As reprinted from Dancing USA Magazine - November/December 2002. Article written by Wayne Eng, President, DanzSupport Network.

Every year studio owners and dance teachers pour a ton of effort into recruiting new students. Yellow pages and newspaper ads, telemarketing campaigns, free lesson coupons, and open house parties are standard approaches in developing a constant flow of new students looking to learn dance.

New students attend dance lessons for a laundry list of different reasons. For some, learning to dance is something of a lifelong ambition. They've always wanted to learn to dance. They've admired other people who danced well, pop culture figures such as Fred Astaire or John Travolta, Ginger Rodgers or Vanessa Williams, or Championship Ballroom Dancing stars such as Billy Sparks or Kimberley Mitchell. They've attended weddings where "average" people shine on the dance floor. They've learned to ride a bike, drive a car, hold a job, and raise children. Surely, they can master the skills necessary to glide across the dance floor. They begin their lessons with high expectations.

Dance lessons offer some students the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Classes create an opportunity to meet new people and acquire a useful skill. These students start lessons with a jumbled set of expectations, hoping that the tuition paid yields dividends one way or the other. Psychologically they have conceded that dancing might not be their forte.
Some students take lessons reluctantly. Lessons really were not their idea. Pressure applied by spouses, friends, or family has spurred their enrollment. Dance lessons are either an act of contrition, an effort for peace to reign supreme, or part of a bargain to play poker with the boys twice a month. These students begin lessons with a sense of dread and the look of self-fulfilling prophecy. They are open to pleasant surprises, but more prone to cynicism than self-deprecation.

Plenty of students take lessons out of necessity. Life has mandated that dancing move to the top of the "to do" list. Brides and grooms comprise a large segment of this group. They approach lessons as a means to an end. They are seeking a fix to a short-term problem.

The acquisition of knowledge propels another group of students, the inveterate learners on the quest for self-improvement. Subject matter captures or loses the audience. Some subjects capture the imagination more than others. Dance, as a subject of study, will ultimately prove transitory ending in introductory classes, a lifelong passion, or somewhere in between.

Some students just want to have fun. In their eyes, dancing is fun. What remains to be seen is whether their teacher is fun, the music is fun„ the venue is fun, and dancing with a partner is fun. Daily life provides plenty of frustrations. Fun to them is like the judicial definition of pornography; they'll know it when they see it. Their discretionary income is reserved for items that bring comfort or pleasure.

Another group of students are looking to fill a void. Something in life is missing. At worst, dance lessons help occupy time. At best, dance lessons lead to filling the void. These students are looking for fate to smile down upon them.

Many new students defy simple categorization.

Studio owners and dance teachers face an awkward dilemma. They need to work very hard recruiting new students because a low percentage sticks with dance. Without a constant influx of new students, studio revenues and teacher incomes drop like a rock. For every reason that a person opts to start dance lessons, another thousand reasons exist for a person to stop dance lessons. The high dropout rate forces owners and teachers to devote valuable resources to recruitment.

Successful owners and teachers look to improve their retention rates. They seek answers to questions like: What can I do to slow students from quitting? Or, how can I improve on the percentage of students that graduate from beginner to intermediate classes? These dance professionals understand that only departing students need to be replaced and keeping a customer is less costly than finding a new customer.

Underlying the loss of each student, for whatever reason, is a sense of personal dissatisfaction. When students become dissatisfied, they leave. Delaying the onset of dissatisfaction, and learning to keep students content with their progress in the face of obstacles is the professional challenge.

The education process creates a pair of nasty side effects: frustration and embarrassment, sworn enemies of the human race. Neither will be suffered gladly. There are several simple strategies that owners and teachers can utilize to help ameliorate the side effects. These strategies won't work with everyone, but that doesn't matter. If one of these strategies stops one student each month from quitting, that's like recruiting twelve new dancers, only better because the results will grow like compound interest.

Reward Achievement- Maybe this sounds corny, but issue graduation certificates-after the first class! And the last class! A lot of those certificates will end up in the garbage. So what. People want their accomplishments to be recognized. A sense of pride is required to hold a student's interest.

Establish the Just Cause- According to the history books, and more importantly, Hollywood, suffering for a just cause is worthy. As one of the few activities outside of eating, sleeping and reading that can provide a lifetime of pleasure, learning to dance is a just cause. After every class, recommend a dance movie like “Shall We Dance” or “Forever Tango”. Better yet, set up a small library of dances movies that students can borrow.

Paint the Big Picture- The whole world is the dancer's oyster. Entering the dance community extends far beyond the walls of a classroom. Encourage students to explore the world of dance on their own. Recommend books, magazines, and websites or post interesting articles on a bulletin board that students have an opportunity to access easily.

Offer Structure- Medal programs work. They help build loyalty, not to the teacher or studio, but to the achievement. A student can set goals and measure progress in concrete terms.
Ask Questions- Send out questionnaires to former students. Find out why they stopped taking classes. Include a coupon.

The history of the dance business shows that recruiting a student to start lessons presents far less of a challenge than getting a student to continue lessons. We do our students and ourselves a disservice by not concentrating greater efforts on learning how to sustain their interest in dance. If we do, everyone will benefit.

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