so you want to teach dance… 

Maybe you’re tired of sitting at a desk, or are dreaming up your next career move. 

Maybe you miss your days of dancing as a kid… or want to give yourself the chance you never had as a kid.

You might wonder:

Is dance teacher training or certification necessary? Or can you just… start teaching? 

The answer will be different for everyone, but I hope this post helps you get a bit clearer on what is best for YOU. 

I hear it all the time: where can I find adult beginner dance classes that don’t suck?

You know, the ones that aren’t filled with fresh-out-of-high-school, eager young dancers who make you feel ancient. The ones that don’t feel cliquey and exclusive and full of regulars who make you feel irregular. The ones that focus less on technique and cardio, and more on fun. And oh, the ones that actually go at a slower paced beginner level - because so many seem to move so fast! Well look no more, because here’s a list just for you…

After months and months of stiffness in my right hip, seeing different kinds of massage therapists and bodywork practitioners, not feeling much difference, and then having super intense moments of extreme acute pain which finally got me into X-rays and MRIs… I learned that I have a “hip labral tear,” which is apparently a common dancer injury.

I wanted to track my process here in case there’s anyone going through this same thing who might find a bit of comfort and direction.

When I got the diagnosis it was a mix of fear and relief…

I was in a threshold moment -

Emerging from a year of a pre-professional ballet trainee program, switching directions into “real college” to study what I thought would be the most direct route to help people -- a B.A. in psychology.

A contact from my old ballet school reached out because they were casting dancers in a photoshoot by a well known artsy photographer whose name I don’t remember because I wasn’t cool enough to know who he was. I went to the audition and got a call a few days later that I had gotten the role! I was invited to be one of the dancers merged together on the floor that would make up the birdseye mosaic view of a giant spider. (Didn’t remember his name, but that image, I’ll never forget.)

“It shoots on August 10th.”

“Ummm…” I muttered, “I’m already committed with a school obligation.”

“You realize this pays $800, right?”

“Uh, yea….”

And that was that. A close of my flip phone and I let go of this gig…