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Dance Studio Business Plan

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Executive Summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. It describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">

Dancing is a historical tradition. Ballroom dancing has been alive at social functions for centuries, and Swing and Latin are the Waltz and Foxtrot of days gone by. In recent years, social dance has proved it’s long lasting presence in our lives. It is in our media, our music and day to day social functions. It isn’t usually taught parent-to-child so people are seeking schools where they can learn. With Dancesport being considered as a medal sport in the next Olympics, more people will be exposed to Social and Ballroom dance.

U&ME Dance is dedicated to bringing quality and affordable dance instruction to Bellingham. There is a very active and dedicated ballroom dance community already located in Bellingham. However, there has never been an actual dance studio, where these people can expand their knowledge of dance and enjoy being with other people of like interests. It is our plan to incorporate the existing dance community into our studio to begin with a strong base of supporters. From there we will be able to spread the word that dancing is a fun and exciting way to spend time. There are many benefits to dancing that will attract people from many backgrounds and interests.

Toni Simler and Mary Evans, a mother/daughter team, are the founders and owners of U&ME Dance. They have both been very involved in ballroom and social dancing since 1995. Mary has worked in dance studios in the Seattle area, where she was a dance instructor and supervisor. In the last three years, she taught private dance instruction as an independent contractor. Toni recently retired from Lucent Technologies, where she worked for thirty years as a manager in customer service, business management and contract management. She and her husband have been students of dance, taking lessons for many years. They continue to dance socially. Together, Toni and Mary will provide a strong team to make U&ME Dance a successful venture.

1.1 Objectives

The following are goals and objectives of U&ME Dance for Year 1 through Year 3 :

• Create a dance studio with a warm, supportive atmosphere, which is based on satisfying customers.
• Provide a social and entertainment forum for people with diverse interests, backgrounds and ages.
• Provide dance training for students at all levels of dance, from beginner to advanced.
• Provide continual training, benefits and incentives for staff to encourage a long-term commitment of employees.
• Increase sales to reach $300K by end of Year 1 and maintain an annual growth of 15% per year.

1.2 Mission

U&ME Dance offers a place where people can learn to dance, meet new people, have fun and feel comfortable. We offer a varied dance program with price options for all levels of interest, with greater emphasis on group classes and small package sessions to reach dance skill objectives. Our instructors have access to continual training with some of the area’s top professional coaches. This provides our students with up-to-date steps and technique and access to the latest dance trends. U&ME Dance welcomes a diversity of people and maintains a non-smoking and alcohol free environment.

Company Summary company overview ) is an overview of the most important points about your company—your history, management team, location, mission statement and legal structure.">

U&ME Dance, soon to be located in Bellingham, Washington, will provide the community with a comfortable, friendly environment in which to learn the art of partnership dancing. U&ME Dance will offer private dance instruction, group classes, social dance parties and rental facilities for local events.

Ballroom dance, as a sport, as well as an art, has become increasingly popular worldwide. As a result, the studio can expect to attract a wide cross section of customers from Bellingham and Whatcom County. U&Me Dance will appeal to people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds, looking for creative self expression, exercise and/or social opportunities through dance.

2.1 Start-up Summary

U&ME Dance’s start-up costs are based on an assumption that it will lease space at the Majestic. This space is ready for occupancy but will need a few minor renovations. The renovations include building out an office on the main floor and a caterer kitchen.

The other category includes items such as memberships to the Chamber of Commerce, Visitor and Convention Bureau, and anything else that we may have forgotten or underestimated.

The current assets include the deposit of $12,000. Long-term assets include items which will need to be purchased for the business. See the attached table for more details.

We are not currently requesting a loan, but may need to for operating costs if the sales forecast is less that anticipated. The owners are investing $50,000 initially.

2.2 Company Ownership

U&ME Dance is a Limited Liability Company owned and operated by Mary Evans and Toni Simler.

U&ME Dance is dedicated to bringing the fun and challenge of dancing to Bellingham and  Whatcom County at an affordable cost. We will offer private and group dance instruction for social through competitive level dancers. U&ME Dance will also provide a place for dancers to use the skills they have learned, by having weekly dance parties and seasonal/holiday dances.

U&ME Dance will offer its students a variety of instructional choices. By offering them several options, we can best serve their individual needs and financial limitations.

Private Lessons offer students the best value for their investment. With a private lesson, the students will work one-on-one with an instructor, receiving personalized instruction and immediate correction. Through experiencing the physical sensation of connected movement, the student is able to confidently replicate that movement in order to provide a pleasant and comfortable experience to other partners. In learning the best methods, one-on-one, both beginning and advanced students will find they progress faster and more easily, as they enjoy the sensation of partner dancing.

Group Classes are both an introduction to the experience of dancing with different partners, and a chance for the students to become familiar with a variety of step patterns. Rotation of partners, throughout the class allows dancers to practice steps with different partners. This format promotes comfort in dancing with several partners, as well as the comraderie that goes along with sharing a learned experience. Group lessons will be available every week in the traditional styles and latest club trends. Classes will be offered at every level, from basic beginner through advanced competitive styling. In addition, specialty classes will be offered for children and teens.

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Facility Rental will be another service offering. The Majestic is currently a very popular place in Bellingham for weddings, receptions, musical events, etc. We hope to expand the use of the building by including additional options of use (church services on Sunday, exercise/yoga classes in the morning).

In addition to these main staples, U&ME Dance will go out into the community to offer specialty dancing to schools, nursing homes and anyone wanting a specialized program. U&ME Dance is very closely linked to the dance studios in the Seattle area and as such, can offer exchange programs, which will give our students additional opportunities.

Market Analysis Summary how to do a market analysis for your business plan.">

Ballroom Dancing is a multi-billion dollar industry that will only continue to grow, especially now that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded provisional recognition to Ballroom Dancing and Dancesport. According to a recent press release by WGBH-Television, more than one million people enroll in ballroom dance classes each year. Since 1985, the number of amateur ballroom dancers has increased by 25% each year.

The timeless popularity of social dancing, combined with the growing interest in the trendy dances, has proven to be a winning combination around the world. We are confident it will produce the same results in Bellingham.

4.1 Market Segmentation

According to the information published by the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce, Whatcom County had a total population of 166,814 for the year 2000 and is estimated to grow approximately 5% per year to 212,000 by the year 2010. The city of Bellingham had a total population of 68,890 in the year 2001. This figure has grown 30%, since 1990. Bellingham is surrounded by the smaller towns of Ferndale, Blaine, Lynden, Sumas, Everson, and Nooksak.

U&ME Dance feels that the population of Bellingham, as well as these smaller towns, are all potential customers. We have divided these potential customers into the following groups:

• Children/Teens (19 yrs. and under): There are 36,965 children and teens in Whatcom County, according to the 2000 census information. Our plan is to have special classes designed specifically for the younger people.
• College Students/Young Adults (20-24 yrs): There are 16,776 people who fall in this category, according to the Whatcom County 2000 census information.
• Single and Married Adults (25-55 yrs): This will include single and married couples. The Whatcom County 2000 census information showed there were 69,865 people in this age group.
• Seniors/Retired (56+ yrs): The people in this group will be a combination of retired and working people. The Whatcom County 2000 census information showed 32,998 people in this age group.

4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy

As indicated in the previous table and illustration, our market is limitless. Everyone who has the ability to walk can learn to dance. It is our job to present dance to these people and introduce and develop interest in the community for ballroom and social dance.

For children and teens it is important to show the fun in dance.  We can introduce Ballroom Dance through Junior and Senior High School dance and drill teams.  The United States Amateur Ballroom Dance Association (USABDA) has made generous efforts across the country to develop dance in younger generations.  There is a USABDA chapter in Bellingham, which will assist in getting dance introduced to this age group.  We will also look to affiliate our studio with the local Jazz and Ballet studios for mutual advertising benefits. 

Colleges across the country have been adding Ballroom dance classes to their curriculum and have been closely involved in Dancesport competitions whose sell-out crowds rival those of football and basketball games.  Western Washington University does not currently have a Ballroom Dance curriculum, however, there is a swing club, Western Washington University Swing Kids.  We would like to start by including the swing kids in our studio events and assisting their efforts to spread the popularity of swing.  We hope to work with the University to offer classes to their students for credit.

Single and married adults between the ages of 25 and 55 have traditionally been the biggest supporters of the ballroom dance studio community.  This group is generally looking for new things to try and do.  For singles we offer another way to meet people, and date. We will also have special wedding packages, which offer the new couple options for learning their first dance.  For married couples dance is something new to learn together and provides a great social outlet.  By working with the local clubs, we can be sure there are places for people to use the dance they are learning and in turn spread dance further into the community.

Retired people and seniors (ages 55 and up) represent a small section of our market.  However these people usually turn into long-term dancers.  Dance is a wonderful hobby, and low impact exercise that benefits the mind, the body, and social aspects of life.  For this age group learning to dance is done for reasons such as something they have always wanted to do, something they used to do and would like to do again, for use on vacations, or an exercise to keep their bodies healthy.  We plan to offer our services to local nursing homes, as well as to those who come in to the studio for lessons.

4.3 Service Business Analysis

The ballroom dance industry has experienced substantial growth at the rate of 25% each year since 1985.  There are two key factors for the rise in demand for dance instruction and places to partnership dance:

•  In order to gain recognition by the IOC as a sport, the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF) signed an 11 year agreement with a major sports promoter, International Management Group (IMG/TWI), which began in 1998. IMG/TWI are IDSF’s commercial representatives, handling all television, sponsorship, and implementing its medium and long-term marketing strategies worldwide. The industry, as a whole, has benefited directly through the increase in public interest this campaign has achieved.
• The popularity of trendy dances like Lindy Hop, Argentine Tango, and Salsa have also made an impact on the number of people wanting to learn how to dance.

The popularity of partnership dancing has grown immensely in the last decade. Those who are familiar with dance are well aware of how fun and addicting an evening of dancing can be. Those who have not yet experienced the thrill of moving gracefully around the dance floor with a partner, need a convenient, relaxed atmosphere, where they can feel comfortable learning and utilizing current popular dances. U&ME Dance seeks to provide its customers with affordable quality instruction in a fun and supportive environment.

4.3.1 Competition and Buying Patterns

This leaves the independent teachers as our only competition. U&ME Dance plans to work in concert with these instructors and will offer a place for teachers to rent space to continue teaching on their own, and a place to go out dancing. Our affordable pricing, elegant facility and quality instruction will be a much needed bonus to Bellingham.

Strategy and Implementation Summary

U&ME Dance marketing strategy will target people who wish to get more for their investment in dancing. A large variety of dance lesson packages and programs will be offered in an effort to make dancing affordable to any budget. Teachers will be highly skilled and professional, keeping with the image of the studio. The ballroom will be an elegant place to come, where customer service is number one. Marketing venues will include placement advertisement, direct mail, Internet Web page and include partnerships with community businesses.

U&ME Dance sales strategy will be based on a consultative style where the customers and teachers work together to identify and plan a course of action to satisfy the customer. Teachers will participate in continuous consultative sales training and receive regular sales coaching where the identification of customer buying criteria will be paramount. Sales closes will be based on demonstration of satisfying the customer criteria.

5.1 Competitive Edge

As previously mentioned, there is currently no other ballroom or social dance studio in Bellingham or Whatcom County. This automatically gives U&ME Dance a competitive edge on the market. However, we do not plan to sit back and think that people will come to us if we wait. Because Bellingham is not used to having a dance studio, this gives us the challenge of introducing the benefits of having a dance studio. One advantage to us, is that there is a strong dance community, including a local chapter of United States Amateur Ballroom Dance Association  (USABDA) in the area.

We plan to keep our prices in line with the lower cost of living expenses of the Bellingham area. We will offer a wide variety of very competitive packages. Our teachers will be trained in the latest trends and with up-to-date styling of today’s dances. We plan to partner with many of the studios in the Seattle area so that we can keep up with the trends of the big city and offer more variety to our students.

5.2 Marketing Strategy

Our marketing plan will be very simple. Satisfy our customers and provide them with the desire to continue dancing. A happy customer will not only keep coming back, but they will tell other people about U&ME Dance. We will offer discount awards as an incentive to people who provide us with referrals.

We will market fun! What better product could we possibly have than that?! Our biggest challenge will be getting people who have never been in a dance studio before to come and try us out. Many people have never considered taking dance lessons before. Our marketing message will emphasize the opportunity to meet people, to enhance the quality of leisure time, to gain health benefits and gain life-long skills that will give them respect from their peers.

We will advertise in the yellow pages, local newspapers, flyers, coupons, discount books, radio, and signs around town.

5.3 Sales Strategy

One of our marketing strategies is to advertise discount specials or introductory offers.  These are designed to introduce people to the different dances our studio offers, and the dances our customers want to learn.  Our instructors will work with the customer on these specials to discover what it is they are looking for in dance, and to outline a course that suits the customer’s wants and needs.  When a course outline is agreed upon by customer and instructor they will meet with a manager for a brief consultation to make sure the customer is satisfied with the lesson outline and that the course will meet the expectations of the customer.  The customer will then sign up for the lessons by contract and commit to a series of appointments; the studio also commits to these appointments.

We will offer a variety of courses, all mixed with combinations of private lessons, group lessons, and practice parties.  Our course outlines will follow industry standards of recognized progression in dance, referred to as program dancing.  The different levels of dance are recognized as Social Foundation, Bronze, Silver, and Gold, which is consistent with the dance industry.  Although our instructors will be designing course outlines according to the specific needs of our customers, there are basic packages that we can offer in these different levels.  Also, because of the size and amount of time required for those levels after Social Foundation, we have divided them into Bronze I, and Bronze II, Silver I, and Silver II, and Gold or our Showcase Level.

U&ME Dance also offers the ability for customers to take group class packages.  These may be more affordable, and although take longer for advancement, might be more preferable to some of our customers. 

In addition U&ME Dance offers something unique from other dance studios,  which is a membership card.

There are three different memberships offered:

• The Basic , which allows unlimited admission to dance parties as well as discounts to special events.
• The Gold , which allows limited access to group classes, unlimited admission to dance parties, five party guest passes, and discounts on special events.
• The Platinum , which allows unlimited access to group classes, unlimited admission to parties, ten party guest passes, and discounts to special events.  These memberships will last one year.

U&ME Dance will offer discounts for larger dance packages.  All payments for dance lessons will be collected at time of purchase.  Customers may be given 30 days to pay with a down payment of 50%.  We will accept payment in the form of cash, check, or credit card.

5.3.1 Sales Forecast

This sales forecast is an estimation on the number of customers we acquire while open, and an average cost of lesson outlines. The Social Basics Introductory special is averaged at $50, but this may vary depending on the special running that month.  The special is not an accurate count for the cost of lessons, and is used primarily to bring people who may be interested to our studio so that they may continue with more lessons.  We are forecasting that we will sell 20 Introductory packages in our first month, and 30 each month there after, as this is what we can handle with the hours we have available.

Bronze I  is priced at $1,200, and is based on the assumption that students would buy this package with 19 privates and 25 groups. We offer a 20% discount to people who pay cash for their lesson, and show this in our forecast by making this package show at $1,000.  We are forecasting to sell a bronze dance package to 50% of the people who bought the social foundation package.

Bronze II is priced at $1,440, and based on the assumption that students would buy a package containing 24 privates and 24 groups.  We offer a 20% discount for paying in cash, and show this in our forecast by showing this package price at $1,200.  We do not expect to sell any Bronze II packages the first couple of months. Starting on the third month we are forecasting to sell 50% of those that were in Bronze I. 

Silver I and Silver II $1,620.  These are both based on the assumption that the student buys a package of 27 privates and 27 groups.  We offer a 20% discount for students who pay in cash, and have shown this in our forecast with our package being $1,350.  Starting in the fifth month we are forecasting to sell at least two Silver I dance package per month.  We have estimated that we will not sell any Silver II packages until the end of the first year of business.

We have kept our estimates low, knowing that we are not only a new business but a new type of business in this community, trying to break through with our marketing. Therefore, we are showing a 25% closing ratio for new students. That is saying that 25% of the customers who come in for the introductory special will buy the next level of dance,  Social Foundation package.  We then show a 50% closing ratio for existing student,  50% of Social Foundation customers will move on to Bronze I, etc.  Mary’s previous sales results were 70% (out of every ten potential customers she sold a dance package to seven). 

Memberships  were forecasted to show that people would buy the Gold at $600 each.  We forecast to sell an average of five memberships per month, with that average increasing to 10 during the peak months of November-February.

Miscellaneous sales include series group classes and kids group classes averaged at 10 people per class. 

Weekly dances will be held each Friday night. We will charge $5.00 per person plus $3.00 if they come for the pre-dance lesson.

The Majestic is currently reported as bringing in about $30 to $40K per year in space rentals. We will continue to rent out this space and increase the advertising.

Other category includes one time privates lessons, special services (i.e. DJ service, lesson packages for special events, wedding packages, etc.).

5.4 Milestones

The following milestones reflect an approximate timeframe and cost  for beginning and completing actions that will be needed to get U&ME Dance up and running. Our goal is to open our doors to customers and begin teaching dance by September 1st, 2002. We realize this date is subject to the timeframe for renovation completion, permits, etc. and may need to be adjusted.

Web Plan Summary

U&ME Dance has a Web page, www.uandmedance.com, that is designed to provide a convenient way for people to discover our studio.  For marketing purposes the Web page will be linked to other dance Web sites and, since it has dance in the title, it will show up on different search engines.  Our students will be able to use the Web site to look up group class schedules, upcoming events, studio news, and lesson prices. Students and prospective students will also be able to contact teachers via e-mail.  Teachers will have the Web site on their business cards, and it will appear on our ads to offer people a chance to look at the space, meet the teachers and check prices, and ask questions before they enter the studio.  

