Thread: teaching private classes from your home

hello

for those of you that teach private classes from your home, how are you organised? what does your home studio look like?

how big is it? or how small? what's the minimum?

and please, not just the people with the huge enviable home studio's that are practically REAL studio's... (do tell us but...) i wanna hear from you who "make do" as well, as that's what i'll be doing...

how much did you spend on it?

After I bought my house, I knew that I would need a room to exercise and dance in, but didn't have any extra space. We bought a 2 family home, and I occupy the second floor apartment. It has 5 rooms, 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and dining room.

When i first bought the house, I had custom mirrored double doors made for the division between the living room and dining room. I used the living room for a long time for my practice and, more recently for teaching.

I've had private students come and we regularly used the space for the classes, I could only have one at a time, since the space was limited. It worked well, but was a bit intrusive, I thought, for my family since I have an open floor plan into the kitchen. When I had a student who wore hijab, it was more difficult to maintain her privacy, as my partner would occasionally come out into the kitchen while she was there.

Now that I no longer need the dining room, I'm going to turn the doors around, decorate the rather utilitarion backs and use them for mirrors on the other side, that will complete the privacy I think dancers sometimes need, as well as give me enough private practice space for myself without taking up the family room.

thanks

and how about the floor?
i've injured my knee once dancing on concrete a whole evening. i want to organise some cushioning. i was thinking about trying to get my hands on a small piece of ballet flooring to roll out?

I have a room in the attic which we used for extra duo practice. I bought two large mirrors from the IKEA at 90 Euro's each. If I didn't rent my place, I would have invested in a nice floor because carpet isn't really working. This is not an ideal situation because the room is on the small side (5,5 m. X 3,5 m.) but it works and I can practice and teach whithout having to drivge my partner out of the livingroom.

Originally Posted by artemisia_danst

thanks

and how about the floor?
i've injured my knee once dancing on concrete a whole evening. i want to organise some cushioning. i was thinking about trying to get my hands on a small piece of ballet flooring to roll out?

I already have hard wood floors. If I was going to remodel, or put it in from scratch, I'd get the sprung hard wood, like they have in dance studios, I think it's worth the extra expense to keep your joints happy.

I built a 12 x 18 studio in an unfinished part of my basement, from the frame up. I spent a little over $6K on it - the big expenses were the carpentry/drywall, wood laminate flooring, drop ceiling and electrical work. My husband and I, with some friends and family, did everything ourselves except the framing, drywall, electrical and flooring (well, we tried to do the floor ourselves, but it didn't work out so we had to get professional installation), which really saved us a lot of money.

Prior to building my studio, I practiced and taught in part of the unfinished basement with about a dozen Wal-Mart door mirrors and a large piece of linoleum over the concrete floor. However, I only taught current students who wanted the occasional private lesson in the old space. It was so cold and ugly, I didn't want any new students to have their first impression of me be my creepy basement.

I use the attic room, which is my partner's son's bedroom. It is the largest room in the house (we live in a very small terraced house). In it is a bed and some shelves and all the paraphernalia that is accumulated by a 10 year old! I have invested in a large mirror that can be placed at one end of the room then put back when the room is not being used for teaching/practice. The floor is wooden floorboards.

It is not an ideal situation, but it's what I've got! Before teaching in there I ensure the floor is clean and that most of the toys/books are tidied away. It seems to work reasonably well....

This is going to sound wierd, but I have held private lessons in my bedroom. My bedroom is huge, probably 400 square feet at least. In fact, it is the largest room in my house. Even with a king size bed, two end tables, and two dressers, and a chair, there is more free floor space than in any room in my house. I have only done this with people that were my current students and that I knew and felt comfortable with. I have a huge mirror over my lowboy dresser that is big enough for two people to work in front of.

I have an unfinished attic room that has a mirrored closet door, and I originally planned to have that as my dance studio where I could practice and give lessons. However, the pine plank floor is splintering in places. And it is unheated. And it is very difficult to cool in the summer time. If we ever get central air in our old house, and I could get the floor refinished, this room might be o.k. for a dance studio.

