Thread: taking a break

have any of you that have quite large student basis (talking 150-200 students, 8 or more weekly classes), ever decided to take a term of. to shut down your school for one term cause you want to go and do other stuff.

i'm not sure if i even want to, it's just a thought that passed my head and want to think about the practicalities.

Artemisia

I'd be terrified to do that, actually.

In my case, I'd have to have:
1) Enough money to live on for the whole term
2) Enough money to pay 6 months of studio rent and expenses for the term
3) Enough money to start over from scratch when I returned, advertising to attract new students to replace the ones that wouldn't return, and functioning with the studio at half or less of breakeven for a while until I got it rebuilt.

I don't think it would work for me. I'm barely breaking even as it is, and taking a week off for vacation or to go to a workshop is a huge problem.

artemisia, do you have anyone teaching for you? is it possible to have someone run classes for you while you break?

a dancer who is pregnant hired 2 teachers to teach her classes while she takes a break. she doesn't have a school but has been teaching out of 2 locations consistently for the last 4 or so years.

you could reduce your class load and have someone else teach for you. i don't think it would be too wise to shut down for a break during the time when regular classes would run.

i teach 4 sessions a year:

Mid september to early December
Mid January to early April
Mid May to end of June
Mid July to Mid August

It's busy but does allow for good chunks of breaktime for me and the students, it also makes them more excited to come back.

in between the quote

Originally Posted by Lauren_

I'd be terrified to do that, actually.

In my case, I'd have to have:
1) Enough money to live on for the whole term

not an issue, i have a job as well that pays enough. i'd miss the extra, but not terribly

2) Enough money to pay 6 months of studio rent and expenses for the term

not an issue either, i rent by the hour and can cancel, althoug it might loose me my step on the ladder when it comes to choosing the best hours at the venue

3) Enough money to start over from scratch when I returned, advertising to attract new students to replace the ones that wouldn't return, and functioning with the studio at half or less of breakeven for a while until I got it rebuilt.

not a problem either, got more students than i need to really. yes, i will loose some though,

my negatives are more; i hate letting my intermediate/advanced students down

yes, i have several teachers teaching for me, i dont think they can or want to take on more classes though... and frankly, if the classes are going ahead (even with me not teaching any of them) i'll still feel responsible, an well, it's not so much the teaching i crave to have the break from, but everything else, the questions of students, dealing with enrollments etc etc, and i'd still have all of that on my hands then.

what i really need is some help, i know, so i can concentrate on teaching, dancing. i'm fed up with all the admin more than anything;

Originally Posted by anyadance

artemisia, do you have anyone teaching for you? is it possible to have someone run classes for you while you break?
.
you could reduce your class load and have someone else teach for you. i don't think it would be too wise to shut down for a break during the time when regular classes would run.

Why don't you hire an assistant to take care of all the admin stuff for you?

Hey sweetie!
Speaking from personal experience, if you feel like it's starting to be more pain than pleasure, you need to take a quick break from teaching and recharge your batteries. It seems like you don't have too much to risk by doing this and I think your students would benefit from a refreshed teacher (if that's what you think you need). Sometimes we just need other people to let us know that it's okay to do :)
And, I agree that hiring an assistant would be a good plan :)

easier said than done; the short answer; belgian labour law. hiring someone for just a few hours a week is very very hard.

Originally Posted by miriamgamal

Why don't you hire an assistant to take care of all the admin stuff for you?

Hmm... I see where that could be tough. What about bartering with a trusted student? They could take care of your admin work and in lieu of traditional payment, get discounted or free classes.

My teacher used to close our school for a month in mid-winter, and about six weeks to two months in summer. (Summer for us being "the holiday season", so people are often away/busy/both for the whole of December and January). She said she absolutely HAD to replenish and renew herself during those times. She still took gigs but no teaching.