6.1 Website Marketing Strategy

We plan to link our Web site with some prominent Seattle area dance Web sites as well as the city Web sites, and local recreational sites.  We will also link with some national Web sites in order to increase the possibility of people reaching us on the Web. By having the word dance in our title we should show up easily on different search engines, which will increase our potential to be seen by our own market.

Our Web site has been designed to offer looks into our prices, lesson outlines and definitions, our staff and pictures of the studio.  We will provide pages that explore upcoming events at the studio as well as community dance events.  We will keep people posted on the national news of dance as well as local.  We will always have a current calendar of events for the convenience of our students.  We will also have a showboard to show off different pictures of events from our studio.

U&ME Dance will  also have a link page for other studios in Washington and national, places to dance, and national dance organizations.

6.2 Development Requirements

We have created and maintained our Web page ourselves. We will continue to do so in the future.

Management Summary management summary will include information about who's on your team and why they're the right people for the job, as well as your future hiring plans.">

U&ME Dance will be a very small company with the two owners, Mary Evans and Toni Simler, responsible for managing and directing all activities.

Mary Evans, owner and dance director, will primarily be responsible for the following:

• Teaching advanced students.
• Hiring, training and supervision of new instructors.
• Scheduling and planning the dance group lessons and special events.
• Creating dance lesson programs and packages.
• Studio events.

Mary Evans brings with her seven years of experience as a dance instructor, as well as certification as a dance instructor from the National Dance Teachers Council of America (NDTCA).  She has knowledge of the operation of dance studios from her training with previous studio managers, and experience of management herself.  She also brings with her, knowledge of the dance industry, the champions, the styles, and experience with previous students.  Her six years of teaching have brought her many connections that can benefit U&ME Dance.

Toni Simler, Owner and Business Director, will primarily be responsible for the following:

• Teach social foundation/bronze students
• Managing the accounting/financial aspect of the company
• Bookkeeping/payroll
• Design and develop advertising and marketing strategies
• Contract negotiation/vendor relations

Toni brings thirty years of working in corporate business, where she was most recently a business manager, contract manager and call center manager for Lucent Technologies and AT&T. Most of her career in telecommunications centered around customer service. She will be able to put this knowledge and experience to good use at U&ME Dance. In addition, Toni with her husband have been dance students since 1995. She knows firsthand how it feels to be a student and brings with her the knowledge she learned while taking dance lessons for five years.

7.1 Personnel Plan

A teacher training class began in April to train two teachers. These teachers will be given the training for free with an understanding that they are neither hired nor paid during this time. In exchange for this training, they will be offered a job, once U&ME Dance gets enough customers. Our goal is to have five part time/full time instructors by the end of 2002, which includes the two owners.

At some point in the future, we will see about hiring a receptionist.

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

• We plan to use our own start-up cash to finance the business.  The Majestic is a turn key building for this type of business, requiring very limited contract work for us to bring in.  A kitchen space and office window are to be negotiated with the building owner.  Our start-up requirements are business assets, teaching supplies, and advertising.
• We want to finance growth mainly through cash flow.

8.1 Important Assumptions

The financial plan depends on important assumptions, most of which are shown in the following table as annual assumptions. The monthly assumptions are included in the appendix. From the beginning, we recognize that collection of payments for dance lesson packages is critical, however, not a factor we can influence easily.  Interest rates, tax rates, and personnel burden are based on conservative assumptions.

Three of the more important underlying assumptions are:

• We assume that people in Whatcom County and more importantly, Bellingham, will be interested in learning to dance and will give us a try.
• We assume that the area will continue to grow, as in the past, and at the projected rate of 5% per year.
• We assume that the Majestic will continue to be rented for events as in the past.

8.2 Break-even Analysis

We will need an average of thirty new students each month taking the introductory classes. Of these thirty students, we are anticipating that 25% will stay to take additional classes (i.e. Social Foundation, Bronze, etc.). We realize that we may have a slow start, until the word gets out about our business, and therefore, will take a few months to “ramp up” to thirty new students.

8.3 Projected Profit and Loss

Our projected profit and loss is shown on the following table, with sales increasing at a rate of 15% year over year.  If we are able to meet our sales forecast, we will begin making a profit almost immediately. Traditionally in the dance business the slower months are in the mid-summer. However, the facility rental is higher in the Summer and should, therefore, supplement the slower teaching months.

The detailed monthly projections are included in the appendix.

8.4 Projected Cash Flow

Cash flow projections are critical to our success. The annual cash flow figures are included here and the more important detailed monthly numbers are included in the appendix.  The business will generate more than enough cash flow to cover all of its expenses. The monthly cash flow is shown in the following chart, with one bar representing the cash flow per month, and the other the monthly cash balance.

8.5 Projected Balance Sheet

The balance sheet in the following table shows managed but sufficient growth of net worth, and a sufficiently healthy financial position. The monthly estimates are included in the appendix.

8.6 Business Ratios

The following table outlines some of the more important ratios from the Fine Art Schools industry. The final column, Industry Profile, details specific ratios based on the industry as it is classified by the Standard Industry Classification (SIC) code, 7911.

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Dance Studio Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Dance Studio Business Plan

You’ve come to the right place to create your dance studio business plan.

We have helped over 10,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their dance studios.

Example Business Plan for a Dance Studio

Below is a template to help you create each section of a business plan for your dance studio.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

Henderson Dance Expressions is a startup dance company located in Henderson, Nevada.  The company is founded by Mary Roberts, a local dancer who has worked as a dance teacher for more than two decades. Mary is confident that her ability to effectively lead dance classes, coach students, and work with parents will help her quickly acquire new clients for her studio. She plans on recruiting a team of highly qualified professionals to help manage the day to day complexities of running a dance studio including teaching, marketing, scheduling, and fee collection.

Henderson Dance Expressions will provide a comprehensive array of dance styles, classes, and private lessons for students of every age and every skill level. Henderson Dance Expressions will offer a comprehensive dance curriculum to help every dance student reach their fitness and performance goals. The dance studio will be the ultimate choice in Henderson for dance instruction while being the most inclusive dance company in town.

Product Offering

The following are the products and services that Henderson Dance Expressions will provide:

• Childrens’ Classes (beginner, intermediate, advanced)
• Adult Classes (beginner, intermediate, advanced)
• Private Lessons
• Dance apparel and branded merchandise

The following dance styles will be available:

Customer Focus

Henderson Dance Expressions will target dancers of all ages and skill levels in the city of Henderson and surrounding areas. The studio will target individuals looking to improve their dance skills in one or more of the styles offered through dance instruction and fitness training. Henderson Dance Expressions will also target individuals looking to use dance as a form of exercise to achieve their fitness goals. Additionally, the dance studio will target individuals who want to perform or become professional dancers. No matter the student, Henderson Dance Expressions will deliver the best instruction, service, and value for the price.

Management Team

Henderson Dance Expressions will be owned and operated by Mary Roberts, a local dancer who has worked as a dance teacher for more than two decades and has taught thousands of students. Mary has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance for the University of Nevada and has worked in the dance industry for so long, she understands all aspects required in running a successful dance company. She will oversee all of the instructors, class offerings, and client relationships.

Mary has recruited Lisa Campbell, an accountant, to help manage the studio’s finances. Lisa has a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of California. She has worked as a bookkeeper for a dance apparel retail company for the past ten years and is well versed in financial accounting.

Success Factors

Henderson Dance Expressions will be able to achieve success by offering the following competitive advantages:

• A diverse staff of friendly, knowledgeable, and caring dance instructors who will go the extra mile for each student to ensure they reach their personal performance or fitness goals.
• Comprehensive array of classes and private lessons available, so there is something for every dancer regardless of age or skill level.
• Henderson Dance Expressions offers a flexible pricing plan, so dance students get the most value for their money.

Financial Highlights

Henderson Dance Expressions is seeking $200,000 in debt financing to launch its dance business. The funding will be dedicated towards securing the studio space and purchasing dance equipment and supplies. Funding will also be dedicated towards three months of overhead costs to include payroll of the staff, rent, and marketing costs for print ads and association memberships. The breakout of the funding is below:

• Dance studio build-out: $30,000
• Dance equipment, supplies, and materials: $10,000
• Three months of overhead expenses (payroll, rent, utilities): $140,000
• Marketing costs: $10,000
• Working capital: $10,000

Company Overview

Who is henderson dance expressions.

Henderson Dance Expressions is a newly established dance company in Henderson, Nevada. The studio will be the most inclusive option in the area catering to students of all ages and skill levels. Henderson Dance Expressions will provide a comprehensive array of dance classes and private lessons with instructors ready to support each student in reaching their personal performance or fitness goals. The staff use a tailored, student-centered teaching approach that includes personalized programs to fit each student’s individual goals.

Henderson Dance Expressions will be able to manage a sizable student-base with a full weekly schedule of classes and private lessons offered by a large pool of instructors. The team of dance professionals are highly qualified and experienced in their dance specialties. Henderson Dance Expressions removes all barriers that prevent students from having fun or performing their best by providing a supportive environment.

Henderson Dance Expressions History

Henderson Dance Expressions will be owned and operated by Mary Roberts, a local dancer who has worked as a dance teacher for more than two decades and has taught thousands of students. Mary’s tenure in the dance industry has given her the skills and knowledge required to start her own studio. Mary has built a large network of dance professionals over the years and has recruited several of them to be instructors at the new studio.

Since incorporation, Henderson Dance Expressions has achieved the following milestones:

• Registered Henderson Dance Expressions, LLC to transact business in the state of Nevada.
• Has a contract in place to lease the facility that will become the dance studio.
• Reached out to numerous contacts to include professional dancers and instructors to advise them on their upcoming dance company in order to start getting instructors on her roster.
• Began recruiting a staff of accountants, instructors, sales and marketing associates, and office personnel to work at Henderson Dance Expressions.

Henderson Dance Expressions Services

• Childrens’ Group Classes (beginner, intermediate, advanced)
• Adult Group Classes (beginner, intermediate, advanced)

Industry Analysis

The dance studios industry in the U.S. is an estimated $3.8B market. There are approximately 52,000 dance studios throughout the United States with over 100,000 dancers employed as teachers. Dance studio industry growth is positively correlated with recreation expenditure. As the country’s unemployment rate decreases and disposable incomes increase, more people tend to spend money on recreational activities such as dance.

Dance has traditionally been a popular recreational activity for children and adults alike. As the public becomes more health and fitness minded, dance will continue to be a chosen activity to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Additionally, there are numerous different styles of dance that can appeal to a wide range of people.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market.

Henderson Dance Expressions will target dancers of all ages and skill levels in the city of Henderson and surrounding areas. The studio will target individuals looking to improve their dance skills in one or more of the styles offered. Henderson Dance Expressions will also target individuals looking to use dance as a form of exercise to achieve their fitness goals. Additionally, the dance studio will target individuals who want to perform or become professional dancers.

Customer Segmentation

Henderson Dance Expressions will primarily target the following customer profiles:

• Children of all ages
• Adults of all ages
• Professional dancers and aspiring professional dancers
• Individuals looking to use dance as a way to improve their health and fitness
• Individuals looking to improve their skills in one or more styles of dance
• Children and families looking for fun recreational activities they can do together

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

Henderson Dance Expressions will face competition from other dance studios with similar business profiles. A description of each competitor company is below.

Dance Henderson

Dance Henderson provides dance instruction for children ages 3-17 and adults of all ages. Located in Henderson, Nevada, the studio is able to provide small class size options for the local community. Their list of dance styles include ballet, hip hop, jazz, and contemporary. Dance Henderson is also able to provide private lessons for individuals and online classes for people to participate across the globe. They specialize in dance performance and fitness programs. Dance Henderson’s promise is to deliver effective instruction from top of their field dance teachers in a structured environment. Dance Henderson’s team of experienced dancers assures students can learn proper technique and form in a supportive environment.

LV Dance School

LV Dance School is a Henderson, Nevada-based dance company that provides outstanding instruction for students of all ages. LV Dance School provides comprehensive dance lessons for students in individual and group settings. The owners of LV Dance School are former dancers so they understand how a dance class should be run from a student’s perspective. They also are experts in their dance styles and can help students master the technique at their own pace. Students and parents can depend on their instruction process using positive reinforcement to incentivize students to improve their skills. By choosing LV Dance School for tailored dance instruction, they take the uncertainty out of the process and ensure students get the most value out of their time spent in the studio.

Steps and Styles Dance Studio

Steps and Styles Dance Studio is a trusted Nevada dance company that provides superior dance instruction for students in Henderson and the surrounding areas. They are able to provide a comprehensive dance program geared toward students who want to become professional dancers and those who just want to have fun. Steps and Styles Dance Studio is able to instruct students of all skill levels, from beginner to advanced, in multiple dance styles. The instructors are well-versed in ballet, cheer, folk dance, ballroom, and more. Their pricing structure is simple and straightforward. Steps and Styles Dance Studio offers four different pricing programs for their classes – pay by the class, pay by the month, pay by the season, or pay per program.

Competitive Advantage

Henderson Dance Expressions will be able to offer the following advantages over their competition:

• Large pool of diverse instructors who are experts in their dance specialties and experienced in teaching students of various age groups.
• Comprehensive array of dance styles and programs for students of all ages and skills levels to ensure there is something for everyone.
• Henderson Dance Expressions offers group classes, private lessons, and online classes to give students greater flexibility to achieve their individual goals.

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

Henderson Dance Expressions will offer a unique value proposition to its clientele:

• Highly-qualified team of skilled dance instructors that are able to work with students of all ages and skill levels.
• Flexible program options that will allow each student to get the most value for the price.

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for Henderson Dance Expressions is as follows:

Word of Mouth/Referrals

Mary Roberts has built up an extensive list of contacts over the years by providing exceptional service and expertise to her students. Many have communicated to Mary that they kept coming back to her classes because they were happy with the instruction she was providing. Once Mary advised them she was leaving to open her own dance studio, they expressed interest in following her to her new company and committed to help spread the word of Henderson Dance Expressions.

Professional Associations and Networking

Henderson Dance Expressions will become a member of Dance/USA, the National Dance Education Organization, and Dance Educators of America. Mary will focus the networking efforts on expanding Henderson Dance Expressions’ network of instructors and students.

Print Advertising

Henderson Dance Expressions will invest in professionally designed print ads to display in programs or flyers at industry networking events and in magazines, newspapers, and direct mailers.

Website/SEO Marketing

Henderson Dance Expressions will hire an in-house marketing director to design and maintain the company’s website. The website will be well organized, informative, and list all of its available programs and classes. The marketing director will also manage Henderson Dance Expressions’s website presence with SEO marketing tactics so that anytime someone types in the Google or Bing search engine “Henderson dance studio” or “dance classes near me”, Henderson Dance Expressions will be listed at the top of the search results.

Social Media Marketing

The company’s marketing director will create and maintain an active presence on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok.

The pricing of Henderson Dance Expressions will be moderate and on par with competitors so customers feel they receive value when they choose to enroll in their programs.

Operations Plan

The following will be the operations plan for Henderson Dance Expressions.

Operation Functions:

• Mary Roberts will be the Owner and President of the company. She will oversee all dance instructors, program offerings, and client relations. Mary has spent the past year recruiting the following staff:
• Lisa Campbell – Accountant and Bookkeeper who will provide all client accounting, tax payments, and monthly financial reporting.
• Kelly Green – Sales and Marketing Director who will provide all sales and marketing efforts for Henderson Dance Expressions.
• Benjamin Martin – Office Manager who will oversee all day-to-day operations of the studio including maintaining the schedule, supervising the maintenance and cleaning staff, and managing the inventory of dance apparel available for sale in the studio.

Milestones:

Henderson Dance Expressions will have the following milestones completed in the next six months.

8/1/2022 – Finalize contract to lease studio space

8/15/2022 – Finalize personnel and staff employment contracts for the management team

9/1/2022 – Finalize contracts for dance instructors

9/15/2022 – Begin networking at industry events and implement marketing strategies

9/22/2022 – Begin moving into Henderson Dance Expressions studio

10/1/202 – Henderson Dance Expressions opens for business

Mary has recruited Lisa Campbell, an accountant, to help manage the studio’s finances. Lisa has a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of California. She has worked as a bookkeeper for a dance apparel retail company for the past ten years and is well versed in financial accounting. Lisa will be responsible for all of the company’s finances.

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

The revenue drivers for Henderson Dance Expressions are the dance tuition fees charged to students for instruction services. Henderson Dance Expressions will offer flexible pricing options to accommodate each student’s goals. Students can pay per class, per program, or on a monthly or annual basis depending on what will work best for them.

The cost drivers will be the overhead costs required in order to staff a dance studio. The expenses will be the payroll cost, rent, utilities, dance supplies, and marketing materials.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Key assumptions.

The following outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and in order to pay off the startup business loan.

• Average number of students per month: 100
• Average fees per month: $50,000
• Studio lease per year: $100,000

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, dance studio business plan faqs, what is a dance studio business plan.

A dance studio business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your dance studio business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can  easily complete your dance studio business plan using our Dance Studio Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Dance Studios?

There are a number of different kinds of dance studios, some examples include the traditional dance studio which might offer group classes and private lessons, and there are online dance studios that offer on-demand dance training and virtual lessons.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Dance Studio Business Plan?

Dance studios are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.

A well-crafted dance studio business plan is essential for securing funding from any type of investor.

What are the Steps To Start a Dance Studio Business?

Starting your own dance studio business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Write A Dance Studio Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed dance studio business plan pdf or doc that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include market research on the dance industry and potential target market size, information on the services you will offer, marketing strategy, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast.  

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your dance studio business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your dance studio business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Dance Studio Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your dance studio  with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws. 

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your dance studio business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms. 

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations. 

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events. 

7. Acquire Necessary Dance Studio Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your business , dance studio owners, will need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation. 

