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Breaking into teaching: tips to land part-time teaching gigs.

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As professional dancers, we know all too well the long breaks between gigs (and paychecks). While it may seem like waiting tables is the only way to pad your purse, teaching can be the perfect temp, job, offering cash, flexibility, and the possibility of permanence. It s also a great way to put all your years of dance experience to use.

But keep in mind there is a difference between taking on a teaching gig--which can fill the holes in your schedule and your bank account--and the vocation of being a teacher, which carries with it the responsibility of training bodies, minds, and spirits. (Listings start on this page for opportunities to train yourself to be a full-time teacher.)

I began teaching when a fellow dancer asked me to sub for him at a school that teaches ballet, modern, and tap in Brooklyn. The class went off without a hitch, and it became a regular gig. Since then I have taught in outreach, public and after-school programs, universities, dance festivals, and institutions like The Ailey School. I have taught in churches with carpets, cafeterias, gyms, ballrooms, classrooms, theaters, and dance studios. I have done it pick-up, part-time, full-time, and privates, domestic and international. If you want to teach, the questions are: How do you find the work? And how do you prepare for it?

ASSESS YOUR ASSETS

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