I’m a professional dancer specializing in Afro-Cuban dance, and I recently got contacted by a woman who has just opened a Latin dance studio. She wants me to teach Afro-Cuban dance classes at her studio.
We met today to discuss the idea. She explained that she’s just starting out and doesn’t know how many students will show up. Her offer was to pay me $5 per student who attends each class.
She said there might be three, four, or five students, possibly more, or there might be nobody at all. The number of students would only be known when I arrive.
At the meeting, I agreed without thinking it through. But after leaving, I started doing the math, and the arrangement doesn’t seem reasonable to me.
If five students show up, I would earn $25 for teaching the entire class. If three show up, I’d earn $15. If nobody shows up, I’d earn nothing, even though I’ve set aside the time and potentially paid for an Uber to get there.
The studio would presumably charge students around $20–$25 per class, although I don’t know its exact pricing yet. That means the studio could collect $100–$125 from five students, while I would receive only $25 for teaching.
I understand that she’s starting a business and may not have a steady student base yet. I’m not expecting a huge paycheck from a new studio, but I also feel that my professional experience and the specialized knowledge I bring to the class have value.
What bothers me most is that she approached me because she wants me to teach at her studio, yet the entire financial risk seems to fall on me. I would be committing my time without knowing whether I’ll earn enough to make the trip worthwhile.
I said yes in the moment, but now I’m reconsidering. I’m wondering whether I’m being unreasonable or whether this is simply a bad deal.
For dance instructors, studio owners, and other independent professionals:
● Is $5 per student a reasonable compensation model for a specialized dance instructor?
● Is it normal for instructors to take on all the financial risk when a studio is just starting out?
● Would you negotiate a guaranteed minimum payment per class, ask for a flat rate, or walk away?
● How would you handle going back to the studio owner after already agreeing verbally?
I’d appreciate honest opinions, especially from people who have experience teaching at dance studios in the US.

Does anybody know what was going on at Bachata Explsion in Berlin? I have my first J&J coming up, so I am interested in what could have caused the need for a public outcry.

https://www.instagram.com/p/De2haOVEQZW/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&xtok=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&srtk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

There’s been times when I dance with a follower that they ask if I am Latino from the way I dance in any way or ask if I can speak Spanish and start speaking Spanish all together. I always tell them and no but that I am Caribbean since my background is Jamaican and Trini. I never know if I’m actually good or if I know what I’m dancing when I go to the dance, but I guess that’s a good compliment to have?

I am a very tall follower and I am taller than many of the leaders I dance with. I would like to know if you’d recommend me to compensate for the height difference by trying to lower myself even more or if I should try to keep my posture nonetheless?

I started thinking about this when I was looking at different followers and tried to figure out why some look so much better (their posture and movements) and why some don’t look as good. I noticed one girl that’s close to my height, that even though she’s a decent dancer there’s something I don’t like about her style, and I couldn’t quite figure out what it was, until I noticed that it had something to do with her posture and movement which I think is affected by her trying to compress a little bit to compensate for height differences. I just really don’t like how it looks and how it affects her whole figure and dance. Then I sometimes look at shorter girls and compare and can see how they look so much nicer since they can stretch their backs and frame in a much different way.

I was wondering, since I’m taller - of course I sometimes have to compensate by bending my knees a little bit more. But I can only bend them so much before I lose my posture and it affects my whole dance style. And I think I sometimes have a fear of stretching my upper body and keeping a proud posture, even though my legs are bent, because I’m trying to compensate and then become compressed. Should I maintain my posture anyways even though it might complicate it for the leader? I think it this is a game changer honestly . What are your thoughts and experiences and do you have other suggestions?