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your dance studio business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful dance studio business and starting a dance studio business plan:

• How to Open a Dance Studio Business

Dance Studio Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Dance Studio Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 10,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their dance studios. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a dance studio business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What is a Dance Studio Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your dance studio as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Dance Studio

If you’re looking to start a dance studio or grow your existing dance studio you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your dance studio in order to improve your chances of success. Your dance studio business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Dance Studios

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a dance studio are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your dance studio business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable. But they will want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.

The second most common form of funding for a dance studio is angel investors. Angel investors are wealthy individuals who will write you a check. They will either take equity in return for their funding, or, like a bank, they will give you a loan.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a business plan for a dance studio.

Your dance studio business plan should include 10 sections as follows:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of dance studio business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a dance studio that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of dance studios.

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the dance studio industry. Discuss the type of dance studio you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of dance studio you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types:

• Traditional Dance Studio : this type of dance studio offers dance training and instruction in a broad range of dance styles, including group classes and in private instruction.
• Online Dance Studio : this type of dance studio is gaining popularity, as individuals who cannot attend physical classes still want to improve their technique. Online dance studios typically focus on one dance style, such as Urban, Tap, Ballet, etc.

In addition to explaining the type of dance studio you operate, the Company Analysis section of your dance studio business plan needs to provide a company description.

Include answers to question such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include sales goals you’ve reached, new store openings, etc.
• Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the dance studio business.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the dance studio industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy particularly if your research identifies market trends. For example, if there was a trend towards hip hop dance lessons, it would be helpful to ensure your plan calls for a variety of class options.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your dance studio business plan:

• How big is the dance studio business (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your dance studio. You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your dance studio business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: under 6 years old, ages 6-12, ages 13-18, etc.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of dance studio you operate. Clearly baby boomers would want a different atmosphere, pricing and class options, and would respond to different marketing promotions than teens.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most dance studios primarily serve customers living in their same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other dance studios.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes fitness studios that also offer dance classes. You need to mention such competition to show you understand that not everyone who studies dance does so at a dance studio.

With regards to direct competition, you want to detail the other dance studios with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be dance studios located very close to your location (unless of course you are operating an online dance studio).

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What products do they offer?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide superior dance instruction?
• Will you provide dance classes that your competitors don’t offer?
• Will you make it easier or faster for customers to register for individual or group classes?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a dance studio, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product : in the product section you should reiterate the type of dance studio that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to ballet, will you offer tap, ballroom, jazz, and modern dance?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the classes you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your dance studio. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your dance studio located next to a school or gym, etc. Discuss how your location might provide a steady stream of customers.

Promotions : the final part of your dance studio marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Making your dance studio’s storefront extra appealing to attract passing customers
• Magazine and newspaper advertising
• Reaching out to local bloggers and websites
• Social media advertising
• Partnerships with local organizations (e.g., gym members get one free dance class)
• Local radio advertising
• Banner ads at local venues

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your dance studio business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your dance studio such as serving customers, procuring supplies, keeping the studio clean, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to enroll your 100th student, or when you hope to reach $X in sales. It could also be when you expect to hire your Xth employee or launch a new location.

Management Team

To demonstrate your dance studio’s ability to succeed as a business, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in the dance studio business. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in dance studios and/or successfully running small businesses.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you teach 5 classes per day or ten? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : While balance sheets include much information, to simplify them to the key items you need to know about, balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. For instance, if you spend $100,000 on building out your dance studio, that will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $100.000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a dance studio:

• Location build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
• Cost of equipment like sound system, props, etc.
• Cost of maintaining an adequate amount of supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Taxes and permits
• Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your studio design blueprint or location lease.

  Summary Putting together a business plan for your dance studio is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the dance studio business, your competition and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful dance studio.  

Dance Studio Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my dance studio business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Dance Studio Business Plan.

What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

  OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.   Click here to see how Growthink’s business plan consulting services can create your business plan for you.

Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

How To Create A Dance Studio Business Plan That’s Built For Success

• By The Studio Director Team
• June 30, 2023

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Even the most passionate and creative dancers that dream of opening a studio start with a business plan. It’s easy to get carried away with the exciting elements of organizing classes and recitals, but you need a road map to help your studio grow strategically. A business plan is that road map. In its simplest form, it’s a document that lays out your studio’s future goals and how you plan to achieve them. It can be much more than that, though. The best dance studio business plan can be the foundation that keeps your studio bustling and busy for years to come. Here’s a brief overview of where to start when creating your business plan for a dance studio.

What You Need To Open A Dance Studio

In addition to your love of dance, you will need space, funding, and all necessary licensing to open your studio. Before you begin work on your complete business plan, you may want to make a running list of these essentials to help guide you to success.

The most important thing you need for your studio is up-front capital for dance studio expenses . This amount will vary based on the studio’s location and size of your studio space. Whether you buy or rent, your studio itself will likely be the largest cost associated with your dance studio finances. Beyond that, utilities, flooring , and equipment will be essential before you get up and running. You should also factor in compensation for teachers and any other positions you plan to hire.

Furthermore, every state has licensing requirements for a range of businesses. This is particularly important if your studio will offer dance instruction classes for children or individuals with special needs . Speaking with a local business law attorney to find out what is required in the legal structure and how much any licensing , permits, or other legal fees will cost can be beneficial for your financial plan and business goals.

You can find a full breakdown of your estimated dance studio costs in our earlier post. These essentials will get your studio up and running and are important to lay out in detail within your dance studio business plan.

What To Include In Your Dance Studio Business Plan

To build a successful studio, there are a few things you should consider including in your business planning. These elements will help you lay the foundation for a successful dance business. If you have multiple partners, create these together so you can arrive at a dance studio business plan everyone can agree on.

1. Executive summary

Before you dive into the nitty gritty details, it is best to provide some basic information about your dance studio. This is where you will outline your core values and objectives to set the focus for the rest of your business plan, including your business concept, target customers, key competitors, and operations plan.

This is also a good place to include a mission statement that clearly defines the “why” behind your dance studio. Think about what you strive to offer your students, employees, and community and explain how you will proudly deliver that here at your dance school.

2. Company description

Expand on your executive summary with facts regarding what your dance studio has to offer.

This is where you can dive into details about how you’ll contribute to the dance industry in your local area. What sets you apart from other studios? The best way to complete this section is to expand on your professional experience and what makes your team unique. For example, what types of dance training will be offered, what dance styles are incorporated, if there are group classes, and if it differs from a traditional dance studio. Your target customers will appreciate your instruction services.

3. Market analysis

Now it’s time for some serious data. A well-written business plan includes a competitive analysis. This is critical to explain how your studio stacks up against other studios. Do extensive research on the audience you’re targeting. Be honest about any potential challenges. Aim to research indirect competitors, direct competitors, and key competitors.

Here are some questions you should write answers to:

• What are the population demographics of your area?
• What are our business goals and how do they compare to the competitive analysis of other dance schools?
• Is this demographic a good target for bringing in a steady stream of dance students?
• How many studios will you compete against for students?
• How do other studios compare to your own dance studio?
• What are your competitors doing to be successful?
• How will you remain competitive in this market?
• What challenges will you face in reaching your targeted demographics?
• How is your customer segment different from direct competitors?

4. Organization and management

Use a flow chart to lay out which team member is in charge of what at your dance studio. Include a description of each employee’s duties and responsibilities. If you hope to expand your management team, discuss the positions you would eventually like to recruit. These other roles should include who handles marketing efforts, who manages the balance sheets, and who is the business owner.

You should also disclose what type of business you’re establishing. Will it be a limited liability company (LLC), sole proprietorship corporation, or another type of business structure ? This will affect your taxes and personal liability, as well as the paperwork you need to file to register your business in your state.

5. Products and services

Here is where you get to talk about your passion. Simply put, what type of dance studio are you opening? Do you want your own dance studio business to fulfill the dream of becoming a studio that specializes in private lessons, provides superior dance instruction, and is viewed as a competitive dance school?

Discuss the different types of classes you plan to offer. Be specific about how long each class will be and whether you plan to divide them up by levels of experience. Will you offer private lessons in addition to traditional group class settings? Will you host special events or recitals? Do you plan to compete in competitions?

Provide information about the unique aspects of your curriculum. Again, this is to make your studio stand out amongst all other fitness studios, but especially other dance studios.

6. Financial projections

Think of this section as your dance studio costs and revenue blueprint .

Whether you already have the money for startup costs, or will be using investors or a bank loan, be clear about how you plan to get started. Use graphs, charts, and/or spreadsheets to detail your initial and monthly expenses, as well as projected sales. What costs will be involved? Consider your studio expenses, teacher salaries, and any software you use to automate key processes . These can all be documented in a cash flow statement, company analysis section, income statement, financial plan, and balance sheets.

This is also where you should disclose the structure you plan to use for charging your students. How much will they pay per class? Will you include an annual registration fee? Consider how often you’ll host recitals and how much you’ll charge for a ticket. Do you have plans to rent out your space or sell apparel? Be sure to be well-versed in your customer segments, target demographic, and market trends to accurately price your dance classes offered. This can ultimately give your dance studio a competitive advantage against other dance studios.

Don’t leave anything out when it comes to the money coming in and being spent. This will give you a realistic idea of what to expect on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. This section can and will change over time as you learn more about the business, competitors, and your community.

Financial transparency is key to find your target audience and sticking to your operations plan.

Note any bank loans, funds contributed from angel investors, and personal savings contributions in the balance sheet.

7. Marketing strategy

There are endless ways to implement a marketing strategy so you can attract students. This is where you’ll generally discuss how you plan to do that, by incorporating marketing materials and key points.

Whether it’s through social media, in-person referrals, newspaper advertising, or a combination, develop a plan and break down the cost of each method to attract dancers to your dance studio.

8. Appendix

Create an appendix for supporting documents and other materials. This may include various contracts, permits, licenses, and credit histories.

If you are seeking financial investments for your dance studio, you may also wish to provide resumes and letters of reference that speak to your reputation and experience.

Learn More About Dance Studio Industry Information

While it may seem like there are a lot of moving parts, any dance studio owner will tell you that the journey is worth it. A dance studio business plan can help you turn your vision into reality.

If you’re interested in learning more about what it takes to run a successful dance studio, The Studio Director can help. Our dance studio software can create a seamless way of tracking enrollment, billing, and much more. It takes the guesswork out of many of the ongoing tasks required for your dance studio.

We’ve also created Dance Studio Ownership 101 , a free eBook with expert advice on for dance studio owners creating a business that will thrive. Download it now to learn more about opening your dream studio.

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How To Create a Profitable Dance Studio Business Plan (a Template Included)

Are you one step away from starting your own dance studio business? That's great news. Your passion for dancing can help you launch and manage a successful dance school. However, while dancing is a form of art, starting a dance studio isn't. We are talking business here. And since you are planning on kickstarting a business you will need a business plan.

Is it a must-have or you can just improvise on the go? A bad or incomplete business plan is one of the main reasons why 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years of launch.

With a plan in your hands, you will know which steps you will have to take even before you start a dance studio. Do you invest in a dance studio management software , what are your main business goals, and how to advertise your dance studio are just a few questions an elaborate business plan provides answers to.

Since it all can sound daunting to you, we decided to help you out. Here is everything you need to know about the dance studio business plan and how to come up with one on your own.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a blueprint you will build your operation on. Generally speaking, all business plans documents can be divided into two sections:

• Business objectives - a detailed definition of all business objectives you want to achieve (eg. achieve a specific revenue or run at full capacity by the end of the year);
• Strategies to achieve objectives - detailed plan on how you intend to achieve your business goals.

Every company despite its size has marketing, financial, and operational aspects. A complete plan should address all these aspects outlining strategic actions you will take to achieve success in all these aspects. It can sound complicated to someone with limited experience in the industry.

Why go through the trouble then? Here are the most noteworthy benefits of working with a business plan.

Benefits of having a dance studio business plan

Every new business owner wants their business to succeed. That's exactly what the business plan delivers. It provides you with a clear roadmap to follow. Let's start with the most noteworthy benefit of working with a plan.

Keep business on track

With a plan, you will be able to have a structure. With your business objectives defined it becomes easy to manage a business and keep it on track. You can benchmark your current business performance against defined operational milestones and see exactly how far are you from your profit targets.

Stay true to your dance studio business priorities

Once you start a business you can easily be drawn to making decisions based on a gut feeling or experience. Making the right choices becomes especially challenging when you are passionate about what you do. Since the dance studio business plan outlines your objectives you will be able to have a clear picture and stay true to achieving them instead of pursuing something else.

Achieve marketing clarity

Marketing is essential for your business's success. Fortunately, you will have your marketing strategy outlined in the studio business plan. Everything ranging from the defined target market to services promotion strategies is there. A plan helps you achieve marketing clarity and stay true to your messaging which can help you build a consistent brand image in a long run.

Hire and secure the top talent

A dance studio business plan also helps hire and retain top talent. Besides defining how many people you need to hire, roles, and responsibilities, the plan will also help you communicate your vision.

You will be able to enter a job market with clarity and seamlessly show how your employees contribute to achieving business goals. In return, you will improve employee retention and drive productivity.

Studio business plan and sources of funding

We decided to devote a separate section for the last benefit of having a business plan because of how important it is. To kickstart a dance studio on your own you will need cash.

If you want to invest your personal savings into your dance school you won't have to prove to yourself that your business idea is valid and has a lot of potential.

But, on the other hand, having a business plan will make a smart investor who knows exactly what objectives you want to achieve and how you want to achieve them.

The other two financing options you have are bank loans and angel investors. And this is where having the business plan makes a considerable difference. Simply put, banks and investors won't take you into consideration if you don't have a plan.

As a matter of fact, a business plan is often a requirement in a loan application. After applying for a loan, the bank will often ensure that you have appropriate financial standing.

In order to ensure that you will be able to give back the money, they will need some proof that you know what you are doing. A plan that outlines how you'll operate all aspects of your studio will give them the confidence to approve the loan.

The last option to finance your business idea includes angel investors. These wealthy individuals are interested in investing in viable business ideas. To prove to them your idea is worth investing in and ensure you get the funding, you will have to present a business plan.

If the benefits motivated you to write a business plan you will need to know which sections to include. Let's see what you need to address when writing a plan for a dance studio.

How to write a dance studio business plan

Writing a comprehensive business plan for a dance studio doesn't have to be hard. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you cover all the essential aspects of a business plan including an explanation for each one of the aspects.

Step 1: Provide a detailed company analysis

Every dance studio is unique. You should start your business plan by providing a detailed description of the type of dance studio you plan to open or expand.

In case you are planning to open a traditional dance studio you should outline the dance styles you intend to provide training and instruction for. You should also write down whether you want to focus on group classes, private classes, or both.

In case you are launching an online dancing studio, you should not only outline the dance styles you will focus on but also whether you will do classes in real-time or offer pre-recorded online classes .

Another important thing to add to the company analysis section is your dance studio business structure such as private company, LLC, S-Corp, and others.

Step 2: Write market analysis

Market analysis is a key section of a dance studio business plan. It's can help you get actionable insights into the dance studio industry as a whole. When you better understand the industry you plan to operate in, you can make better choices. It especially goes for market size as it tells you whether your business idea is viable in the first place.

While analyzing the market you can also identify certain patterns and trends which can help you align your business better and ensure increased profits. For instance, you can discover that a certain dance style is trendy and add it to your offer.

Finally, the analysis will paint you as an informed entrepreneur in the eyes of your potential investors increasing the chances your loan application gets approved.

This section should contain the following information:

• Market size and trends (declining or increasing)
• Growth forecast for the dance studio industry
• The main factors affecting the industry
• The key competitors in your area
• The value of your dance studio

Step 3: Report on customer analysis

One of the most important things you can do to ensure your business's success is customer analysis. The customer research and analysis report should find its way into your dance studio business plan.

Customer analysis will help you identify target customers and target audience. The key difference is that target customers are people who you intend to attend your classes, while the target audience refers to the people who you are going to target with your ads.

Oftentimes, these are the same two groups of people. However, in some instances, they are not. For instance, if you intend on giving dance classes to youngsters they are your target customers, but it is their parents who are your target audience.

Customer research will help you discover demographics. You will be able to discover what each customer segment expects from a dance studio. Each one of the customer segments is interested in unique class options, pricing, and dance styles.

Demographics include information regarding your customers' age, location, and gender. When you know who your target customers and target audience are, it becomes easy to custom-tailor marketing messages for every customer segment. It can help you attract more students and ensure the necessary revenue to keep your doors open and start planning an expansion.

Step 4: Report on the competitive analysis

During the market analysis, you've identified your key competitors in your market. Now is the time to do a competitive analysis and include the report in the plan. You can't run a successful studio business while ignoring the competition.

Competitive analysis stands for doing a study on the direct and indirect competitors in your target market. Direct competitors refer to other dance schools in your neighborhood, city, and region.

However, to appear as an industry expert you should also outline the indirect competitors. People attend dance classes at other venues too such as gyms and fitness studios. Don't just list the competitors. You should provide a brief overview of every competitor you will be up against including:

• The dance styles they specialize in
• Is there anything that makes that stand out from the crowd
• What target demographic they offer their services to
• Their pricing policy
• The flaws in their operation

Once you provide the overview of your competitors you should help the reader understand how you plan to cut through the noise and make your dance school more competitive. The list of strategies you can list here can include:

• Offering more attractive prices;
• Loyalty program for dedicated students;
• Using software tools such as class management software for dance studios to streamline class scheduling, billing, payments, and class registers;
• Hiring top instructors to provide the best dance instruction;

Whatever strategy you choose, feel free to address it in detail especially if the competition in your target market is harsh.

Step 5: Outline your marketing plan

The marketing plan includes all the strategies and actions you'll use to attract more students and have them sign up for classes at your dance studio. First things first though. You need to define your product.

In the product section, you should provide details about the classes you intend to instruct. You should cover every dance class type available at your school.

Next, you should list the prices for your instruction services. This section should outline the payment methods you'll accept, whether there is a recurring payment plan or not, and how your prices compare to competitors' prices.

