Running a Successful Dance Studio

Facility

Your facility is your business. If you make it comfortable then it becomes warm and inviting and will make people want to be there. There are a few basics that you should consider. Most other things are purely cosmetic.

Waiting Room / Reception
Studio
Location, Location, Location
Visibility

Waiting Room / Reception
You may not think this is important but it sets the mood when someone first enters your building. It shouldn’t be too extravagant otherwise people think you’re making too much money. It should be professional, but comfortable. Clean and tidy always.

If you’re a studio that caters more towards younger children, use brighter colors and hang posters showing kids having fun dancing and smiling. If you’re more serious then more sophisticated color schemes with stylish dance pictures should be your theme.

Keep waiting parents occupied by putting photographs of your recitals in a display or run videos from recitals. A coffee table with magazines is always a good idea and even providing some basic refreshments can go a long way to keeping parents of young children enrolled in your dance programs. If there's a Starbucks right next door then maybe you don't need to go to too much trouble.

Studio
Comfortable temperatures, adequate lighting, mirrors and ballet bars go without saying, but one of the most important and most expensive investments should be in your studio floors. Floating or sprung floors protect dancers and help to prevent injuries.

Sound systems and insulation between different rooms is also important but you don’t need to blow your whole budget on the latest and greatest. CD players with speed control are a big bonus as they let you slow down your music to practice and demonstrate moves in slow motion before ramping up to full speed.

Location, Location, Location
It's an old saying but paying extra rent to have a dance studio that's on a main street near a large school with ample parking will pay for itself very quickly.

If people can easily see the studio while driving by, it gets into their subconscious and if they ever need a dance studio or one of their friends asks them if they know of a good dance studio.......well, you know what they're going to think of.

As an added attraction, if your studio is close to other big name stores or coffee shops then that gives parents an excuse to sign their children up for classes.

Visibility
Hand in hand with location goes visibility. Your business should be easily recognizeable in a couple of seconds when people are driving by. Use a simple logo or simplify your logo for the front awning. Add your phone number and web site address so that if you're closed, people can still get in touch.