“Is This Your Full-Time Job?”
It started as a conversation between teachers in our studio. Someone mentioned, “I got asked again today—‘Is this your full-time job?’” That was all it took. Within moments, everyone was nodding, laughing, or shaking their heads. We’d all heard it before—some just that week, some so often they’d lost count. It made us stop and think. Why does this question come up so much? And why does it still surprise people that dance teaching can be a career in its own right?
At first, it’s easy to brush it off. But underneath the question is an assumption—that teaching dance isn’t something you could do as a full-time profession. That it’s a side hustle, a stepping stone, or a temporary thing before moving on to something else. As if running classes, coaching students, and sharing years of experience couldn’t possibly be enough to make it a real job.
But for many of us, this is our career. We teach, we run studios, we train students, we organise events. And behind the classes people see, there’s all the unseen work—choreographing routines, structuring lesson plans, selecting music, refining technique, and keeping up with industry trends. For those running studios, there’s an even bigger layer: marketing, admin, finances, customer support, and planning for the future. It’s a job that extends far beyond the time spent in the studio.
Yet, dance still sits in this strange space between art and sport—admired in performances, celebrated on Strictly, but rarely recognised in the same professional light as other industries that require technical skill, physical ability, and years of training.
No one asks a personal trainer if coaching is their full-time job. No one questions whether a yoga instructor needs a side income. But dance, despite its huge benefits for both physical and mental health, is often seen as something that couldn’t possibly sustain a person’s livelihood.
And yet, it does. Dance is more than movement—it’s a tool for well-being, confidence, and self-expression. Research shows that dance can be one of the most effective ways to improve mental health, reducing stress and boosting mood even more than other forms of exercise. It builds community, fosters creativity, and changes lives. If so many people turn to dance for these reasons, why is it so hard to imagine that the people teaching it can do it full-time?
That discussion between teachers in our studio made something clear: the industry still isn’t taken seriously enough. Teaching dance is a full-time job. A challenging one. A rewarding one. And one that deserves the same recognition as any other career.
So, the next time you meet a dance teacher, instead of asking if this is their full-time job, ask them what they love about it. Ask them how many lives they’ve impacted. Ask them what it takes to do what they do. Because the answer might just change how you see dance.
– Rosie Gentile