The third thing you need to address in this section is your studio's location. If the location is suitable for building a steady stream of new students, feel free to elaborate on it.

Finally, you should outline your plan to attract new students to your venue. A dance studio business has many advertising opportunities to choose from ranging from flyers and outdoor hoarding to paid advertising on social media and blogging.

To show that you've worked out a plan to succeed you should provide a detailed advertising plan including:

• every ad channel you choose;
• the overall advertising budget and allocated budget for every strategy;
• long term and short term advertising strategies (such as SEO and paid ads);
• the tools you'll use to streamline and manage initiatives;
• the strategy to measure the ROI of your advertising;

Step 6: Write an operations plan

Since you've shared your business goals, now it is the time to explain to your readers how you plan on achieving them. Or, in other words, you will need to write the operations plan.

The operations plan should include all your business processes. It should include everything ranging from your customer service to instruction processes. Basically, you should include everything you and your staff do in the dance studio.

The operations plan should also include your dance studio business goals, but this time they should come with a timeline. For instance, 6 months from opening we expect to reach $10,000 monthly revenue. Or, 3 months from opening we expect to reach full student capacity.

Step 7: Include your management team

To build a reputable and successful dance studio you will need a good management team. You should include your team in this section. It should show the reader that you have the experience, knowledge, skills, and expertise to run a dance studio .

Include the list of your team members. The list should include relevant licenses, education, and prior experience in running a dance studio. If you feel like you lack expertise you can always network to find some mentors and include them on your business's advisory board.

Step 8: Provide an elaborate financial plan

While dancing might be your passion, running a business is all about managing finances and ensuring profitability. To show your readers that you truly are an entrepreneur you should make a financial plan for at least 5 years ahead.

Here is how to excel at writing a financial statement:

• Make informed predictions to write a Profit and Loss statement - Profit and Loss Statement or Income statement should show both your revenue and costs of running a business. Take into account the capacity of your dance studio and forecasted growth to approximate the values of revenue and costs;
• Create balance sheets to outline your assets and liabilities - for instance, the commercial real estate you invest in is an asset while the loan you take from a bank is a liability;
• Develop your cash flow statement - this statement tells all cash inflows and outflows your dance studio receives. This statement will help you tell your readers how you plan to fund dance studio operating expenses, including your gross sales and net income.

Step 9: Conclude with the appendix

To make your plan more compelling you will need to document your claims and attach them in the appendix.

The appendix should contain documentation including a financial plan, customer and competition research reports, dance studio interior design, invoices for the space rental, equipment, and studio blueprints.

You can also include links to your official website and the websites of your main competitors.

Step 10: Write an executive summary

The executive summary is corporate lingo for a business plan introduction. We intentionally made it the final step even though it's a business plan introduction.

It's simply because it should summarize all other sections of your plan. You will have such an easier job writing it when you have everything else on the paper.

Besides outlining all other sections, the goal of the executive summary is to make the reader interested in the rest of your plan. You should make it clear whether you are planning to launch a dance studio startup or you want to expand your existing operation.

Next, briefly touch on other aspects you've covered. Provide a short overview of your industry and the opportunities in your target market.

Mention the competitors and how you plan to stand out from the crowd. Share the key points in your marketing and hiring strategies. Lastly, include the most important details regarding your financial plan.

Using a studio business plan template

Now that you know all the important aspects of a plan you can use a business plan template. You can access a free template at the following link . The templates usually come with pre-drafted plan sections that you only need to fill out.

While this is a really convenient shortcut to take, you should be mindful that not all templates come complete. Make sure to cross-reference this guide with any given template to ensure all must-have aspects are there.

Final thoughts

To start a dance studio and get the necessary funding you will need a great dance studio business plan. With formal documentation containing your business goals, strategies to achieve them, and a time frame for achieving objectives you will not only appear as a serious entrepreneur but also have a guideline to refer to when setting up your organization.

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Dance Studio Business Plan: 7 Steps to Get Started in 2024

So you’ve decided to start a dance studio and are eager to begin writing your dance studio business plan. First of all, congratulations! You’re about to start an exciting journey bringing the joy of dance into students’ lives.

But now is where it gets real. It’s time to put your ideas to paper and create a game plan for your business strategy. Whether you’re applying for a loan or wanting to organize your thoughts into a central document, having a dance studio business plan is necessary to set yourself up for success.

At DanceStudio-Pro , we equip dance studio owners and managers with the tools they need to achieve their goals. Our dance studio management software helps hundreds of dance studio owners stay organized and carry out their business plans effectively.

When creating your dance studio business plan, complete these essential tasks:

• Draft your executive summary
• Create a company description
• Determine your products and services
• Build a market analysis
• Establish management and organization
• Craft your marketing strategy
• Complete your financial projections

Your dance studio business plan will be one of your greatest tools to inform all your business decisions going forward, so set aside some time to get it right. Let’s get started.

1. Draft your executive summary

The executive summary is a synopsis of your business plan. Think of it as an advanced table of contents that outlines key points for the reader as they move through the rest of the document.

Your executive summary is your best chance of capturing your reader’s attention, so be sure to make it concise but also compelling. Although this portion appears first in your business plan, experts recommend you actually write it last, once you’ve finalized each section. Include these components in your executive summary:

• Your reason for starting your business
• The need you’ll be fulfilling in the community (this is a great area to be compelling— really get into what made you want to start a dance studio and what you’re bringing to the table with your business)
• A summary of your products and services
• An overview of the market conditions of the dance industry
• A brief outline of your marketing plans
• A snapshot of financial obligations and projections

Keep your executive summary brief— no more than 1-2 pages. If you’re seeking a loan for your studio, write a short summary of the amount you’re requesting and what you’ll use the funds for at the end of the executive summary. Use an upbeat tone to set an optimistic mood for readers as they continue through your business plan (or for yourself, as you read back through your business plan later for guidance).

2. Create a company description

The next step involved in crafting your dance studio business plan is to create a company description. The company description is a chance to go into detail about the specific characteristics of your dance studio. We suggest answering these questions as you write:

• Who are you? Introduce yourself, describe your past experience in the dance industry, and include the official name of your business.
• How is your business structured? Describe your studio’s business type— whether it’s a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, etc.
• Where are you located? Write your business address and intended hours of operation.
• What is your mission statement? Come up with one sentence that encapsulates your purpose for running your dance studio.
• What are you selling? Identify the products and services you’ll be providing.
• How will you stand out? Pinpoint the aspects of your business that set you apart from competitors, whether it’s the product or service you’re offering and/or the audience you’re targeting.
• What are your business goals? Discuss where you see the business going in the future based on market trends and predictions.
• How will you achieve your goals? Highlight your plans for marketing your business to achieve growth.

Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll have a thorough company description that allows you to communicate the purpose and mission of your business. Reference this section as you write the others of your dance studio business plan to ensure all the explanations are aligned with your company description.

3. Determine your products and services

In this section, describe in detail the products and services you’ll be offering at your dance studio. Explain whether you’ll be hosting both virtual and in-person classes and the type of lessons you’ll hold— group, solo, or both. You might also choose to cater to specific age groups, such as just children— note that in this section. Additionally, you may choose to sell dance accessories or equipment such as pointe shoes, costumes, or warm-up clothes, so mention that as well.

Another revenue source to include in this section is ticket sales for workshops, retreats, recitals, and other events. DanceStudio-Pro offers an online ticketing system to collect payment and track statistics for events, which you might look into as you continue to plan for your studio.

List the cost or predicted cost of your products and services in this section, and how they fulfill a certain need in the market. This will give readers a better understanding of what you’ll be doing on a day-to-day basis at your studio.

4. Build a market analysis

In the market analysis section, prove your dance industry knowledge by describing the current state of the dance market, where your business fits in, and how you see the market changing or growing in the future.

Use data and statistics to paint a picture of your business metrics such as your target demographic and their income level. Additionally, describe the size and scope of competing dance studios in the area along with the strengths and weaknesses of competitors. Highlight where your dance studio fits into the existing market to fill a need. You can also describe barriers to entry in the dance studio industry— the factors that make it hard for someone to open a dance studio that protect you from new competitors threatening your business and crowding the market.

As you build your market analysis, consider conducting a SWOT analysis , identifying your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats:

• Strengths: What are the aspects of your business that will allow you to do well in the market?
• Weaknesses: Where is there room for improvement? How can you implement these improvements?
• Opportunities: What opportunities are available for your business to take advantage of? Have any recent trends or changes in the market presented new avenues for your business to explore?
• Threats: What threats are you facing from your competition or other external factors? Where do your weaknesses leave you exposed?

If you’re using your business plan to attract potential investors, you’ll want to focus on your strengths and opportunities, and just identify your weakness and threats for yourself to help inform your own understanding of where your business can improve. Focus on the positives in your business plan to reassure investors or loan managers that your business has a solid foundation of advantages and opportunities for growth.

As you build your market analysis, you might find opportunities to improve your business by implementing the latest tech available for dance studios. This includes powerful dance studio management software that allows you to organize your business operations and marketing efforts to stand out against competitors. Take note of the opportunities you uncover to take actionable steps and make the most of these untapped possibilities.

5. Establish management and organization

Introduce the key players at your dance studio— your staff and instructors. Describe their backgrounds, level of dance industry expertise, and daily responsibilities.

Use this section to make your staff shine and highlight their expertise in the field and any certifications or qualifications they bring to the floor. If you’re using your business plan to attract investors, showcasing the experience and leadership abilities of your staff helps inspire more confidence that your business is a good investment and has the assets to succeed long-term. You’ll also want to mention any new or unfilled positions at your studio and the qualities you’ll look for in new hires.

If you’re searching for a program to help manage your instructors and other staff more efficiently, DanceStudio-Pro’s teacher management features allow you to send message reminders to staff members about upcoming events and classes and provide detailed lesson plans to instructors. These tools give your instructors the ability to become even more effective managers and leaders within your organization.

6. Craft your marketing strategy

Now that you’ve identified the audience you’ll serve and the conditions of the dance industry market, describe your plan to advertise your business and entice your audience to join your studio.

When creating your marketing strategy, consider the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion:

• Product: Identify the goods and/or services you’re selling, which you described in a previous section.
• Price: Analyze market trends to identify the right price to charge for your dance classes and other studio offerings.
• Place: Describe where your business is located and the area where you’ll be focusing your marketing efforts.
• Promotion: Finally, lay out your strategy for promoting your business. Explain how you’ll get your studio information in front of your audience to convert them into new students.

For the promotion element of your strategy, use a variety of channels such as social media, local radio or TV ads, direct mail appeals, and flyers to connect with prospective students. Investing in a range of marketing channels ensures you’re reaching your target audience enough times that they become interested in your studio without being overwhelmed.

Additionally, include a link to sign up for your email and text lists in your marketing materials. You can send updates and promotions to these contacts through robo-messaging tools to quickly and efficiently communicate with all prospective students at once.

7. Complete your financial projections

The final component of your dance studio business plan is a summary of your financial situation. Provide information on how much you expect to earn compared to your business costs, and how you expect your business to grow over a five-year period.

In your cost breakdown, include expenses such as employee salaries and your studio overhead costs like rent, software, and equipment. Use your market analysis to make an educated prediction of your expected revenue for each year of operation up to five years.

Be sure to include documents such as a cash flow statement based on profit estimates, a balance sheet describing your assets and liabilities, and an estimate of when your business will break even.

To help organize your financial materials, consider investing in a system like DanceStudio-Pro’s dance management software to gain access to tuition auto-pay tools that automatically charge your students or parents. Automating your tuition payments allows you to have a consistent cash flow each month, which can help you more accurately predict your revenue stream for each year. Auto-pay also helps you save time and money that would have been spent creating, sending, and processing invoices.

If you’re using your business plan to apply for a loan, you should include another section to describe your funding request and how you plan to use the money. Other than that, once you’ve completed your financial projections, your business plan is ready to present to investors or serve as a guiding plan for getting your dance studio up and running.

You’ve probably heard the popular saying attributed to Benjamin Franklin: “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” This couldn’t be more true when it comes to creating a dance studio business plan. Your business plan will serve as a guiding force behind your business as it grows and adapts to changing market conditions. When done right, this document takes a considerable amount of time to construct, so get started on your plan ASAP. Happy planning!

For additional resources on how to organize and streamline your planning process to achieve success with your dance studio, check out these links:

• Apps for Dance Studios. To differentiate your dance studio in the market, you might consider creating a custom smartphone app for your studio community. Find out more info on how to create your own app here.
• Best Dance Studio Software for 2023. Investing in quality dance studio management software can help set your studio up for success. Read more about top software features here.
• Student Management Features. Keeping track of student information and payment history is a challenging but necessary task. DanceStudio-Pro’s student management tools take care of these components of your business to save you time and effort.

Laura Cole, CEO of DanceStudio-Pro

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Dance Studio Business Plan Template & Guidebook

Starting a dance studio can be an exciting and rewarding endeavor. It’s important to have the right plan in place to ensure the success of your business. If you’re looking for a comprehensive resource to help you create a winning business plan for your dance studio, The #1 Dance Studio Business Plan Template & Guidebook is the perfect tool for you. This guidebook offers step-by-step instructions on how to launch a successful studio, from creating an effective business plan to budgeting, marketing and beyond. With this guidebook in hand, you’ll be fully prepared to start your venture into the world of dance!

Get worry-free services and support to launch your business starting at $0 plus state fees.

• How to Start a Profitable Dance Studio Business [11 Steps]
• 25 Catchy Dance Studio Business Names:
• List of the Best Marketing Ideas For Your Dance Studio Service:

How to Write a Dance Studio Business Plan in 7 Steps:

1. describe the purpose of your dance studio business..

The first step to writing your business plan is to describe the purpose of your dance studio business. This includes describing why you are starting this type of business, and what problems it will solve for customers. This is a quick way to get your mind thinking about the customers’ problems. It also helps you identify what makes your business different from others in its industry.

It also helps to include a vision statement so that readers can understand what type of company you want to build.

Here is an example of a purpose mission statement for a dance studio business:

The purpose of [Dance Studio] is to create an inclusive, fun and inspiring atmosphere where individuals of all ages and backgrounds can come together to learn and develop their dance skills and express themselves through movement. We will also strive to create a safe space for dancers to be creative, experiment and grow in their craft.

2. Products & Services Offered by Your Dance Studio Business.

The next step is to outline your products and services for your dance studio business. 

When you think about the products and services that you offer, it's helpful to ask yourself the following questions:

• What is my business?
• What are the products and/or services that I offer?
• Why am I offering these particular products and/or services?
• How do I differentiate myself from competitors with similar offerings?
• How will I market my products and services?

You may want to do a comparison of your business plan against those of other competitors in the area, or even with online reviews. This way, you can find out what people like about them and what they don’t like, so that you can either improve upon their offerings or avoid doing so altogether.

3. Build a Creative Marketing Stratgey.

If you don't have a marketing plan for your dance studio business, it's time to write one. Your marketing plan should be part of your business plan and be a roadmap to your goals. 

A good marketing plan for your dance studio business includes the following elements:

Target market

• Who is your target market?
• What do these customers have in common?
• How many of them are there?
• How can you best reach them with your message or product?

Customer base 

• Who are your current customers? 
• Where did they come from (i.e., referrals)?
• How can their experience with your dance studio business help make them repeat customers, consumers, visitors, subscribers, or advocates for other people in their network or industry who might also benefit from using this service, product, or brand?

Product or service description

• How does it work, what features does it have, and what are its benefits?
• Can anyone use this product or service regardless of age or gender?
• Can anyone visually see themselves using this product or service?
• How will they feel when they do so? If so, how long will the feeling last after purchasing (or trying) the product/service for the first time?

Competitive analysis

• Which companies are competing with yours today (and why)? 
• Which ones may enter into competition with yours tomorrow if they find out about it now through word-of-mouth advertising; social media networks; friends' recommendations; etc.)
• What specific advantages does each competitor offer over yours currently?

Marketing channels

• Which marketing channel do you intend to leverage to attract new customers?
• What is your estimated marketing budget needed?
• What is the projected cost to acquire a new customer?
• How many of your customers do you instead will return?

Form an LLC in your state!

4. Write Your Operational Plan.

Next, you'll need to build your operational plan. This section describes the type of business you'll be running, and includes the steps involved in your operations. 

In it, you should list:

• The equipment and facilities needed
• Who will be involved in the business (employees, contractors)
• Financial requirements for each step
• Milestones & KPIs
• Location of your business
• Zoning & permits required for the business

What equipment, supplies, or permits are needed to run a dance studio business?

• Studio space or room (for classes and performances)
• Sound system
• Adequate lighting
• Ballet barres
• Flooring (for practicing steps)
• Stereo equipment or PA system
• Music CDs/DVDs or iPod with speakers
• Printer and computer for scheduling, billing, and marketing
• Business license/permit from federal and state government

5. Management & Organization of Your Dance Studio Business.

The second part of your dance studio business plan is to develop a management and organization section.

This section will cover all of the following:

• How many employees you need in order to run your dance studio business. This should include the roles they will play (for example, one person may be responsible for managing administrative duties while another might be in charge of customer service).
• The structure of your management team. The higher-ups like yourself should be able to delegate tasks through lower-level managers who are directly responsible for their given department (inventory and sales, etc.).
• How you’re going to make sure that everyone on board is doing their job well. You’ll want check-ins with employees regularly so they have time to ask questions or voice concerns if needed; this also gives you time to offer support where necessary while staying informed on how things are going within individual departments too!

6. Dance Studio Business Startup Expenses & Captial Needed.

This section should be broken down by month and year. If you are still in the planning stage of your business, it may be helpful to estimate how much money will be needed each month until you reach profitability.

Typically, expenses for your business can be broken into a few basic categories:

Startup Costs

Startup costs are typically the first expenses you will incur when beginning an enterprise. These include legal fees, accounting expenses, and other costs associated with getting your business off the ground. The amount of money needed to start a dance studio business varies based on many different variables, but below are a few different types of startup costs for a dance studio business.

