Renting studio space vs owing a dance studio

[zahra]

Would appreciate some discussion on renting studio space vs.
owing a dance studio.

I am planning to teach some dance classes (not belly dance) in the near
future.

I am interested to hear about how you located your dance space.
What about it important to you????? Location, size of studio, parking, etc.

I would love to hear from dancers who started in a rented studio space,
but later expanded to owning their own studio.

On the business side, how do you attract new students to your classes?
What incentives do you provide to increase student retention???????

Thanks so much for your thoughts and advice!

 

[Mariesaffron]

Zahra, haveing a sewing business help me to get some students, the sewing shop was in my own house, I closed the sewing business at 5: pm and opened the Dance studio at 6: 30 twice a week, you have to buy insurrance either way, provide a parking place for your students, and provide a good safe eviroment, and remember, neighbors can complaing if the music is to loud, even in comercial spaces it had happens, tell your students to arrive in a very modest attire, all of this apply if you teach in your own house, own the studio, or rent it;

 

[Mariesaffron]

Zahra, haveing a sewing business help me to get some students, the sewing shop was in my own house, I closed the sewing business at 5: pm and opened the Dance studio at 6: 30 twice a week, you have to buy insurrance either way, provide a parking place for your students, and provide a good safe eviroment, and remember, neighbors can complaing if the music is to loud, even in comercial spaces it had happens, tell your students to arrive in a very modest attire, all of this apply if you teach in your own house, own the studio, or rent it;

shopping centers are exelent to look for space to rent, other place I will strongly recomend is Universitys the have a lot of space and very apropiate for the purpose, you have to contact the Department of continuing Education, good look. Marie

 

[zahra]

Thank you so much for the reply, Mariesaffron~good suggestions!!!!!!

I'll keep window shopping

 

[Amulya]

It totally depends, I used to have my own space, it is very handy because you don't spend time traveling. Own space can be different things, it could be a converted garage (the cheapest way to go) to a very professional studio (very expensive way to go, you'll probably need to rent it out to others as well to make it work). But you have down sides on that too. You have to do your own advertising and that becomes very expensive (of course you do the same when you rent). There is another option, and that is an option I also like a lot: being an employee and being paid an hourly rate. You just have to turn up and teach, and they do the rest. So you have many options to go for.
There are very few belly dancers who really bought a studio and some who did couldn't keep the studio, so I would really really think on that if you want to do it. But if you could convert your garage or another space at home, you could give it a go and if it goes well, you can always think of buying a bigger studio.

 

[Recnadocir]

I've rented studio space for years, though primarily for rehearsals. Most of the teaching I've done has been as an employee in an already existing studio.

In LA, at least, some studios won't rent to you if you are wanting to give classes- they don't want you to be competing with their staff instructors. The studios that do rent for classes, charge $30 an hour and up.

Lucky for me, my new gig will involve all the choreographing I can handle, including the Wizard of Oz, which I'm very excited about. And not only do I not have to rent the space, but I'll be getting paid to choreograph, in addition to my teaching hours.

But good luck. What are the rents in your area? I would certainly say, build your following, before you think about opening your own studio, and if you do open your own studio, diversify- offer tap, jazz, ballet, musical theater even, because then you will get parents to sign up their kids. Kids classes are always the bread and butter of private studios, except in a few large urban areas with strong arts or commercial dance communities- Hollywood, San Francisco, and Berkeley all have private dance studios with a higher ratio of adult classes to kids classes, but they are the exception, not the norm.