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well, running a business requires a lot of knowledge of accouting, business management and such.

if you have that down pat, the next step is to take dance classes yourself and about a year later, ask if there is a way to learn how to teach.

you want to make sure you learn proper mechanics first before teaching. just so that everything is fine and dandy

also, it may take time, my insturctor started small with a few girls and now she has many many classes and people to love her.

he's been in my area for about 5-6 years and has been dancing for 20.

i hope some of this helps

I have a friend that teaches dance, but instead she goes through a college and teaches her own classes. she has the freedom to have class when she wants it and with however many students, but she doesn't have the complications of paying all of the studio bills and other accounting. its just a thought if you want to get started.

she also takes classes herself whenever she has the opportunity to keep her dancing polished and to improve her routines. there is always something you can learn.

along those lines, all of the belly dance instructors in our town go to each others classes and work together. It helps keep routines fresh and new.

lastly my teacher makes a little extra money by making videos of her routines and selling them. this also helps get her name around.

I hope some of this helps. I think its best just to start slow. get confident in your skills, take lots of classes, teach your own classes, and then start your buisness. and keep learning new things along the way.

As a bellydancer of 10 years, I gotta step in and say that you should never start teaching after only a year of learning the dance yourself. There is so much that a dancer with even two years of experience under her belt just doesn't know, yet. If you want to teach, take as many lessons from as many different teachers as you can, go to workshops, learn to drum(trust me, this helps immensely), have more than just moderate understanding of zill playing, have at least some basic knowledge of how to warm up/cool down a class to avoid injury, know what muscles you're using, and be prepared to answer questions about the dance and its country of origin. And get your face out there in the community by dancing every chance you get. This will make you a better dancer, and eventually, people will start asking you if you give lessons. If a stranger isn't asking you where you teach, chances are that you aren't grounded in the dance enough to start taking on students.

I've known a few dancers in my time who started teaching, and even after three years of learning themselves, couldn't keep students in their classrooms because of lack of professionalism and a basic understanding of the dance. If you think you know what there is to know, and that people could really benefit by learning from you, you're probably wrong.

Also, it's incredibly easy to get burned out from teaching. It happens to just about every professional dancer, and I can guarantee that at some point, you're just going to want to take a break and get away from it. If you're still young, you won't get the respect you deserve. Students will challenge your authority, and will push you to prove your ability to them. You get very little money - any professional teacher will tell you that it's a hand-to-mouth existence - and things could end at any time. Domba, of Arizona, had a studio for years that prospered. Domba was(and still is) famous, they've traveled around the world, and had students come from all over to learn from them. But the studio shut down a few years ago because eventually, people stopped coming. Rachel Brice is incredibly popular now, but it took her more than a decade to get there, and in a few years, her popularity will have taken a downturn. Urban Tribal was incredibly popular, as well, and now, they're almost obsolete. I'm not trying to dissuade you from your dreams, but make sure that if your head is in the clouds, your feet are still firmly rooted to the earth. And if after a few years, you still want to teach, then get all the knowledge you need to get, learn how to deal with pushy students (because you will get them), ask other teachers for advice, and offer to be a teacher's aid in other bellydance classes. And don't undercut.

And, don't forget to check out this page. And this one. It will be immensely helpful, I promise.

I will say that even dancers who have been doing this their entire life don't know everything. Some are casual dancers and don't take the time to learn the anatomy of dance. Study hard and pay close attention to what you are doing with your own body before you can teach it to others. Start with the basics.

thats true. But also one's who know how to dance aren't good teachers.

sometimes they can't find ways to explain. some people are different and learn different.

My teacher goes through several terminology and easy to remember moves like hip circles instead of Umi.