Running & Operating Costs

Running costs refer to ongoing expenses related directly with operating your business over time like electricity bills or salaries paid out each month. These types of expenses will vary greatly depending on multiple variables such as location, team size, utility costs, etc.

Marketing & Sales Expenses

You should include any costs associated with marketing and sales, such as advertising and promotions, website design or maintenance. Also, consider any additional expenses that may be incurred if you decide to launch a new product or service line. For example, if your dance studio business has an existing website that needs an upgrade in order to sell more products or services, then this should be listed here.

7. Financial Plan & Projections

A financial plan is an important part of any business plan, as it outlines how the business will generate revenue and profit, and how it will use that profit to grow and sustain itself. To devise a financial plan for your dance studio business, you will need to consider a number of factors, including your start-up costs, operating costs, projected revenue, and expenses. 

Here are some steps you can follow to devise a financial plan for your dance studio business plan:

• Determine your start-up costs: This will include the cost of purchasing or leasing the space where you will operate your business, as well as the cost of buying or leasing any equipment or supplies that you need to start the business.
• Estimate your operating costs: Operating costs will include utilities, such as electricity, gas, and water, as well as labor costs for employees, if any, and the cost of purchasing any materials or supplies that you will need to run your business.
• Project your revenue: To project your revenue, you will need to consider the number of customers you expect to have and the average amount they will spend on each visit. You can use this information to estimate how much money you will make from selling your products or services.
• Estimate your expenses: In addition to your operating costs, you will need to consider other expenses, such as insurance, marketing, and maintenance. You will also need to set aside money for taxes and other fees.
• Create a budget: Once you have estimated your start-up costs, operating costs, revenue, and expenses, you can use this information to create a budget for your business. This will help you to see how much money you will need to start the business, and how much profit you can expect to make.
• Develop a plan for using your profit: Finally, you will need to decide how you will use your profit to grow and sustain your business. This might include investing in new equipment, expanding the business, or saving for a rainy day.

Frequently Asked Questions About Dance Studio Business Plans:

Why do you need a business plan for a dance studio business.

A business plan for a dance studio business provides a comprehensive outline for the development, implementation and execution of the business. It is important to have a well-thought-out plan in place to ensure that the business is properly managed, adequately funded, and properly promoted. The business should have clear objectives, revenue projections, marketing plans, budgeting plans, and risk management strategies identified. Additionally, a business plan can help guide decision-making and provide a roadmap for success.

Who should you ask for help with your dance studio business plan?

A business consultant or coach, accountant, lawyer and other experts in the field of business planning can all be valuable resources when creating a business plan for a dance studio. Additionally, local small business development organizations can offer resources for developing the business plan.

Can you write a dance studio business plan yourself?

Writing a business plan can be a daunting task, so it’s best to consult a professional such as an accountant or business consultant. They will be able to provide advice and guidance on how to create a comprehensive and effective plan that can help you achieve your goals for your dance studio.

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Dance Studio Business Plan

A dance studio is a free space where dancers can rehearse and aspiring dancers can learn. It refers to a place or a unit that has been specifically built for the purpose of making it an appropriate place for the art. It includes a smooth floor covering, known as the performance surface, which is not permanently attached to the underlying floor. It can be rolled up and transported to the dancers’ performance venues should the need arise. You may also see how to make a business plan .

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The floor used in dance studios has the ability to absorb the impact of intensive dance exercises, such as successive jumping, which is vital in making sure that the dancers are safe while conducting their routines. Dance studios also have stationary handrails known as barres which are used as a means of support. You may also like importance of business plan .

Notice that waist height metal rail that ballerinas hold on to when doing stretches? These are a common fixture to every dance studio and are used during training and warm-up exercises.

Of course, since dancing needs music for accompaniment, dance studios are also quipped with sound systems for playing CDs and other Bluetooth-enabled devices. There are also other dance studios, especially the professional, fancy ones, who use actual instruments, like piano for ballet and tap dance, during their practices. You may also check out strategic plan examples .

Floor-to-ceiling mirrors are also important for dance studios so that the dancers can see their body position and alignment.

Dance studios, or dance schools in Europe, are often based locally. They offer classes to anyone interested, but with a price, of course. Depending on the type of dance studio, it may offer lessons on a variety of dance styles or it may simply focus on one. You might be interested in business plan guidelines examples .

Dance Studio Business Plan Example

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Dance Studio Service Business Plan Example

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Example for Dance Studio Business Plan

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Starting Your Own Dance Studio Business

Owning your own dance studio business will require a lot from you. You will need a considerable capital, you need to have a knack for business, and preferably for dancing too, and you must be obsessive to detail. The art of dancing has been an important part of cultures around the world, and your passion for it may not be enough of an assurance that your business will thrive. You may also see how to create a business plan ?

However, here are a few suggestions and reminders you can keep in mind to minimize the risks of being a dance studio owner.

Be an apprentice first.

The best way to learn how to become a business owner is to work for one. Get into the field, minus the risks, by learning the trade through an expert. Take on different roles or jobs for, at least, a year, and observe how the industry works by keeping a keen eye on the tiniest detail which you can use for when you start your own venture. You may also like risk plan examples .

You can take notes on the ups and downs that businesses of this sort face so that they don’t take you by surprise when they happen to you. You can be introduced to the common problems that studio owners face, and tips on how they can be solved. You can study the financial aspects of the business to be aware of the cash flow expectations and the economic limitations involved in the field.

Getting this hands-on experience, especially for the first-time business owners, is a smart way of getting yourself educated on the important technical aspects of owning a business. Get comfortable in the trade so your transition into it can be easier and smoother, in comparison to simply jumping on the water completely clueless of what’s underneath. You may also check out business operational plan examples .

Make a name for yourself.

The thing that makes dance studio owners unique is how their brand can be preached even before their physical store has been created. Their main investment and greatest asset is their very own talent. By selling their dancing skills and letting everyone see them perform, they are already advertising their dance studio. If people can see that the owner himself can dance, they will be more confident in the studio’s ability to train them. You might be interested in implementation plan examples .

It’s a lot like knowing that some renowned chef has decided to start his own restaurant. Being a food connoisseur himself, his customers will be assured that his dishes are good, because the owner is not just a businessman, he is also an expert in the field of cooking. Making delicious meals is not just a source of income, it’s a lifestyle. You may also see market analysis business plan examples .

So if you are planning on starting your own dance studio business, it would be very helpful if you first make it known that you are, yourself, a student of the art. People are more likely to trust in someone who is proficient in the activity than someone who is just in the business for the profit. You may also like network marketing business plan examples .

You can offer your dance teaching services to local after-school programs, gyms, or churches. Once you have earned the trust and patronage of enough people, you can then say hello to your very own dance studio.

How to Start a Dance Studio Guide

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Dance Studio Mission and Vision in Business Plan

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Write a business plan.

In this step, you will have to start discussing the technicalities involved in starting a business . It’s now time to recall every single thing you have learned as an apprentice and as an observant. A formal business plan is a necessary counterpart to your passion for your business concept. You will need it to create a more definitive scheme of how you will run your business.

1. Settle on a budget.

Starting your own studio business will require you to prepare a specific amount of money to purchase and maintain the different aspects of owning one. However, you can’t simply decide to splurge on the preparation. You need to have a fixed budget, and try to work your way with that amount. You may also see hotel business plan examples .

Consider how much money you are capable of spending without compromising all of your life savings. For start-up business like yours, it would be best to limit yourself to a smaller amount, and, if years later, your business shows signs of financial success, you can work on improvements. But for now, it’s important to stick with the necessities. You may also like bar business plan examples .

Consider the amount you will have to spend on the rent or the mortgage of the space for your studio, and the utilities you will need to purchase for it. You will also have to take into consideration the money you will need for renovations, storage, paint, and equipment. Of course, you will also have to invest on advertising, marketing, and your employees’ payroll. You may also check out food catering business plan examples .

2. Decide on your studio’s location.

The geographic location of your business is an important element when considering the type of clientele you want to attract. For example, if you choose to open your studio in a family-friendly neighborhood, of course, you are likely to attract younger kids, and even housewives who still have pizzazz. So if you want this crowd to fill your studio with, choose a location closer to them. You might be interested in evaluation plan examples .

A great tip in choosing a location is by choosing an open area where it will be highly visible to people, such as on a busy road. Although the place is likely to be more expensive, it will also give you a great advantage because your building in itself is advertising your business to every single passerby. You may also see advertising and marketing business plan examples .

You also have to think about your budget when choosing the location. Some areas are more expensive than others, and you don’t want to spend all of your money on the studio space alone. Look for areas in your town or city where the rates of the studios are in your price range.

It would also be best if you look at the crime rate and safety of the area. You don’t want your clients to refuse going to your studio just because thieves are everywhere, or it’s a constant murder scene. Even if it’s cheap, if it will jeopardize your customers’ safety, it’s not worth it. You may also like business plan outline with examples .

3. Decide on a business name.

Your dance studio’s name is one of the most important decisions you will have to make. It will have a massive impact on the image that you will project to your customers. Are you quirky? Witty? Artistic, perhaps? Or elegant and chic? Your name can make all of these impressions on your customers. Plus, you’ll be stuck with it for the rest of your business’s life, so choose wisely. You may also check out business plan examples .

Every business wants a name that’s both catchy and memorable. But this is not always easy to achieve since naming trends change constantly. What’s considered  in now might not be in the future. Choosing timeless names are difficult to find. But you can start by coming up with a name that has a simple spelling and pronunciation. You might be interested in marketing strategy business plan examples .

Complex isn’t the way to go here. Simple and straightforward is the style that will never get old. It would also be best to keep your brand’s name short. The longer it is, the harder it will be to remember. Stick to names that begin with a letter closer to A than to Z.

If your business’s name can be turned into a verb, it would also be a helpful factor. For example, “Google it” or “Tweet that” are both perfectly comprehensible. In fact, we all know what they mean, and they aren’t exactly listed in the dictionary. You may also see restaurant strategic plan examples .

Dance Studio Class Marketing Business Plan

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Freedom Dance Studio Business Plan

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4. Identify your market and ideal clientele.

Know for what type of customers your studio will be. Are you going to target kids, teenagers, adults, or couples? Will you be teaching many dance styles, like ballet, salsa, and tap, or will you just be sticking to one type of dance style? Will you be teaching ethnic or common dance styles? By understanding this aspect of your business, you will have an idea on what marketing strategies you will incorporate to target the right crowd.

5. Plan your business’s vision and mission statements.

Identifying your mission and vision statements is really for your own sake. It can help keep you on track of your short-term and long-term goals . Unless, of course, you’re planning to stay stagnant business-wise. Your vision will help you conceptualize the goals you have for your business without actually showing a definite plan on how to achieve them.

Your mission statement , on the other hand, will help convey the purpose of your business’s existence. It is created to clarify what your business intends to do for its employees and clients. Mission statements change over time, as business goals become different as well. But each one, regardless of how different they are from one another, are all designed to remind you of why your business is existing in the first place.

6. Design a marketing and advertising plan.

Preparing the budget, location, and coming up with a name for your business are just a part of the initial steps involved in starting your own dance studio. To really turn the wheel, you need to get clients to enroll in your dance studio. To do this, you need to have a general plan on how to advertise your business in your community so that people will know about you.

Start advertising your business even before it opens so that when it finally does, you already have a bunch of interested and willing clients. You can also choose to utilize an online website to be able to reach more people effectively. Printing flyers , creating business cards , newspaper advertising, and even billboard advertisements are all ready marketing mediums.

Word of mouth also never fails. You can ask friends and families to support you by helping you spread the word about your business. You can also create a buzz yourself by, perhaps, advertising the discount you offer for the first few customers. Anything that can keep the good gossip about your business flowing is a marketing advantage. You may also see simple business plan examples .

With these steps, you are on your way to starting your own dance studio business. Make sure to create an effective business plan to guide you in the process.

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Unlock Success: A Comprehensive Dance Studio Business Plan Template

A dance studio business plan template could be your ticket to an incredibly rewarding and fulfilling entrepreneurial journey. Not only does it allow you to turn your love for dance into a thriving enterprise, but it also provides an opportunity to positively impact people’s lives.

Dance has the remarkable power to inspire, uplift, and bring joy to individuals of all ages and backgrounds. Creating a dance studio provides a space where aspiring dancers can express themselves, build confidence, and stay active. It fosters a sense of community and offers opportunities to form lifelong friendships within a supportive and encouraging environment. Additionally, the demand for dance classes and programs continues to grow, making it a lucrative industry to tap into. 

However, the business aspect of running a dance studio can occasionally diminish the enjoyment of it. That’s why we’ve developed an extensive Dance Studio Business Plan Template. It includes a dance studio model that offers a realistic understanding of the venture and guides you through the process of starting a successful dance studio.

Download the Dance Studio Business Plan Template

In numerous instances, readers prefer to review the pitch deck independently rather than receive a comprehensive analysis. If you fall into this category, click the download button below.

*The Albus team offers professionally designed templates of fictional companies that use real content instead of the typical “lorem ipsum” filler text.

Let’s Get The Music Going

Now, let’s turn up the heat and delve into the exciting details of GrooveWise’s expansion plan, where passion meets profits, and investors groove their way to success!

GrooveWise, the rhythm master of the dance studio industry, has been wowing Germany with its top-notch instruction and inclusive environment. With a solid presence in three cities, it’s time to take the next leap and conquer five more strategic locations nationwide. But what’s their secret sauce?

Products: Unleashing the Dance Studio Experience

At the heart of a successful dance studio business lies an irresistible array of products and services. These offerings cater to dance enthusiasts’ diverse needs and desires. Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur looking to invest in your dance studio or a dance enthusiast dreaming of creating a vibrant community hub, here are the key offerings. These offerings can make your dance studio thrive.

Wide Range of Dance Classes and Styles

From classical ballet to hip-hop, salsa to contemporary, a successful dance studio provides an array of dance classes to suit every taste and skill level. You can attract a broad clientele by offering a diverse range of styles. This ensures there is something for everyone under your dance studio’s roof.

Specialized Programs for Different Age Groups and Dance Genres

To capture the hearts of young dancers and seasoned professionals alike, tailor your offerings to specific age groups and dance genres. Consider creating specialized programs for children, teenagers, adults, and even seniors. This approach allows you to address each group’s unique needs and aspirations, fostering a sense of belonging and progression within your studio.

Performance Opportunities for Students

Fuel the dreams of aspiring dancers by providing them with regular performance opportunities. Showcase their talent through recitals, competitions, and community events. By giving your students a chance to shine on stage, you not only boost their confidence and passion but also attract a larger audience, creating a buzz around your studio.

Events, Workshops, and Masterclasses

Elevate the dance experience by organizing special events, workshops, and masterclasses led by renowned choreographers and industry professionals. These additional offerings bring fresh perspectives, inspire creativity, and provide a platform for dancers to learn from the best in the field. Such enriching experiences will keep your studio in high demand and foster a thriving dance community.

The key to success lies in continuously evolving your product offerings to meet the changing demands of your target audience. By offering a diverse range of classes, you can cater to the varying interests and skill levels of dancers. Specialized programs allow you to provide focused instruction in specific dance genres or age groups. Additionally, performance opportunities give dancers a chance to showcase their talents and foster a sense of achievement. Combine these elements, and you can create an engaging and inclusive dance studio experience for all ages and backgrounds. Additionally, hosting exciting events and offering merchandise further enhances the overall appeal of your studio.

Dance Studio Business Plan Template: Market Opportunity

Germany, known for its rich cultural heritage, presents an enticing market opportunity. It offers a vibrant and receptive audience for aspiring dance studio owners and enthusiasts, thanks to its love for the arts and appreciation of dance. From world-renowned ballet companies to vibrant dance festivals, Germany boasts a thriving dance scene that attracts both national and international attention. This vibrant ecosystem sets the stage for entrepreneurial success in the dance industry.

And, as the popularity of dance continues to soar, so does the demand for high-quality dance instruction. Whether it’s individuals seeking a new hobby or parents enrolling their children in extracurricular activities, people of all ages are embracing the joy of dance. Additionally, professionals are honing their skills and finding new avenues for self-expression through this art form. Dance has become a popular choice for individuals from diverse backgrounds, offering physical, mental, and emotional benefits. This demand creates a suitable market for dance studio owners to tap into.

GrooveWise’s Existing Market Share and Presence

As a testament to the potential of the dance industry, GrooveWise has established a significant market share and a strong presence in Germany. By offering exceptional dance classes and expert instructors, GrooveWise has captured the hearts of dancers across the country. Their welcoming environment further adds to their appeal and contributes to their success. This success not only showcases the viability of the dance studio business model but also serves as an inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Increasing Awareness and Interest in Dance as a Recreational Activity: Dance is no longer confined to the stage; it has emerged as a popular recreational activity for individuals of all ages. From fitness-conscious individuals looking for a fun and engaging workout to those seeking an artistic outlet for self-expression, dance has captivated people from all walks of life. Its universal appeal transcends age, background, and fitness level, making it a powerful medium for personal growth and expression. Its popularity transcends demographics and has become a cherished part of many individuals’ schedules. This growing awareness and interest in dance as a recreational pursuit fuel the demand for dance studios that offer a welcoming and inclusive environment.

Dance Studio Business Plan: Traction

While GrooveWise serves as an inspiring example, let’s delve into the traction and trends within the dance industry that make it an enticing opportunity for aspiring dance studio owners. These trends serve as great selling values to consider when venturing into this business:

• Rising Demand for Quality Dance Instruction: The demand for quality dance instruction is on the rise, fueled by individuals seeking to explore their creativity, improve physical fitness, and experience the joy of movement. As an entrepreneur, opening a dance studio allows you to meet this growing demand and provide a valuable service to your community.
• Performance Opportunities and Community Engagement: Dance studios provide a platform for students to showcase their talent through performances, recitals, and competitions. These opportunities not only foster personal growth and confidence but also create a sense of community and camaraderie among dancers. By organizing events, workshops, and masterclasses, you can cultivate a vibrant dance community. These activities help foster connections that go beyond the studio walls, creating a sense of belonging and camaraderie among dancers.
• Growing Awareness and Interest in Dance: Dance has captured popular culture through television shows, movies, and social media platforms, igniting curiosity and interest among people from all walks of life. This heightened awareness has contributed to an increased appreciation for dance as an art form and a recreational activity. You can leverage this growing interest and position your dance studio as a hub for artistic expression and personal fulfillment.

