you are asking for and you have brushed it off as if it's nothing. How on earth do you know that I'm not going to walk in and produce something horrific? Oh right, that's because you think all styles of dance are the same and so easy to teach. I can tell you now, that's complete lies.
However I am still going in there because it's more money in my day which I can add to. I will just have to research into it and try my best to give the lesson I would want to be given.
I hope this has given you an insight into my work life and probably the work life of most full time dance teachers.
If you plan on becoming a dance teacher yourself it will be the most rewarding job you will have but don't expect to get rich from it.
If you come across and dance teacher, before you brush them off for having an easy job which anyone could do, take a minute to think how many hours at work you do and how many of those hours you get paid for. Then think about my ten hour day of which I only get paid for doing four hours. Ask yourself, do you love your job enough to be able to sacrifice that much for it? Instead of berating them for not having a 'proper job', enthuse about the job they have. They will love you for it.
Betsie
Thank you for reading.
