How much do Dance Teachers really get paid?

Tangotime you should open up a new school and farm out some dance-forum talent.

Most dance teachers find that they work a fulltime job and teach part time as they can't always live off teaching.
Future teaching depends on how good and popular you are as a coach, the standard which you can produce from students, reputation etc. Ususally the top coaches have done significantly well in their own competitive career, produced some good couples with good results, have a reputation for producing the goods and being decent and honest. But it takes a long time to get there and it isn't easy. Some make it and others don't.

Meow-- That depends largely, on the employer. As I stated, chain schools ( not all ) seldom take on part time teachers, trained or otherwise .

So-- if they do employ you, it is because they need your services. They will not take on staff that cannot be gainfully employed ( no benefit to either party )

Small towns sometimes do work on a different basis , and forced, thru lack of business, to operate differently . It all depends on where you live, but ladies ,traditionally ,do not teach as much as their male counterparts .That could work out to be different in some small english towns ( lots of kids take )

The english schools are largely mom and pop operations and operate on a different standard than the Amer. system .

Way back when-- most u.k. teachers were part time ( and I mean the owners ) and were usually booked all day on Sat and Sun. ( still the case in many areas ) .
Also, they , with the obvious exceptions , were not champions at the level you might imagine . Many , not at all . were just well trained ex formation and or social dancers .

That is still the case in todays market .

Me--- would be nice gig-- not in a position to put that in place .

At the studio I work at it varies. We have different levels of teachers, depending on your level of expertise and how many lessons you've taught, how many hours of training you have completed, etc. The pay isn't much at all. Let just say for the privates I teach that run about $75 a pop I get less than 30% of that. I don't do it for the money. I do it because it makes me happy.

Here, most studio's are businesses and do take on fulltime and parttime staff. Some top dancers teach (though uncertified) and get students because of who they are, others are top dancers with accreditation teach fulltime/parttime. Others are past top dancers who have taught for many years and produced very good couples (results). We don't really have 'mom and pop' owned studio's and our's is closed on Sundays. We don't have many chain schools - I can only think of one in Victoria. And the studio's here are very competitive.

so is it more like the English model - where you really have to join a single studio and dance/compete from that base? Here its very open, there is no link between the competitions and the studios - other than a financial one.

Meow-- I thought the A / M studio still had a branch in Sydney ?-- at one point in time- there were 3 d/under .Will have to check their web site

There is one in Sydney, its been there for multi yrs .

No, competitions and studios are not linked but they are very protective of their couples. They don't want to lose a couple to another studio.
The politics is difficult as most adjudicators are teachers at studios - one has to assume that they are judging the dancing and not which studio that couple is from. You have to remember that this is not a large country so the industry has limited resources. A studio could have 3 judges at a comp and another studio only one - both studios have couples competing. Competitors are best to work hard and be the very best so that their 'winning' an event cannot be denied through politics.

I was referring to Victoria. Sydney is in NSW so you may be correct with what is available there.

2 A/M's in Sydney, 2 A/M's in Melbourne, 1 AM in Adelaide, and I know there was 1 in Brisbane, but I think it closed. Also, at least 1 FA in Sydney.

What do you mean by A/M's. The only chain school in Melbourne that I know of is Marshere. Which is the other?

Arthur Murray's franchised dance studios.
Fred Astaire's franchised dance studios.

Actually, looks like 3 in Melbourne now, in Knox, City, and Bayside, going by http://www.arthurmurrayvic.com.au/ . Not sure how much they pay the instructors, but I don't think it's very much at all, unfortunately. Instructors do have some perks though, and some are going to Florence, Italy, to an A/M 'competition' there. A trip like that is extremely rare though...

I stand corrected. AM has 3 studios in Vic but FA isn't listed in either the Aust Dance Review or the phone book. Maybe they aren't in Vic anymore. But, honestly, I have been attending major (and minor) comps for years and had never heard of Arthur Murray studios. Are they under the ADS? If not, that could be why. Only do a couple of FATD comps like Crown and Canberra.

This is exactly what I would tell someone that was thinking of getting into real estate here in Las Vegas. Go to school, get your license and then sign on with a large, chain company like Century 21 (my old company) or Re\Max or the like. Work for them for a couple of years, getting the free training they provide and learn how to work transactions and such.

Then .... get the hell out of there! Find a small local company that won`t rape your commission checks. The same could be said for a beginning dance teacher. Start with a chain and get the training, then move on.

In NYC, its common for private lessons to range from $50 - $100 per hour.

Eva