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Professional business practice for dance studios

by originally published on in Australian guidelines for teaching dance

In This Article

Follow statutory and legal requirements

  • Register your business name.
  • Get insurances including public liability cover, professional indemnity, personal, property and workers compensation.
  • Use staff and business contracts.
  • Pay fair wages (and on time), observe Fair Work conditions, manage income and/or business tax, group tax and superannuation. Attach a code of ethics and expected business behaviours to staff contracts, so everyone is clear about how you want the business to work.
  • Observe music and choreographic copyright and other intellectual property and licensing fees.
  • Ensure your staff have the relevant state or territory Working with Children Check and know the local mandatory reporting requirements. Plan for a child safe environment.

Follow the code of ethics for dance teachers

Talk to staff, parents and participants in a professional and accountable manner

Offer problem-solving strategies for conflict resolution

  • Use suggested methods for conflict resolution in the dance teaching environment.
  • Recognise a problem, discuss the issues and suggest problem-solving strategies.
  • If needed, employ a mediator.

Observe privacy and intellectual property laws

  • Follow Australian privacy laws and principles
  • Keep parent-teacher interviews private
  • Get written permission to release reports, examination results or other information
  • Get written permission from students or parents/carers to use photographs or recordings (notice boards, publications, web pages, etc.)
  • Have clear contracts when commissioning choreography.
  • Be aware of protocols around cultural dance forms.
  • Include artistic contributors in programs, documents, promotional digital and printed material

Publicity and advertising

Advertise your services and achievements accurately

  • Only use promotional material that contains factual statements which you can verify.
  • Don’t mislead with or exaggerate your achievements.
  • Avoid misleading terms such as ‘Principal Instructor’ when there is only one instructor.

Business or teaching names

  • Don’t choose business or teaching names which are misleading or which may conflict with existing dance studios, organisations, businesses or companies
  • Avoid names which may imply representation or accreditation which cannot be supported by funding or status (e.g. by including a city name, ‘Australian….’ or ‘National….)

Show professional integrity

  • Don’t criticise or make comparisons with other studios/schools.
  • Give a fair and balanced assessment of the benefits of other dance styles based on factual information.
  • Be impartial and honest towards examiners and competition judges.
  • If you are an examiner or competition judge, give an unbiased and honest assessment.
  • Make sure your resume accurately presents experience, training and academic credentials.
  • Avoid using ethnicity to suggest you have experience or knowledge.

Use professional standards to attract new students

  • Professional also means understanding the pedagogy of teaching. An understanding of dance technique does not guarantee a supportive teacher.
  • Don’t ‘poach’ students from other schools or a previous employer.
  • Avoid, scheduling events/performances at the same time as other institutions or studios.
  • If you are a competition judge or examiner, don’t use your position to entice students to join your school/studio.