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| a Pro-Am practice |
I know a lot of people who only focus on only one kind of dance, it's good that there would be great attention paid on particular skills and thus higher level of accomplishment will be achieved; however, when you are well accomplished in an area, you should further perfect it as well as explore more possibilities in terms of dancing.
I am most interested in International Latin Dance, but in order to be a fully qualified Ballroom teacher, I also took the Standard Examination. Then upon seeing the Line Dance has a big market here in Hong Kong, I also got some relevant professional qualifications. However, getting those qualifications still could not get me any job. You know, there are too many Latin dance teachers in town and I was just a novice. With my certificates in Physical Fitness Trainer and Kick-Boxing Trainer I started to do Fitness dance, particularly for seniors. And gradually I got a stable income from teaching the retired the fitness dance.
Several months later, I added the Latin Shine, in which everyone danced solo, and I did not limited the genres to International Latin only, but also Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, Mambo, and Rock n Roll. It wasn't easy as I started with only three students, and slowly it grew to four to five, and finally gave me some reasonable income.
Then I started a dance playgroup for Pre-schoolers, like 2 to 4 years, which hopefully would give me a regular income in the morning. This time I aimed to do country line dancing, because of the easy footwork. I had hoped to do some Cha Cha and Swing; however, teaching really young kids was a great challenge, and in the end, I found that I actually needed not prepare much but to rehearse every tiny unexpected incident I class, like, a boy kept crying for the whole hour without a reason; a girl who didn't like dancing but was registered by the mom and became quite disobedient; twins who were quiet and seemed pay no attention... Since the parents attend the playgroup together with the kids, I had to make every effort to keep peace in classroom, try every bit to show my classroom management skill... Anyway, I managed the playgroup to run week by week, and finally got it a regular program too.
I was then having three classes in the mornings, although they were all handsomely paid (in proportion to the hours I spent), that could not possibly support my living (luckily, I didn't really quit my job). But it looked quite promising as things developed with time.
However, if you think that's just it, you are wrong. Let's see the other side of the story (the wrongs and failures) next week.
part 1- The Key is Versatility
part 2- Strive Hard
part 3- Market Yourself as a Dance Coach
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