Conclusion: A Dance into Expansion

As we have explored the traction and trends within the dance industry, it becomes evident that starting a dance studio business holds great promise for aspiring entrepreneurs. While GrooveWise has provided us with inspiration, it is essential to chart our own path to success.

With a strategic expansion plan, your dance studio can tap into the growing demand for quality dance instruction. Additionally, you can capitalize on the diverse range of dance styles and programs available, attracting a broad clientele and establishing a strong market presence.

Don’t forget…

As you embark on your expansion journey, take cues from GrooveWise’s expansion strategy. However, remember to consider your unique vision and goals as well. This will ensure that your expansion plan aligns with your specific aspirations and sets you on the path to success. Selecting new locations based on market potential and utilizing careful selection criteria will contribute to the success of your business. By understanding the opportunities that each city presents, you can make informed decisions that align with your goals.

Remember, the dance industry is thriving. With the right passion and dedication, you have the opportunity to establish a successful dance studio. Your business acumen will guide you toward achieving your goals in this dynamic and rewarding industry. One that brings joy, creativity, and fulfillment to dancers of all ages and backgrounds. So, put on your dancing shoes, envision your expansion plan, and get ready to make your mark in the wonderful world of dance.

For a more detailed and comprehensive guide, we invite you to explore our real content template , which will help you kickstart your business plan. So, put on your dancing shoes, embrace the exciting possibilities, and start shaping your successful dance studio today.

Meet The Author Of This Article

Hi! I’m Elsa

I’m a Growth Marketer specializing in supporting small to medium-sized companies to thrive.

I focus on brand, business, and team growth to drive accelerated success. Currently, I leverage content creation my personal growth journey, and expertise.

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Dance Studio Business Plan Template

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What You Get

• A compelling & detailed pre-written Dance Studio business plan template in WORD
• A full & automatic Dance Studio financial plan model in EXCEL you can easily customize
• Customized text tailored to the Dance school business
• The ability to paste advanced charts and tables within a click
• No accounting or specialized financial knowledge needed
• A truly cost-effective solution saving you time and money

Dance Studio Business Plan Template Description

Are you looking to launch a Dance Studio? If yes, then a solid business plan is key for the success of your project. Our ready-made dance studio business plan includes a pre-written business plan in Word and an automatic financial plan in Excel tailored to your dance academy project and thus, is all you need to get a robust business plan in record time. You will only need to customize these documents to make them perfectly fit your own dance school project. Check the full details below.

Dance Studio Business Plan Document in Word

Our ready-made Dance Studio business plan template is in Word format and includes 23 pages. The document is divided into multiple sections. Each section contains the essential points that are necessary to effectively present your Dance academy project. Each section and sub-section offer you a sample text that you can easily customize to make your business plan unique. Below is a small excerpt of our pre-written Dance Studio business plan document in Word.

Automatic Dance Studio Financial Plan in Excel

Our pre-populated financial model is in Excel format and includes multiples worksheets. You can easily edit the model’s inputs including changing costs and revenue assumptions to generate pro-forma financial forecasts including P&L, Cash flows and Balance Sheets. Below is a small extract of our automatic Dance Studio financial plan in Excel.

This Ready-Made Dance Studio Business Plan is For

• Entrepreneurs wishing to start a Dance Studio business
• Aspiring Dance academy owners who want to create a business plan fast and easy
• Dance instructors who wish to pitch their project to investors
• Dance professionals who wish to better understand the potential of the opportunity

Immediate Delivery by Email

• Once you complete the order, you will receive an email with links to download your documents
• Your order will contain the full pre-written business plan in Word
• Your order will contain the full customizable financial model in Excel

Your Dance Studio Business Plan Content

Executive Summary:  Our Dance Studio business plan template starts with a compelling Executive Summary. This key section is very important as it summarizes in 1 page your Dance Studio concept. It will introduce your business model, the key people behind the project as well as the unique selling proposition offered by your Dance Studio concept. This section will also mention how market conditions and consumer trends are favorable for launching your project.

The Problem Opportunity:  Next, your ready-made Dance Studio business plan will list a number of problems experienced by your prospects in your target market and will show how this presents a unique opportunity for your Dance Studio. These can include issues such as the lack of Dance studios in a certain location, undifferentiated offering by current actors in the market…etc.

The Solution:  This section explains how your Dance Studio will take advantage of the current problems in the market and will detail your innovative solutions.

Mission & Vision:  Your mission will explain in a couple of sentences your Dance Studio’s business ethos. In other words, it will summarize your unique value proposition and will explain how you are different than the competition. Your vision will explain the long-term plans for your Dance Studio concept. Are you planning to start with one branch today and expand to a multi-branch business model? Are you looking to transform your Dance Studio business into a franchise model?…etc.

Business Model:  This section details your Dance Studio concept using the business model canvas method. In a visually appealing table, we will detail your Dance Studio’s key partners, activities, resources, value proposition, customer segments, customer relationship plan, marketing channels, cost structure and revenue streams.

Products & Services:  Next, we will talk in detail about your various products and services. We will describe your various types of Dance classes, memberships, ancillary products and services…etc. We will also provide information about your pricing.

Market Analysis:  This important section describes the various market statistics and consumer trends in the Dance industry and explains how they support your own Dance Studio concept. The purpose of this section is to show that the market conditions are favorable for launching your new Dance Studio.

Global Market Trends:  In this sub-section of the market analysis, we will discuss the latest general market trends in the Dance industry. We will look at the global industry size, growth rate, growth diving factors and consumer trends.

Local Market Trends:  This sub-section explains the local market trends that are relevant to your specific Dance Studio business.

Target Customers:  In this section, we will describe your various customer profiles by providing information about their demographics, behavior and purchasing habits.

Competitive Analysis:  We will analyze key competitors active in your target market and provide insights about their strengths and weaknesses.

Competitive Advantages:  After looking at the competitive landscape, we will then show how your Dance Studio business is differentiating itself from the competition through a number of key advantages.

SWOT Analysis:  This section features a 4-quadrant table with explanations about how your Dance Studio intends to leverage its key strengths, mitigate weaknesses, capture opportunities and thwart any future threats.

Marketing Plan : This chapter provides detailed information about your go-to-market strategy. It includes a detailed action plan to help you build brand awareness and generate sales.

Branding & Awareness:  We will describe in this sub-section your choice of key marketing channels to build branding and awareness.

Customer Acquisition:  We will describe in this sub-section your choice of key marketing channels to acquire customers and increase sales.

Operating Plan:  This chapter provides information about your Dance Studio’s opening hours, internal processes and describes the interactions between various key departments and teams.

Management Team:  It is very important to present the key people behind your Dance Studio project and thus we have dedicated a section for this very purpose. It is also important to talk here about the founder’s vision, his past education and professional experience.

Hiring Plan:  No business can succeed without having on board the right team. This section lists all the key positions you plan to hire with information about their salaries and expected start dates.

Key Milestones:  To be able to launch and execute your Dance Studio project, you need to follow a set of actionable tasks with target deadlines. This section serves this purpose.

Financial Plan:  Without a robust financial plan, your Dance Studio business plan would be an incomplete document. This important section provides crucial information about your pro-forma financial projections and shows that you have really done your homework. The data mentioned in this and the following sections will be provided by the dynamic Excel financial model accompanying your Dance Studio business plan.

Projected Revenue:  This module shows your Dance Studio’s revenue projections over the next three years.

Projected Profit and Loss:  This module shows your Dance Studio’s income statement (also called profit and loss statement) over the next three years. Your income statement includes detailed projections about your sales and expenses and shows how your Dance Studio’s revenue is converted into a net profit.

Projected Cash Flows:  This module shows your Dance Studio’s cash flow projections over the next three years. The first year of operation is even detailed on a monthly basis. Your cash flow statement will detail the various cash inflows your Dance Studio will generate from its day to day operations and from funding sources, as well as the various cash outflows required to pay for operating expenses and business investments.

Projected Balance Sheet : This module shows your Dance Studio’s balance sheet projections over the next three years. The balance sheet will provide a summary of your Dance Studio’s short term and long term assets in addition to your short term and long term liabilities and capital.

Profitability Analysis:  In this section, we will provide information about your gross margin, net margin and discuss the profitability of your Dance Studio business.

Funding Requirement:  This module states the amount of funding your need to be able to comfortably launch your Dance Studio business. It also describes the planned allocation of the funds between Opex and Capex.

Conclusion : Finally, we will conclude your business plan by recapitulating the key points that make your Dance Studio project compelling and reiterate the rationale behind your business opportunity.

Why Use our Ready-Made Dance Studio Business Plan?

• Speed & Convenience:  Once you complete your order, you will receive the Dance Studio business plan directly in your mailbox. Since it is already pre-written with fully customizable financials, you will only need to spend a couple of hours to edit it and adapt it to your own Dance Studio project.
• High Quality:  Your Dance Studio business plan has been written by our professional team of business plan writers and experts from the Dance industry. You will receive a professional Dance Studio business plan template ideal for presenting to potential investors or banks.
• Low-Cost:  Our pre-written Dance Studio business plan template is the most cost-effective solution in case you need to build a solid and professional Dance Studio business plan. We are confident you will save hundreds if not thousands of dollars by ordering our premium business plan compared to hiring a consultant or subscribing to complicated and expensive software.

If you have any question regarding our ready-made Dance Studio business plan package,  do not hesitate to contact us , we are here to help.

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By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

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Do you want to start a dance studio business and need to write a plan? If YES, here is a sample dance studio business plan template & FREE feasibility report .

Entrepreneurs who have built their businesses around the entertainment industry can attest to the fact that the industry is indeed a booming industry and it has the potentials to transcend the country where the business is established.

Little wonder entertainment TV shows, the Grammy Award, Most Beautiful Girl in The World – Beauty Pageant, amongst others, can be widely watched all over the globe just like the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games. There are many business opportunities in the entertainment industry and if you are interested in this industry, you can consider starting your own dance studio.

Depending on the part of the world you live in, establishing a dance studio whether for western dance or traditional dance means that you stand the chance of making good fortune from the business.

In other words, starting a dance studio can be capital intensive but it is indeed a profitable venture especially if your dance studio is well equipped and furnished and if it is located in the entertainment hub of your city or state. It might interest you to know that there are countless numbers of people in your community / city who are willing to pay their hard earned money to learn various dance steps.

Dance steps like Salsa, Ballet, Hip Hop Dance, Tap Dance, Yangko Dance, Belly Dance, Kathak, Gangnam Style, Break Dance, Line Dance, and also Yoga, Zumba and any other activities that can keep people in good shape. 

That is why venturing into establishing your own dance studio might just be the right business decision to take. Here is a dance studio business plan template that you may want to consider using as a guide to write yours.

A Sample Dance Studio Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

When we talk about a dance studio, we are talking about a space where dancers and aspiring dancers and choreographers learn or rehearse various dancing steps; dance studios are deliberately built and equipped to fit into that purpose.

Generally, a dance studio is furnished with a smooth floor covering and in some cases it is furnished with a hardwood floor especially for tap dancing class.

The smooth vinyl floor covering in dance studios which is also known as a performance surface and commonly called “ Marley “, is usually not attached permanently to the underlying floor and can be removed and transported to performance venues when the need arises.

Some other common features that can also be found in a standard dance studio include: a barre, which can be either fixed to the wall or be a detached move-able device that is around waist height and used as a means of support. As music is a vital part of dance, virtually all dance studios have a sound system for playing various music.

Aside from sound system for playing music, a keyboard can also be used during ballet, tap dance and some other dance steps particularly in standard dance studios.

Statistics has it that the dance studio industry in the united states of America, is worth $2.4, with an estimated growth rate of 3.0 percent. There are about 8,568 registered dance studios in the United States and they are responsible for employing about 50,266 people.

The commercialization of dance-inspired television shows and growing interest in dance as a good alternative form of exercise no doubt has positively impacted the dance studios industry especially during the last five years. The industry also benefited from the growing economy of the United States, as rising disposable income and employment resulted in a steady increase in consumers spending on dance instruction.

It was projected that from 2015 to 2022, the dance studio industry is expected to grow positively simply because the US economy is expected to grow during this period besides, improving economic conditions lead to greater spending on recreational activities which includes dance.

Beyond every reasonable doubt, the multi-billion dollar dance studios industry in the United States of America has benefited greatly from the promotion of dance-inspired television shows and the rising interest in health and fitness.

Over and above, the dance studio industry offer instructional classes focused on providing knowledge and skills related to various dance steps such as salsas, ballroom dancing, ballet, hip-hop and modern dance steps, et al. The industry include dance schools for children, intermediate and professional dancers.

2. Executive Summary

Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio is a standard and well equipped dance studio with state of the art facility in all forms of dance class and choreography. We run a dance studio where kids, teens, and adults experience dance in a fun – fulfilled and relaxing atmosphere.

Our dance studio will be located in – between a well – populated residential estate and a business district in Smethport – Pennsylvania, United States of America. We hope to open branches in other key cities in the United States and Canada and also to sell franchise in the nearest future.

Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio is a client-focused and result driven dance class business that provides ease to learn dance steps and experience at an affordable fee that won’t in any way put a hole in the pocket of our clients (students and organizations alike who would hire our services).

We will offer a standard and professional dance training and other dance related services in a highly secured and conducive learning environment to all our students. We will ensure that we work hard to meet and surpass all our students’ expectations as it relates to their goals of enrolling in our dance studio or engaging our services.

No doubt, our dance studio will be well – equipped with wood-sprung floors, rocking stereo systems, a comfortable lobby with flat screen TVs, and different locker room for change over equipped with showers for both kids and adults alike. We will also run a one – stop dance store in same facility where our customers can purchase authentic dancing kits and accessories.

At Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio, our students’ overall best interest would always come first, and everything we do is guided by our values and professional ethics. We will ensure that we hire professional dance coaches, instructors and choreographers who are specialized in various types of dance to work with our students.

Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio School will at all times demonstrate her commitment to sustainability, both individually and as a dance related training organization, by actively participating in our communities and integrating sustainable business practices wherever possible.

We will ensure that we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards by meeting our students’ needs precisely and completely. We will cultivate a working environment that provides a human, sustainable approach to earning a living, and living in our world, for our partners, employees and for our clients (students and corporate organization).

Our overall business goal is to position Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio to become the leading brand in the dance studio industry in the whole of Smethport – Pennsylvania, United States of America, and also to be amongst the top 10 dance studio brand in the United States of America within the first 5 years of operations.

This might look too tall a dream but we are optimistic that this will surely come to pass because we have done our research and feasibility studies and we are enthusiastic and confident that Smethport is the right place to launch our dance studio business.

Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio is founded by Dr. Maryjane Caster – McDowell and she will run the business with her business partner for many years Ms. Ella Jacobs. Dr. Maryjane Caster – McDowell is a renowned dancer and choreographer a former competitive dancer.

She was a cheerleader for many years and her success story as a professional and dully certified dancer and choreographer puts her amongst the best in the United States of America and Canada.

3. Our Product and Services

Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio is going to offer varieties of dance related services within the scope of the dance studio industry in the United States of America. Our intention of starting our dance studio business is to help in individual and organization learn various dance steps and also perform choreographies at different functions.

We want to help our clients develop the fundamentals of dance and proper technique, and also promotes poise, harnesses passion and encourage performance and healthy lifestyle.

Lastly we are also in the dance studio business to make profits from the personal training cum coaching industry and we will do all that is permitted by the law in the US to achieve our aim and business goal. Our service offerings are listed below;

• Dance classes for-profit
• Dance classes nonprofit (community based, traditional walk – outs et al)
• Teaching dance classes (choreography et al)
• Providing instruction in ballet
• Providing instruction in modern dance and social dance
• Providing instruction in ballroom dance
• Providing instruction in hip-hop dance, tap dance and jazz dance
• Providing instruction in Latin dance / salsas et al
• Providing instruction in cardio based dance (cardio strip tease, cardio hip hop, tone and tighten, and much more)
• Dance production and consulting services (for organizations and cheerleaders)
• Merchandise sales (Dance related shoes, clothes, and other dance accessories)

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

• Our vision is to build a highly competitive and effective dance studio business that will become the number one choice for both individuals and corporate organizations in Smethport – Pennsylvania and the whole of the United States of America
• Our mission is to provide affordable professional and highly effective dance related trainings and services to a wide range of clients that cuts across different divides.
• Our overall business goal is to position Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio to become one of the leading dance studio brands in the industry in the whole of Smethport – Pennsylvania, and also to be amongst the top 10 dance studio brand in the United States of America and Canada within the first 5 years of operations.

Our Business Structure

Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio will build a solid business structure that can support the growth of our dance studio business.

We will ensure that we hire competent hands to help us build the business of our dream. The fact that we want to become one of the leading dance studio brand in the industry in the whole of the United States of America and Canada makes it highly necessary for our organization to deliberately build a well – structured business from the very scratch.

