What does a dance teacher do?
Dance Teachers are responsible for leading dance classes to teach individuals or groups of people various dancing techniques. Dance Teachers are required to help their students improve their dancing skills by participating in amateur or professional dance competitions or performing in social events such as high school reunions. They must teach one or more dance genres such as ballet, ballroom, or hip hop. They must also be physically fit and should possess a good sense of quality music.
Dance teacher responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real dance teacher resumes:
- Lead sports activities and work with younger kids as they create different craft projects.
- Lead debates with advance students on topics including globalization, economics, and political history.
- Choreograph dance pieces for the children and organize performance details (costumes, rehearsals, parent communication) for company concerts.
- Create and run up-to-date and relevant drills.
- Credit in first aid and CPR training.
- Plan various student activities and run sports programs.
- Fill in teaching positions when need (ballet, jazz, lyrical, pointe, and tap )
- Help kids gain strength, balance, and coordination navigating the beams and obstacle course, and other gymnastic skills.
- Assist with creating an event planning budget per season, including shopping and ordering costumes, supplies, props, etc.
- Focuse on teaching fundamental dance steps and positions, while incorporating improvisational and choreographic elements.
- Receive and implement ongoing feedback and support from an outstanding educational leadership team and faculty.
- Administrate dance classes to disadvantage adolescents participating in after-school programs design to inspire youth to pursue creative arts
- Collaborate on fractal music create integrating mathematics, technology, and music to compose fractal pattern music.
- Employ a variety of student-own strategies and develop interactive projects to facilitate engagement and a deeper understanding of mathematics concepts.
- Provide students with private classes, teach them intermediate and advance courses of salsa dancing when need and/or request.
Dance teacher skills and personality traits
We calculated that 17% of Dance Teachers are proficient in Hip Hop Dance, Role Model, and Front Desk. They’re also known for soft skills such as Speaking skills, Writing skills, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Dance Teachers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Hip Hop Dance, 17%
Choreograph hip hop dance routines -Instruct adult and adolescent groups -Provide personal instructional techniques -General administrative duties
- Role Model, 8%
Serve as a positive role model and work to create a love of dance and movement in each child.
- Front Desk, 6%
Managed front desk by registering students, taking payments, logging them into the system, and answering questions.
- Musical Theater, 6%
Developed and taught musical theater, nutrition, and conditioning classes.
- Dance Program, 5%
Developed a highly-attended after-school dance program.
- Dance Studio, 5%
Choreograph dance studio recital and competition numbers.
Most dance teachers use their skills in "hip hop dance," "role model," and "front desk" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential dance teacher responsibilities here:
Speaking skills. The most essential soft skill for a dance teacher to carry out their responsibilities is speaking skills. This skill is important for the role because "postsecondary teachers need good communication skills to present lectures and provide feedback to students." Additionally, a dance teacher resume shows how their duties depend on speaking skills: "presented six informal dance performances featuring students performers as entertainment for the community based on themes from various world cultures"
Writing skills. Another essential skill to perform dance teacher duties is writing skills. Dance teachers responsibilities require that "postsecondary teachers need strong writing ability to publish original research and analysis." Dance teachers also use writing skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "instruct students in english language arts including, writing, reading, comprehension, speaking, listening, and understanding. "
Interpersonal skills. This is an important skill for dance teachers to perform their duties. For an example of how dance teacher responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "postsecondary teachers need to work well with others for tasks such as instructing students and serving on committees." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a dance teacher: "helped me develop the appropriate leadership skills and interpersonal skills necessary for working kids. ".
The three companies that hire the most dance teachers are:
- Fred Astaire Dance Studios3 dance teachers jobs
- Aspire Public Schools2 dance teachers jobs
- Berkeley High School2 dance teachers jobs
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Compare different dance teachers
Dance teacher vs. First aid instructor
First aid instructors teach people skills such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid for poisoning, choking, and even burning. Instructors may teach both adults and children. They teach you ways to recognize emergency situations, respond with great caution, and wear protective gear. Instructors also inform students how to transfer patients to safety, treat minor injuries, and what to do if they need additional assistance.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a dance teacher are more likely to require skills like "hip hop dance," "role model," "front desk," and "musical theater." On the other hand, a job as a first aid instructor requires skills like "customer service," "powerpoint," "course materials," and "cpr aid/aed." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
The education levels that first aid instructors earn slightly differ from dance teachers. In particular, first aid instructors are 4.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a dance teacher. Additionally, they're 1.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Dance teacher vs. Riding instructor
A field instructor supervises students and makes arrangements for their employability after. They help students prepare in their respective field by designing a consistent and progressive map of responsibility, from simple to more complex ones, which enable them to gradually cope and have a smooth transition while ensuring their health and safety. Field instructors should prepare themselves to be the role model of competence for their students.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, dance teacher responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "hip hop dance," "role model," "front desk," and "musical theater." Meanwhile, a riding instructor has duties that require skills in areas such as "cpr," "emergency situations," "group lessons," and "ran." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Riding instructors tend to reach similar levels of education than dance teachers. In fact, they're 2.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for dance teachers in the next 3-5 years?
John Porter Ph.D.
Executive Director and Online Instructor, AGWA - American Grant Writers' Association, Inc.
The technology is that younger, individual writers may like to stay up on the most recent software and communication methods. Whereas funders, private, corporate, and government, tend not to keep up as fast and have older software versions. This means that the newest and glitziest software may not be compatible with the funder's software when submitting grant proposals and applications.
Dance teacher vs. Field instructor
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, dance teachers are more likely to have skills like "hip hop dance," "front desk," "musical theater," and "dance program." But a field instructor is more likely to have skills like "social work," "field training," "cpr," and "math."
Field instructors earn the best pay in the education industry, where they command an average salary of $60,108. Dance teachers earn the highest pay from the hospitality industry, with an average salary of $51,036.When it comes to education, field instructors tend to earn higher degree levels compared to dance teachers. In fact, they're 15.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Dance teacher vs. Golf instructor
Even though a few skill sets overlap between dance teachers and golf instructors, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a dance teacher might have more use for skills like "hip hop dance," "front desk," "musical theater," and "dance program." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of golf instructors require skills like "group lessons," "pro shop," "group clinics," and "video analysis. "
In general, golf instructors hold similar degree levels compared to dance teachers. Golf instructors are 2.8% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of dance teacher
Updated January 8, 2025
