What to Consider When Looking for a Dance School

There are many dance studios and dance teachers in this world. If you look in your local yellow pages you will probably find so many different schools that it will become overwhelming. You may not feel like calling each and every school. Start with the ones close by. If you are near a city start with the studios in the city because chances are they are good schools.

While looking for a dance studio you need to decide why you are going to be taking classes. Are you or your child doing this simply for fun? Are you training to be the next big broadway star? Are you looking for a competitive school? Do you want a school that mainly focuses on ballet? Or perhaps hip-hop is more your thing. Ask around if you can, and find out what the different schools in your area are known for.

If you want your child to be a ballerina or you are looking to brush up on your ballet technique a ballet school is for you. If the school has "ballet" in its name then it probably focuses on ballet training. If the school does an annual "Nutcracker" performance and sends its older students off to summer dance programs than it is probably focused on training people to become professional dancers. This type of school is good for a student who really enjoys ballet and wants to develop their skills. These schools may be hard on their students, but they typically produce the students who go on to be professional dancers.

There are other schools that also focus on technique, but in a different way. These are the competitive dance schools, which means they go to competitions throughout the year. There are all sorts of competitions for studios and students can compete in any form of dance. The competitive studios will encourage their dancers to try all types of dance. Dancers will have a ballet foundation but also compete in tap, jazz, lyrical, modern or hip-hop. Students who are looking to challenge themselves and see how they compare to others may like a studio like this. If you or your child do not have a competitive edge they may not like a school like this.

There are also dance studios that do not compete in these competitions, but are still really good schools. They may have teachers who have been professionals that simply want to instill a love of dance in their students. There is less pressure on their students and a focus on enjoying dance. This type of studio is fine for anyone new to dance who is wanting to see what its all about. Younger kids may enjoy a studio that does not pressure them, or adults looking for a way to keep in shape may want a studio like this.

Be careful that you do not choose just any old studio though. In general you want to make sure the studio has good ballet classes. I tried a studio once that never even did barre exercises in its ballet class. I would advise running far away from a school like that. Barre is the basis of ballet and a very important foundation for any other style of dance. If the school offers good technique in ballet it will most likely offer good technique in jazz and tap. How can you tell? Make sure the teacher does a basic warmup. In a ballet class look to see how the teacher corrects feet and arms. Is the teacher concerned about posture and alignment? Did you learn anything from the class? It is often hard for someone who has never taken dance to really tell, so you may have to rely on other people's advice. Is the teacher flexible? What is their background?

After trying a class or two you will probably have an idea of which studio you liked better. You may decide you prefer one teacher over another. Once class may be more fun, or you may learn more in another. Just make sure that once you figure out if you are taking dance for professional training, just for fun, or both you make a decision you are happy with.