Where have all the teachers gone?

Owning a dance studio means I’m always on the lookout for teachers — and almost weekly, other studio owners ask if I know anyone. Not just someone to run a class, but someone passionate about passing on what they’ve learnt. Those teachers are becoming harder to find.

What’s most surprising is that this is happening at a time when full-time dance training is at an all-time high. So… where have all the teachers gone?

There seems to be a growing problem in the dance world. Dancers are training harder than ever, but very few are moving into teaching. Somewhere along the way, it stopped being seen as a fulfilling or worthwhile career.

When I trained, we were mentored in a personal way. You had that one teacher who saw your potential, pushed you, believed in you, and eventually took you under their wing as an assistant. That’s how many of us fell in love with teaching, not by accident, but through being guided into it.

These days, the opportunities are still there — to assist, to mentor, to start a teaching career — but many students simply aren’t stepping into them. Dancers train in their own bubble, focused on their own path, without engaging with the community around them. That sense of connection — of giving back, of being part of something bigger than yourself — is being lost. And with it, the next generation of teachers.

Teaching is one of the most rewarding paths a dancer can take. It gives longevity to your career, it keeps your passion alive, and it lets you pass on everything you’ve worked so hard to learn. More importantly, great teaching creates a lasting legacy — one that lives on in every student you influence. In fact, you may even find more fulfillment in teaching than in your own performing career.

If dancers are no longer being encouraged into teaching, supported in the early stages, or even made to see it as a viable and fulfilling option, we are heading toward a very real problem.

And the effects will be far-reaching. Studios will be searching for teachers who simply don’t exist.

A powerful insight I recently came across was in Adam Grant’s book Hidden Potential. He explores the idea of the protégé effect—the phenomenon where teaching someone else actually deepens the teacher’s own understanding. To teach is to learn twice. It forces you to organise your thoughts, reflect on your own process, and truly grasp the ‘why’ behind what you do. It’s a kind of learning that performing alone simply can’t replicate.

Helping dancers step into teaching doesn’t just benefit the next generation—it helps them make sense of their own training in a deeper way.

If we’re not encouraging that, we’re not just losing future teachers—we’re missing a key part of their development.

We need to bring mentorship back. Not just for the students dreaming of the stage but for the ones quietly showing leadership potential in class. We need to offer assistant teaching programs, give them real feedback, and let them experience the satisfaction of teaching a plié or correcting a time step.

Because once they feel what it’s like to help someone else succeed, they might just fall in love with teaching too.

Teaching is not a plan B or even plan C. It’s not what dancers do after they give up the dream. It’s an extension of the dream. A chance to leave a legacy. A chance to keep learning. A chance to be part of something bigger than yourself.