When we bought our house, we purchased one that had a living room, and a family room, with the intent of turning one of them into a studio room for my own practice and private lessons.

Here is what I have done with the extra room to make it user friendly for dance, as well as nice looking to students, etc.:

~Painted it in a nice elegant color.
~Bought a couple of nice little racks that have 3-4 hooks on them. They are the kind that you would use for coats, robes, etc. but I use them for hip scarves, etc.
~I contacted the local glass company, and had them install mirrors on the long wall in the room. (This cost me about $900, for 3 large mirrors, including the install. I would have to measure them, but they are the large size used in most dance places and aerobics studios.)
~I have a small bookshelf in the corner of the room, where I keep all my stuff-dvds, choreography handouts, etc.
~I have a few small props in the room for flair, such as pillows, sari curtains, etc. I find that it really adds to the appeal, when students come for a lesson.

~I currently have short, berberlike carpet in there, which is okay. Eventually I am going to upgrade to wood, however.

The big selling point of our condo for me was the 9x6 foot walk-in closet attached to the bedroom. As small as it is I do everything in there. Along one long wall is my computer and work desk. I have two rows of shelves above for storage, a rod for hanging costumes and below are drawers for accessories and a place for my sewing machine. Along the other long wall I put two big Ikea mirrors ($100 each). Unfortunately the floor is carpeted (although that's great for pilates and floor work). I do most of my solo practice there as long as it doesn't involve cane or veils. It's cozy but it works.

the county of fresno only requires a finished/converted garage must be attached.
mine also has a door to the outside.the large classes bayla zena teaches go through a gate to the outside door.my private day clients use my front door.being in the county, not the city helps too.no business license required.
the clients use the front bathroom, accessed through the inside door.you write all this off too!
we are carpeted, mirrors, area for selling.

the front room is 15m2 (410*380cm). it would be for my own practice and private classes (one student) only.
i dont know which measurements you all use? feet? inches?

before i invest in mirrors and a floor, i'm afraid it'll be too small anyway.

I'm pretty sure that's about the same floorspace as I have, perhaps a little less (not at home at the mo, so can't run around with the measuring tape) As a space it definitely works for teaching privates to 1 person and practicing my own stuff, and I have squeezed four people in there to practice a choreography...

When I lived in IL, I used to travel up to Milwaukee to practice routines with girls in my class. We would always meet at one woman's house, and she had a spare bedroom (standard "non master bedroom" size) that she had lined two of the walls with ceiling to floor lenght mirrors (she bought cheap from a store that was going out of business! lucky!)

Carpet floors...not ideal, but hey, it worked. At most, we were able to fit 6 of us in to dance without smacking each other, but we had to be careful...

:)

the previous owner of my house built a free-standing shed in the back yard. the inside is about 10x13 feet, has a vaulted ceiling, and is insulated and very well constructed. it was *trashed* though, as he used it as a machine shop. I tore out the shelves, took out the flourescent lights, and treated the mold on the walls. then, I had a sliding glass patio door installed, spackled and painted the walls, installed an ikea laminate floor over the ripped and filthy vinyl floor, and put 3x5 mirrors on two of the walls. I bought a moroccan lantern and two suede poufs, some cheap ethnic-y curtains and indian door decorations, fancy-but-cheap curtain rods, and hung a moroccan blanket on one wall. then I framed a bunch of show posters, old record covers and photos to hang. finally I have a small armoire with a closet and drawers for students to put their stuff in, stash cds and stuff, all low enough to have my boombox and comp trophies on top. it is AWESOME. I also keep a mattress out there propped up against the wall - not very professional, but my kids love to go out there and jump on it, and I've used the studio several times as a bunk house when I have guests.

if you're able to have a designated dance space in your house (as in, a space that can stay decorated) my advice is to not be shy when decorating. use a bold paint color (mine is a deep brick red), and bring the decor up the walls with wall hangings, curtains, or pictures. lanterns can be had for not too much money and they really add to the ambiance. my next purchase is going to be a little disco ball. :) and maybe a shisha so I can sprawl on the poufs and chill out. :)