She also did the barter with trusted student thing quite a lot and it worked really well for her. Now that the school is a non-profit we can't do that sort of thing as much, but we're also all sharing the load a great deal more too.

i've done that, and well, while i'm very gratefull to the students that have helped out this way, it just isnt enough, not consistent enough; etc,

Originally Posted by miriamgamal

Hmm... I see where that could be tough. What about bartering with a trusted student? They could take care of your admin work and in lieu of traditional payment, get discounted or free classes.

in summer i reduce the classes, there's only ONE evening of class per week and most of those are guest instructors. but, yes, that's an idea, maybe i need to plan a slightly longer winter break this year.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

My teacher used to close our school for a month in mid-winter, and about six weeks to two months in summer. (Summer for us being "the holiday season", so people are often away/busy/both for the whole of December and January). She said she absolutely HAD to replenish and renew herself during those times. She still took gigs but no teaching.

She also did the barter with trusted student thing quite a lot and it worked really well for her. Now that the school is a non-profit we can't do that sort of thing as much, but we're also all sharing the load a great deal more too.

Why do you have to live so far away! I would love the chance to get free/cheaper classes for helping out with stuff that my OCD loves anyway!

Other than that I don't really have any constructive suggestions.

Originally Posted by artemisia_danst

in summer i reduce the classes, there's only ONE evening of class per week and most of those are guest instructors. but, yes, that's an idea, maybe i need to plan a slightly longer winter break this year.

you really should. just to reiterate again,

our studio here will run the following this year

sept. 12-dec 7
jan 12-april 6
mid may-end of june

and then she closes down but myself and another instructor rent the studio and run our own summer classes by choice. yet she still maintains a strong steady student base. be consistent and you'll be successful...

Originally Posted by artemisia_danst

easier said than done; the short answer; belgian labour law. hiring someone for just a few hours a week is very very hard.

How about trying to find someone who's independent and can work with invoices? I think I got a message from a freelancer about this some time ago, let me know if you're interested and I'll go through my emails for you.

oh, freelance is the easiest, but i didnt think there was something like freelance secretaries. i've tried going through a temp agencie, but there minimum contracts are 4H/day!

Originally Posted by artemisia_danst

easier said than done; the short answer; belgian labour law. hiring someone for just a few hours a week is very very hard.

Do you have temporary agencies? In the States, we have them so there isn't a long term commitment and they aren't on your payroll. They do cost a bit more per hour, but it might be worth it.

From what 2 dancers+studio owners I know, shutting down for a term makes you loose a lot of students cause they will go elsewehere and might not come back. Both are very good and qualified teachers.
One had left for a 6 months trip and one was sick and had to stop for 1 term and both lost a lot of clientele.

Heya Artemisia,
i don't know much about all the technicalities, but what i do know, is that you have to warn your students in advance. preferably before they sign up for the year/semester. and if possible, point them to some other teacher that thinks the same way you do (even if you have someone to replace you for the classes).
i'm kinda sore about this because our prof pulled this one on us. about a month into the year she sends an e-mail to us saying that next week, and until march, she's not going to be able to teach us, and that another prof we know will be giving her classes. i understand she might want to have other projects for a bit and all, but what i didn't appreciate is 1) that we weren't given any kind of warning, 2) that we weren't given much of a choice. the other prof is nice and all, but not at all the same style, and the only other bd teacher in the area is another style yet and waaay too expensive for us students. so it's this one or no bding til next year..
so yeah.. please keep your students in mind as well, in what you decide! :)

hello khatiya, ha, the whole reason i havent taken a break is because of the students, that's a given and the first thing on my mind. i dont want to leave them, they are the whole reason of dancing/teaching/most of what i do!!! and i would never quit in the middle of a term, that indeed is bad (unless there is really an emergency, i can imagine health reasons or so might cause this, or people changing day jobs or evern countries! and i myself sometimes need subs for when i'm abroad... my students survived ;-)

so far i've decided

- that i need an admin assistent
- to make winter break this year a little longer

my students pay per 6-10 week series, not per year, so that's a little different also...