Below is the business structure that we will build Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio on;

• Principal Partner / Chief Executive Officer
• Administrator / Dance Studio Manager
• Personal Trainers for Various Skill Sets
• Accountant / Bursar

Client Service Executive

• Front Desk Officer

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Head of the Tutorial College / School Coordinator:

• Responsible for providing direction for Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio
• Creating, communicating, and implementing the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
• Responsible for handling high profile clients and deals (clients such as Top Government Officials, Sports Clubs, Superstars, and Celebrities et al)
• Responsible for fixing fees and signing business deals (partnership)
• Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio
• Coordinate all arms of the business and develop curriculum for Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio
• Evaluates the success of the business
• Reports to the board of Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio

Studio Administrator

• Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio
• Design job descriptions with KPI to drive performance management for dance instructors (coaches) and choreographers
• Regularly hold meetings with key stakeholders (clients and member of the board) to review the effectiveness of the business Policies, Procedures and Processes
• Maintains office supplies by checking stocks; placing and expediting orders; evaluating new products.
• Ensures operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs.
• Defines job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process
• Carries out staff induction for new team members
• Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees
• Responsible for arranging travel, meetings and appointments
• Updates job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities; reading professional publications; maintaining personal networks; participating in professional organizations.
• Oversees the smooth running of the daily activities of Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio.

Dance Instructor

• Responsible for performing complex movements to entertain an audience
• Auditions for a part in a show or work with a dance company
• Works closely with instructors or other dancers to interpret or modify choreography
• Rehearses for several hours a day
• Attends promotional events, such as photo sessions, for the show or event they are participating in.

Choreographer

• Responsible for creating routines for individual performers, competitions, musical performances, marching bands, ballets and other spectacles. Performing complex movements to entertain an audience
• Studies story lines and musical scores to translate ideas and moods into movements
• Directing rehearsals to instruct dancers in steps and techniques
• Chooses music, sound effects or narrative to accompany a dance
• Designs dance movements
• Works with music directors
• Auditions performers for dance parts

Marketing and Sales Executive

• Identifies, prioritizes, and reaches out to new students, and business opportunities et al
• Identifies development opportunities; follows up on development leads and contacts; participates in the structuring and financing of projects; assures the completion of projects.
• Writes winning proposal documents, negotiates fees and rates in line with organizations’ policy
• Responsible for handling business research, market surveys and feasibility studies for clients
• Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
• Develops, executes and evaluates new plans for expanding increase sales
• Documents all customer contact and information
• Represents Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio in strategic meetings
• Helps to increase sales and growth for Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio.
• Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
• Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports; analyzes financial feasibility for the most complex proposed projects; conducts market research to forecast trends and business conditions.
• Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis.
• Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting for one or more properties.
• Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies
• Responsible for administering payrolls
• Ensures compliance with taxation legislation
• Handles all financial transactions for Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio
• Serves as internal auditor for Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio.
• Welcomes students and visitors by greeting them in person or on the telephone; answering or directing inquiries.
• Ensures that all contacts with clients (e-mail, walk-In center, SMS or phone) provides the client with a personalized customer service experience of the highest level
• Through interaction with students on the phone, uses every opportunity to build client’s interest in the company’s products and services
• Manages administrative duties assigned by the studio coordinator in an effective and timely manner
• Consistently stays abreast of any new information on the schools’ products, promotional campaigns etc. to ensure accurate and helpful information is supplied to students when they make enquiries

6. SWOT Analysis

Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio engaged the services of a core professional in the area of business consulting and structuring to assist our organization in building a well – structured dance studio business that can favorably compete in the highly competitive dance studio industry in the United States and the world at large.

Part of what the team of business consultants we worked with did was to work with the management of our organization in conducting a SWOT analysis for Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio. Here is a summary from the result of the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio;

Our core strength lies in the power of our team; our workforce. We have a team that are considered experts in the dance studio industry, a team with excellent qualifications and experience in professional dance and choreography.

Aside from the synergy that exist in our carefully selected faculty members and our strong online presence, Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio is well positioned in a community with the right demography and we know we will attract loads of individual and corporate clients from the first day we open our doors for business.

As a new dance studio in Smethport – Pennsylvania, it might take some time for our organization to break into the market and gain acceptance especially from top profile clients in the already saturated dance studio industry; that is perhaps our major weakness.

• Opportunities:

No doubt, the opportunities in the dance studio industry is massive considering the number of individuals and corporate organizations who would want to acquire new dancing skills, young couples who would want to learn wedding dance steps, and corporate organizations who would want to hire the services of professional choreographers and cheerleaders.

As a standard and well equipped dance studio that is centrally located, we are ready to take advantage of any opportunity that comes our way.

Every business faces a threat or challenge at any part of the life cycle of the business. These threats can be external or internal. This shows the importance of a business plan, because most threats or challenges are to be anticipated and plans put in place to cushion what effect they might bring to the business.

Some of the threats that we are likely going to face as a dance studio business operating in the United States of America are unfavorable government policies that might affect business such as ours, the arrival of a competitor within our location of operations.

So also health clubs that provide dance classes will remain a growing threat and global economic downturn which usually affects spending / purchasing power. There is hardly anything we can do as regards these threats other than to be optimistic that things will continue to work for our good.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

• Market Trends

One thing is certain, the trend in the dance studio industry is such that if you want to be ahead of your competitors, you should be able to make your dance classes easy for students to adapt to and you should be able to have loads of testimonies from your students. The truth is that, if your student experienced huge difference in their life as a result of enrolling in your dance studio, then they will be compelled to help promote your organization.

Another notable trend in the multibillion – dollar dance studios industry in the United States of America is that, they have benefited greatly from the promotion of dance-inspired television shows and the rising interest in health and fitness.

Lastly, another trend common with standard dance studios is that they are furnished with a smooth floor covering and with a hardwood floor especially for tap dancing class.

8. Our Target Market

The target market for a dance studio is broad and of course all encompassing. Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio is a dance studio business that is positioned to offer a wide range of dance related trainings and dance related services to a wide range of clients ranging from kids to adults and to people with health challenges.

As a standard and well equipped dance studio, Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio offers a wide range of dance related services hence we are well trained and equipped to services a wide range of clients (both individual clients and corporate clients alike).

We are coming into the dance studio industry with a business concept and company’s profile that will enable us work with the students at different learning stages and different status. Below is a list of the clients that we have specifically design our services for;

• Working Class Adults / Corporate Executives
• Sport Clubs (Cheerleaders and choreographers et al)
• About Wed Couples
• Business People / Entrepreneurs
• Government Officials
• Celebrities
• Public Figures
• Applicants / School Leavers
• Sports Men and Women
• College Students

Our competitive advantage

No doubt, the dance studio industry is indeed a very prolific and highly competitive industry. Clients will only enroll in you dance studio or hire your services if they know that you can successfully help them acquire a new dancing skills or successful stage a world class choreography in their functions.

It is the practice for dance instructors, coaches and instructors to acquire as much certifications as it relates to their area of specialization; it is part of what will make them stay competitive in the industry

We are quite aware that to be highly competitive in the dance studio industry means that you should be able to deliver consistent quality service, your students should be able to experience remarkable difference and improvement and you should be able to meet the expectations of your clients at all times.

Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio might be new Smethport – Pennsylvania, but we have a team that are considered experts in the dance studio industry, a team with excellent qualifications and experience in professional dance and choreography.

Lastly, our employees (personal trainers and coaches) will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category (startups dance studio businesses in the United States) in the industry. It will enable them to be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our business aims and objectives.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

We are mindful of the fact that there is stiffer competition amongst dance studio businesses in the United States of America; hence we have been able to hire some of the best marketing experts to handle our sales and marketing.

Our sales and marketing team will be recruited based on their vast experience in the industry and they will be trained on a regular basis so as to be well equipped to meet their targets and the overall goal of Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio.

We will also ensure that our students’ becomes experts with the dancing skills they acquire; we want to build a standard and dance studio brand that will leverage on word of mouth advertisement from satisfied clients (both individuals and corporate organizations).

Our goal is to grow Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio to become one of the top 10 personal dance studio brand in the United States of America and Canada which is why we have mapped out strategy that will help us take advantage of the available market and grow to become a major force to reckon with not only in Smethport – Pennsylvania but also in other cities in the United States of America and Canada where we intend opening branches of dance studio.

Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio is set to make use of the following marketing and sales strategies to attract clients;

• Introduce our dance studio by sending introductory letters alongside our brochure to corporate organizations, households and key stake holders in Smethport – Pennsylvania.
• Print out fliers and business cards and strategically drop them in offices, libraries, public facilities and train stations et al.
• Use friends and family to spread word about our dance studio
• Post information about our dance studio and the services we offer on bulletin boards in places like schools, libraries, and local coffee shops et al
• Placing a small or classified advertisement in the newspaper, or local publication about our dance studio and the services we offer
• Using referral networks such as agencies that will help match students and corporate clients with our dance studio.
• Advertise our dance studio in relevant entertainment magazines, newspapers, TV stations, and radio station.
• Attend relevant entrainment expos, seminars, and business fairs et al
• Engage direct marketing approach
• Encourage word of mouth marketing from loyal and satisfied students

Sources of Income

Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio is established with the aim of maximizing profits in the dance studio industry and we are going to go all the way to ensure that we do all it takes to attract both individual clients and corporate clients on a regular basis.

Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio will generate income by offering the following services;

10. Sales Forecast

One thing is certain, there would always be corporate organization and individual clients who would need that extra coaching or push in order to acquire the required dancing skill set that will enable them live their life the way they wanted to live it. This is the major reason why the services of dance studios i.e. dance instructors, dance coaches and choreographer et al will always be needed. This is why we are strategically positioned.

We are well positioned to take on the available market in Smethport – Pennsylvania and we are quite optimistic that we will meet our set target of generating enough income / profits from the first six month of operations and grow our dance studio business and our clientele base.

We have been able to critically examine the dance studio industry – market and we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast. The sales projection is based on information gathered on the field and some assumptions that are peculiar to similar startups in Smethport – Pennsylvania.

Below is the sales projection for Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio, it is based on the location of our dance studio business and of course the wide range of dance classes and dance related services that we will be offering;

• First Year-: $100,000
• Second Year-: $350,000
• Third Year-: $750,000

N.B: This projection is done based on what is obtainable in the dance studio industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and there won’t be any major competitor offering same additional dance related services as we do within same location. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

• Our Pricing Strategy

Generally for dance studio business both per hour billing and flat fees on a weekly, monthly basis and contract applies. As a result of this, Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio will charge our clients flat fees except for few occasions where there will be need for us to charge special clients on hourly basis mostly during dance related consultancy and advisory services.

At Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio we will keep our fees below the average market rate for all of our students by keeping our overhead low and by collecting payment in advance. In addition, we will also offer special discounted rates to all our individual clients at regular intervals.

We are aware that there are some clients that would need special assistance, we will offer flat rate for such services that will be tailored to take care of such clients’ needs.

• Payment Options

At Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio, our payment policy will be all inclusive because we are quite aware that different clients would prefer different payment options as it suits them. Here are the payment options that we have researched about and will make available to our clients at all times;

• Payment by via bank transfer
• Payment via online bank transfer
• Payment via check
• Payment via bank draft
• Payment via mobile money
• Payment with cash

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will help us achieve our plans with little or no itches.

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Publicity is one of the backbones of any business and we have been able to work with our branding and publicity consultants to help us map out publicity and advertising strategies that will help us walk our way into the heart of our target market.

We are set to become the number one choice for both corporate clients and private students in the whole of Smethport – Pennsylvania which is why we have made provisions for effective publicity and advertisement of our dance studio business.

Below are the platforms we intend to leverage on to promote and advertise Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio;

• Place adverts on both print (community based newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
• Sponsor relevant community based events / programs
• Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook , twitter, YouTube, Google + et al to promote our brand
• Install our Bill Boards on strategic locations all around Smethport – Pennsylvania.
• Engage in road show from time to time in targeted neighborhoods
• Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas
• Contact corporate organizations by calling them up and informing them of Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio and the services we offer
• List Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio on local directories / yellow pages
• Advertise our dance studio business in our official website and employ strategies that will help us pull traffic to the site.
• Ensure that all our dance instructors, dance coaches, choreographers and staff members wear our branded shirts and all our vehicles are well branded with our corporate logo et al.

12. Financial Projections and Costing

In setting up a dance studio business, the amount or cost will depend on the approach and scale you want to undertake. If you intend to go big by renting a place, then you would need a higher amount of capital as you would need to ensure that your employees are well taken care of, and that your dance studio environment is conducive enough for the students to learn.

This means that the start-up can either be low or high depending on your goals, vision and aspirations for your business. The materials and equipment that will be used are nearly the same cost everywhere, and any difference in prices would be minimal and can be overlooked.

As for the detailed cost analysis for starting a dance studio business; it might differ in other countries due to the value of their money. However, this is what it would cost us in the United of America;

• Business incorporating fees in the United States of America will cost – $750.
• The budget for Liability insurance, permits and license will cost – $3,500
• Acquiring a space or warehouse that will be converted into the dance studio and that can accommodate the number of students that will come to learn various dance steps for at least 6 months (Re – Construction of the facility inclusive) will cost – $150,000.
• Equipping the dance studio (studio floor, sound system, DVD players, Pianos, Flat Screen TVs, computers, printers, projectors, markers, pens and pencils, furniture, telephones, filing cabinets, and electronics) will cost – $100,000
• Launching an official Website will cost – $500
• Amount need to pay bills and staff members for at least 2 to 3 months – $70,000
• Additional Expenditure such as Business cards, Signage, Adverts and Promotions will cost – $5,000

While a home tutor might not have to incur all these expenses but going by the above report, we will need an average of $350,000 to start a standard but medium scale dance studio business in the United States of America.

Generating Funding / Startup Capital for Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio

It is very necessary to first determine the ways through which funds for your business will be generated. This is exactly what we have done. Hence, Ancient ‘n’ Modern® Dance Studio is a business that will be owned by Dr. Maryjane Caster – McDowell and she will run the business with her business partner for many years Ms. Ella Jacobs.

They are the sole financial of the business which is why they decided to restrict the sourcing of the start – up capital for the business to just three major sources. These are the areas we intend generating our start – up capital;

• Generate part of the start – up capital from personal savings and sale of his stocks
• Generate part of the start – up capital from friends and other extended family members
• Generate a larger chunk of the startup capital from the bank (loan facility).

N.B: We have been able to generate about 0,000 (Personal savings ,000 and soft loan from family members ,000) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of 0,000 from our bank. All the papers and document has been duly signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited.

13. BUSINESS GROWTH: Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

It is easier for businesses to survive when they have steady flow of business deals / customers patronizing their products and services. We are aware of this which is why we have decided to offer a wide range of dance classes and other related services to corporate clients and individual clients

We know that if we continue to deliver excellent and effective dance studio services and other dance related services, there will be steady flow of income for the organization.

Our key sustainability and expansion strategy is to ensure that we only hire competent and selfless dance instructors, dance coaches and choreographers, create a conducive working environment and employee benefits for our staff members.

In the nearest future, we will explore the options of either selling out franchise or expanding our scope beyond Smethport – Pennsylvania to other major cities in the United States of America and Canada. We know that if we implement our business strategies, we will achieve our business goals and objectives in record time.

Check List / Milestone

• Business Name Availability Check:>Completed
• Business Incorporation: Completed
• Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts various banks in the United States: Completed
• Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
• Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
• Application for business license and permit: Completed
• Purchase of All form of Insurance for the Business: Completed
• Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
• Generating part of the start – up capital from the founders: Completed
• Writing of Business Plan: Completed
• Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
• Drafting of Contract Documents: In Progress
• Design of Logo for the dance studio: Completed
• Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: Completed
• Recruitment of employees: In Progress
• Purchase of the Needed furniture, office equipment, electronic appliances and facility facelift: In progress
• Creating Official Website for the business: In Progress
• Creating Awareness for the dance studio in Smethport – Pennsylvania: In Progress
• Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement: In Progress
• Establishing business relationship with vendors and key players in various industries: In Progress

Related Posts:

• How to Start a Dance Studio Business With No Money
• Hire a Dance Teacher: 12 Qualities of a Good Dance Instructor
• 12 Dance Studio Tax Deductions You Can Write Off This Tax Season
• 15 Best Mirrors for Dance Studio
• 15 Best Types of Lighting for Dance Studio

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Dance Studio Business Plan: See A Real Example

• words by Eric Housh

Writing a dance studio business plan is a BIG project. But an important one! This plan will lay out your studio’s hopes and dreams, as well as the step-by-step process for getting from Point A to Point B. A few questions to ask yourself as you get started:

Where are you now?

Where do you want to be in three years? In five?

Who will help you get there?

The point of a dance studio business plan is to clearly lay out the aspects of a new company: strengths, challenges, and all of the minor details that will make the business a success. This document is an opportunity for entrepreneurs and hopeful business owners to put all of their ideas on paper, so that colleagues and other advisors can review the plan and offer any advice or criticism before the business is launched.

As an example, TutuTix has created a sample dance studio business plan for our imaginary dance studio, TIPS (the TutuTix Imaginary Performance Studios).

Feel free to use our guide’s ideas in your own plan, and please send us feedback about ideas we might not have that work particularly well in your studio! You can download the example dance studio business plan for free by completing the form below:

[formfuse id=”908″]

Download Here! 

The layout of a business plan follows a logical progression of topics that a company needs to have defined prior to opening for business.

That order of topics should look something like this:

Executive Summary

A concise description of your company, that acts as an overview of your goals and values. Keep it short but sweet! Why did you choose to build this kind of company?

Company Description

Here, you can flesh out your overview and touch on how your business will function. Talk a little about your customer base, marketing goals, and strengths of your company. Why are you the best? Is it because you have the best staff, the most experience, the best rates?

Market Analysis

Who are you competing against? How strong is that competition, and why do you think your studio can handle it? How will your business grow in this community over time?

There are lots of talented teachers and dancers who would be great studio owners. But in their current city or location, they would have a really hard time getting into the market and signing up students. That might be because of competition, lack of student interest in the area, or other reasons. How will your studio stand up to these tests?

Products and Services

Which dance classes will you offer? Will you rent out your space? Will you sell any retail items?

This section lists out your business functions: what do you offer, and how much will you charge? All of the items listed here will add up to be your studio’s income.

Marketing Publishing Strategy

How will people find out about your business, and how will you recruit additional students after your first season? What does your brand mean to you, and what do you want it to mean to others?

