Job Description. Part III- TEACHER

Many dancers transition or even supplement their performing careers teaching. Some teach dance and others become certified in other exercise systems. Going into such great depth with one's own physicality is part of the path to becoming a dancer. That investment is well transferred to helping others with their bodies. My husband, Matthew Keefe, is even more altruistic in his teaching citing that "dance is an excuse to teach the greater lessons of life" ie: discipline, teamwork, focus and determination.

As far as the details and description of the job, Jennifer Hart of Ballet Austin writes, " I was hired as a full-time faculty teacher. I teach mostly in the Academy but I also teach, what we call at Ballet Austin, the community school. Those classes are open to everyone. I also teach the apprentices and trainees to the company in the morning. My day is usually broken up in the fall to where I teach in the morning, have a long afternoon break and then teach again in the evening from roughly 4-8:30. I also teach Saturdays for 5 hours in the morning and am done by 1pm. If the school needs a substitute for a class and I'm available then I teach extra hours.

My other duties include: meetings, which happen several times a month, on topics related to technique, class regulations or, mostly, talks about students and the issues that surround that, whether its technical issues or behavioral; student evaluations; twice-yearly meetings with students; choreography for year-end performances.

Other things I do for my job that are not duties but I consider them important to my job are: watching other teachers teach and class plans."

In the summer there are also intensive programs that offer the opportunity to teach resume building classes, watch videos critically with students and teach many, many hours.

Here's an article covering many details about running a school and teaching in general.

Here's an article, orginally published in Dance Magazine, about hiring dance teachers.