Operational Plan, Legal, and Startup Expenses

You can’t start a business from scratch: you’ll need funds and some professional consulting to get your company off the ground. How will you pay for your startup costs? Do you have that money already, or will you need to raise money with partners? Is a loan from the bank your best option?

By the time you get to writing this portion, hopefully you’ve talked to colleagues who might be opening the studio with you, or you’ve found a legal and/or financial professional who can advise you on the best way to move forward. Taking on debt to open a business is always risky, so you want to find funds the right way and have a plan to pay that debt back.

Most importantly: don’t be afraid to adapt! After the completion of the business plan, go back through and make adjustments based on information you’ve learned along the way! Ideas can and should evolve when they’re laid out on paper, so be sure to look for guidance from other teachers and business owners when putting together your plan.

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A Bilbao on Siberia’s Edge?

By Finn-Olaf Jones

• July 22, 2011

I WAS wandering though a dozen curtained-off video galleries on the second floor of one of Russia’s newest cultural hot spots, the Perm Museum of Modern Art (Permm), watching provocative art videos by a Siberian performance group named Blue Noses, when I came across a plain cardboard box. Peering inside, I was startled to see a film loop projected from the ceiling of one of the Blue Noses dressed as Lenin manically twitching in his coffin.

Perhaps Lenin, who famously disdained abstract art, really would be turning in his grave if he saw the sort of creations that this city, where his parents met, is attracting in its quest to become Russia’s center for contemporary art.

The gateway to Siberia and some 900 miles from Moscow, Perm used to be the last stop to nowhere, the transient point where criminals, political prisoners and other people deemed undesirable by the czars and the Soviet regime passed through on their way to forced exile and later the gulags, often never to be heard from again. During the cold war, Perm itself disappeared from Soviet maps when it became a “closed city,” off limits to outsiders thanks to its military production facilities.

But now, driving from the smokestack-ringed suburbs into the city center where candy-colored czarist buildings huddle with Siberian log cabins and Soviet concrete monstrosities, distinct flavors are emerging. Giant figurines of red Lego-like men lounge in the plaza of the former Soviet administrative headquarters and lurk from a nearby rooftop, the work of an art collective called the Professors.

Other eye-catching street art, like a bronze sculpture of a photographer shooting a giant set of ears, a 10-foot half-eaten apple, a tubular St. Stephen, appear, often incongruously, along the sidewalks.

For the past three years, this town of barely a million inhabitants has been aiming to establish itself as a key stop on Russia’s cultural map, opening gallery and performance spaces the way it once produced nuclear ballistic missiles. Perm has a dozen (and counting) theaters featuring productions that are attracting audiences from faraway St. Petersburg and Moscow. The broad esplanade running from the city’s main square has become the site of almost continuous international art, theater and music fairs during the summer. Even the grim-walled former prison camp outside town, Perm-36 , billed as Russia’s only gulag museum, was converted into a theater last July for a well-reviewed production of “Fidelio,” Beethoven’s opera about political repression.

Though its ambitions might seem a bit far-fetched, Perm has gained some outspoken adherents.   “Perm has overtaken both St. Petersburg and Moscow as the most exciting place to be for cutting-edge culture,” said Marat Guelman, a prominent art impresario based in Moscow, and a national television personality. In 2008, Mr. Guelman opened Permm in a renovated Stalinist ferry building. Featuring avant-garde works by artists like Valery Koshlyakov and Misha Most, Permm was hailed by The Financial Times as “one of the most spectacular galleries of modern art in Russia.”

What is going on?

“A city must have a dream,” said Oleg Chirkunov, 52, who was appointed governor of Perm Province in 2004. A local supermarket magnate fond of blogging about art and culture, Mr. Chirkunov works in a drab, Soviet-era government building that looms over Perm’s central square like a guillotine. “When I got appointed, Perm was losing a large portion of its young people: 160,000 in eight years. Something needed to be done to make this an attractive place to live.”   Options considered included making Perm a center for medical care or higher education. “We wanted something that would bring quicker results,” Mr. Chirkunov said.

He brought in a team to “rebrand” the city, appointing as the minister of culture not a politician but Boris Milgram, a former university classmate who had left Perm to become an avant-garde theater director in Moscow. He also hired city planners and Dutch-based KCAP architects to oversee a 50-year master plan for citywide construction and the development of the Kama River waterfront. According to Mr. Chirkunov, almost 3 percent of the region’s budget, 1.5 billion rubles ($53 million), has been set aside this year for cultural development.

The governor, whose appearance and energetic manner are those of someone a decade younger, has traveled the world in search of artists and ideas, meeting, for example, with officials from Avignon, France, and Brasília, two cities also trying to increase their cultural cachet. Although the emphasis in Perm is on developing local and national artists, international artists are also finding a home for their work here.

“We were in Frankfurt when the governor sent a private jet to pick us up,” recalled Emilia Kabakov, who, with her husband, Ilya, makes up a well-known Russian conceptual art team now based on Long Island, in New York. “He was very persuasive with his ideas and personally showed us around the city. We ended up donating a piece to their new art gallery.”

This summer, the city invited graffiti artists from as far away as Mexico and New York to convert highway overpasses, construction sites and industrial areas into colorful and highly personal murals.

Three years into the master plan, the result is a city that, while still unable to hide the shabby concrete apartment buildings and dreary stores that contribute to its aesthetic, also reveals a colorful flamboyance. The combination makes Perm an ideal spot for urban explorers with a yen for Russian history and a fascination with that peculiarly Russian habit of charging into the future with wildly optimistic (and sometimes wildly reckless) crusades.

During a spring visit to the city, I made my base for a four-day weekend at the Amaks Premier Hotel, a blandly comfortable and modern spot centrally located across the street from the leafy riverfront currently being liberated from years of urban isolation with new promenades, parks and pavilions.

Unlike any other secondary city I’ve been to in Russia, Perm gave me many options; some half-dozen hotels — there’s even a new Hilton — have been built to accommodate the 750,000 tourists projected to come to Perm this year. But none of them had the Amaks’s disco-cum-bowling alley off the lobby, one of those baroque interpretations of Western amenities I often find in Russia. And although the breakfast buffet was a short, sad affair of mystery meats and watery coffee, I developed a soft spot for the Amaks when a casual midnight query at the reception about a lost iPhone resulted in an immediate half-hour-long hotelwide hunt by the staff until the doorman produced it from the breakfast lounge where it had been forgotten.

On my first day in Perm, strolling toward the city’s central square after the hotel’s negligible buffet, I confronted a number of bland pizza and over-lighted fry joints typical of provincial Russia and braced myself for a few days of hunger. But then I came across the glass-and-stone constructionist Pasternak-Zhivago cafe and restaurant complex where I sat down to a delicious meal of Russo-French fusion cuisine. Nearby was a table with expensively dressed young women, who, I gleaned from a bit of eavesdropping, had come in from Moscow for the weekend. (Moscow is a two-hour, $180 flight away, St. Petersburg a two-and-a-half-hour, $250 flight away.)

 On Lenina Street, in front of the cafe, the Perm tourist board has established a Green Line, a full-day, self-guided leisurely walking tour of the city with well-written signs in English and Russian along the way. I found it to be a riveting stroll, though I broke it up into two days. These are the streets that the Nobel Prize-winning author Boris Pasternak knew when he wrote his most famous novel, “Doctor Zhivago,” which was published in 1957.

Yuriatin, the town where Zhivago and his family escape from the privations of the Russian Revolution, is thought to be modeled on Perm, and I instantly recognized prominent buildings from the novel, like “The House With Figures,” an important landmark for Zhivago, which now belongs to the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Around the corner, the reading room where Pasternak worked and based his fateful reunion between Zhivago and his great love, Lara, is still on the second floor of the bright yellow public Pushkin Library where a cheery librarian led me to a small wall exhibit about the once-banned writer. The library staff seemed amused to see an American saunter in, and I posed with them for a snapshot as a few of the lone readers looked up from their desks. Typical for this part of the world, a couple of the faces peering up from their books were Vogue-cover beautiful, and it didn’t take a leap of the imagination to conjure up Lara catching Zhivago’s eye here.

Next to the library, another Green Line sign marks a neo-Renaissance building where Czar Nicholas II’s brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich , who had been named czar for a few hours after his brother abdicated in 1917, was seized and then assassinated one night in 1918 by local Bolsheviks.

Despite such chilling history, I found a pervasive neighborly vibe to Perm reminiscent of my hometown of Minneapolis, another creative center once considered a cultural Siberia. Passers-by regularly stopped to help me whenever I unfolded a city map. While I was trying to use my broken Russian to buy cough syrup at a local pharmacy, a mobile phone was suddenly proffered by an elderly woman waiting in line, “Please, my daughter speaks English, she’ll help you translate.” These sorts of things have never happened to me in Moscow.

While some compare Perm’s position on the international culture map to Bilbao, the grubby Spanish city given instant cultural cachet by a spectacular Frank Gehry-designed museum, I would place Perm in the company of more established cultural centers like Melbourne, and Edinburgh, where festivals and other splashy contemporary-art efforts complement rather than overwhelm an already rich cultural heritage. After all, Perm didn’t just buy a spot for itself in the international art scene; it has long been an incubator for artists, whether they chose to come here or not.

“Thanks to all the political prisoners who lived in Perm, and the fact that so many artists and ballet and theatrical companies from St. Petersburg and Moscow retreated here during World War II, Perm has been receptive to new and interesting ideas long before any of us showed up,” Mr. Guelman said. “This is a town already steeped in the arts.”

And in striking contrasts.

The czarist-era Ballet and Opera Theater, built in the late 1870s, features Russian standards and world class ballet. I had purchased orchestra seats for “Giselle” directly at the box office for $11 each the morning before, which was a good thing, because even though it was not yet tourist season, it was sold out to a highly appreciative, multigenerational local audience wearing their Saturday best. (I was distinctly underdressed in my T-shirt and blazer.) The performance ranked with productions I have seen in St. Petersburg and New York, and reminded me that Perm was the hometown of the great ballet impresario and founder of Ballets Russes, Sergei Diaghilev (his house is now a local museum). Yet just a mile down Lenina Street, the provocatively named Theater-Theater was staging cutting-edge performances like the recent productions of “Communicators,” a play about political intrigue set in a Russian bathhouse. All the principals performed in the nude.

If the Perm Museum of Modern Art’s Blue Noses videos and Russian realist and Abstract Expressionist paintings provoked shock and awe, I found the perfect antidote to be a five-minute walk along the verdant riverfront to the Perm State Art Gallery, which was founded in 1922.

Housed in the former 18th-century Transfiguration of Our Savior Cathedral, the gallery has one of the country’s foremost collections of icons and Russian old-master paintings, and was dotted with remarkably well-mannered children on school outings and the sort of chic, darkly dressed couples one might see in SoHo art galleries on weekends. Everyone seemed to be here for the upstairs gallery directly beneath the cathedral dome. There, I was confronted by fantastical 17th-to-19th-century religious sculptures, which are apparently quite famous within Russia, carved in complex detail by local peasants.   The figures of Jesus and Russian saints were posed in remarkably naturalistic stances while their expressive eyes and painted robes glimmered in the sunlight coming through the dome windows. One life-size carving of a seated Jesus looked so real in his seemingly existential angst that I was half-expecting him to be smoking.

The figures, unique to Perm, are not expected to stay here much longer. Prominently displayed in the museum’s gallery is a model of a new, expanded Perm Museum designed by the Russian architect Boris Bernaskoni. The model shows a giant multicolored cube of steel and glass emerging from the river embankment. Evidently, the master plan seeks not just to bring in the new, but also to celebrate Perm’s longstanding cultural treasures.

During summer weekends, locals picnic and play soccer on Perm’s broad esplanade, but when I strolled from the main square to Theater-Theater’s concrete neo-classical hulk on a chilly spring Sunday afternoon, I had the place almost to myself, save for a couple of families bundled up like mummies taking in the frosty air. This vast promenade surrounded by lawns is the epicenter of the extravagant array of festivals that attract so many out-of-towners during the summer. The highlight, White Nights, modeled after the Edinburgh Festival, is held here every June and features 2,000 performers in an international potpourri of cinema, art, theater and music. Other coming events: the Ethno-Futuristic Festival featuring multicultural dance, food and music (July 29 to Aug. 2), a Chekhov Theater Festival (Aug. 20 to 25) and Shalom, Perm! a celebration of Jewish culture (starting Oct. 29).

To accommodate the growing festivals (Mr. Milgram, the minister of culture, speculates that soon there are going to be more than 50 a year), the esplanade is being expanded, Mr. Chirkunov, the governor, said, to be “as big as the Washington Mall.”

It would be a large exaggeration to say that Perm’s experiment has gotten full support from the locals. I noted blank, bemused or even outraged responses to some abstract canvases and anorexic-looking steel saints. But everyone I spoke to agreed that something big and eye-catching is going on out here in the Urals. A formidable-looking middle-age Russian Valkyrie paused to watch me photograph a stylized metal mermaid that seemed to leap out of the sidewalk. I asked her what she thought of the city’s street art, and she shrugged her broad shoulders. “I don’t know what to make of it,” she said, “but it brought you here, didn’t it? It’s nice to see foreigners in Perm.”

 “I’m not sure that this was the best use of our taxes,” said another local, Igor Tetuev, 31, a computer programmer, as we were sipping lattes in Coffee Expert, a cozy spot for a shot of caffeine just off the Green Line.   “But it has gotten a lively debate going. Perm has gotten interesting.”

The governor and his team intend Perm to get even more interesting. Plans for newer and bigger attractions for the world’s cultural tourists seem to emerge from the city with a regularity reminiscent of the Communist Party purges that used to bring more reluctant visitors here. The big news around town when I was there was that the English architect David Chipperfield, acclaimed for his reconstruction of the Neues Museum in Berlin, had been hired to refurbish the Opera and Ballet Theater while adding yet another auditorium — this time a 1,100-seater — to Perm’s burgeoning stage scene.

Cultural Vitality on the Edge of Siberia

View Slide Show ›

Time will tell whether Mr. Chirkunov’s vision is an expensive folly or a brilliant change of course for Perm, but there is something undeniably fun and dramatic in traveling to the edge of Siberia to find that a city once so forbidding has suddenly become a vibrant sanctuary for artists. Lenin, or one of the Blue Noses dressed as Lenin, might be turning in his grave, but I’m guessing Pasternak, himself a persecuted artist who also conjured up romantic visions for Perm, would have approved.

GETTING THERE

Perm has direct flights from Prague , Frankfurt , Moscow and St. Petersburg , and is on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

WHERE TO STAY

Ural Hotel , an enormous, nicely renovated Soviet-era hotel, dominates the central square. The basement restaurant, Stroganovskaya Votchina, serves excellent bear meat and beef stroganoff, a local favorite, given that the Stroganoff family hailed from the area. Lenina Street, 58; (7-342) 218-6261; en.hotel-ural.com . A double room with breakfast is 2,300 rubles, or about $81 at 28.22 rubles to the dollar.

Amaks Premier Hotel , a comfortable modern spot in the historical center across the street from the Kama River. Ordzhonikidze Street, 43; (7-342) 220-6060; en.amaks-hotels.ru . Double rooms with breakfast start at 3,990 rubles.

WHERE TO EAT

Pasternak-Zhivago , an innovative restaurant, cafe and bakery complex in a striking glass and stone building, is a favorite for Perm’s bohemians and its cultural tourists. Lenina Street, 37; (7-342) 235-1716.

The two Pelmennaya restaurants next to the main square feature 50 kinds of pelmeni, Siberian dumplings, in lively beer-hall settings.

Pelmennaya No. 2, Lenina Street, 47; (7-342) 212-3895.

Pelmennaya No. 3; Lenina Street, 67; (7-342) 233-0158.

Coffee Expert is a cozy spot for a shot of caffeine; Kommunisticheskaya Street, 39a; (7-342) 221-85-08.

Perm Museum of Modern Art , Ordzhonikidze Street, 2; (7-342) 219-9172; permm.ru .

Perm State Art Gallery , Komsomolsky Prospekt, 4; (7-342) 212-2250, gallery.permonline.ru .

Perm Opera and Ballet Theater , Petropavlovskaya Street, 25a; (7-342) 212-3087; theatre.perm.ru/en .

Theater-Theater, Lenina Street, 53; (7-342) 236-4553; 2tperm.ru .

For a schedule of coming festivals in Perm, see visitperm.ru/en .

Because of an editing error, the cover article last Sunday about efforts in Perm, Russia , to remake the city into a cultural capital misstated, at one point, the name of a theater that stages cutting-edge performances there. As the article correctly noted elsewhere, it is Theater-Theater, not “-Theater.”

How we handle corrections

FINN-OLAF JONES writes frequently for The New York Times about lifestyle, travel and culture.

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wHY's new opera and ballet theater in Russia mimics the movement of dance and music

# PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE PROJECTS

wHY received approval from the city of Perm, Russa on the design of the new Tchaikovsky Academic Opera and Ballet Theater last month.

Located at the heart of the city, the new building aims to become a focal point for the growing arts district along the Kama River. Accompanied by a new park, the development sits at the center of a cultural revitalization initiative spearheaded by the city's mayor, Dmitry Samoilov.

"Our goal is to create a new cultural landmark and an international destination for Perm and Russia, with a space that reflects the dynamism and creativity of the performances held within," said Andrija Stojic, director of wHY's New York office and Buildings Workshop. "I believe that music acts as a bridge between past and future: our design will embrace the history and local culture of Perm, while providing the world-class building that the Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet deserves to have."

The design challenges the typical theater typology that favors a closed-off, secluded interior and instead creates a building that captures and connects to the surrounding environment. Fluttered glazing surrounds the new structure, establishing a formal language that mimics the movement of dance and music. Organically shaped stairways run along the transparent perimeter and are complimented by hanging fixtures that capture the ethereal characteristics of musical expression and accentuate the exterior landscape.

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