Associate programs; are they the death of traditional dance schools?

Simply, my answer to this statement is no, they’re not the end to any dance school but they may spell a change in the children’s dance industry. But remember this is just my personal opinion.

When you are pregnant your body craves what it is missing and you hunt for it in the form of cravings. That is sort of what is happening in the associates vs dance school world.

If a dance studio doesn’t offer or fill what a dancer is craving then they go hunt for it elsewhere. Associate Programs are an easy way of doing this without the fear of being known as a studio hopper or having to resettle your child in a different dance studio. If your day to day studio doesn’t offer commercial classes (for example) then you can go to an Associate Program on the weekend that fills that gap then win, win. Well, so it seems on paper.

I feel the problems arise in three places.

1. When commitment to a dance school weekend activities suffer because of split commitments.

This is super tricky and something I talk to teachers about often. Additional rehearsals and not ‘Normal term time’ events need to be set far in advance and not on a whim. The problem with an associate program often arises when there is a clash. Let’s consider it in a different frame of mind. ‘Your body craves a Pilates class’ - so, you find one that fits your schedule and books a series of ten lessons. All is fine for the first few weeks when suddenly your work decides to change your working hours with two days notice as well as give you the ultimatum that if you can’t attend the hours your commitment for the last 10 years means nothing. You’ve already spend £500 on the Pilates series…what do you do.

You could leave Pilates early and get to work a little bit late - a compromise. (that I have dancers who attend my Training Program that do this compromise split. I don’t mind, but I have heard of some programs who work towards performances such as Move It who require full attendance).

You could loose the money from the Pilates class and not go at all, but you may find that your body really needed it and you resent the work, affecting your performance, however you get over it.

You could also find that this is the final straw. Others that you have connected with at the class talk about the flexibility and support from their work. You realise that there is a similar thing that allows for the flexibility of the class. So you decide to quit your job, start a new job and still do the class.

The associate program (a good one, but more on that later) is ‘the class’. The ‘work - is the dance studio.

This problem is for the dance studios.

But can be helped by clear and forward planned schedules, open communication and flexibility if things change last minute, specific and locked in contracts for expectations and commitment.

2. FOMO

This problem is for the dance parents.

FOMO plays a big role in parenting. You naturally want what’s best for your child and these days this means less word of mouth and intuition but more opinions formulated from social media. Good marketing, the dream of Ambassadors, kids that attend succeeding, mean that IT MUST BE THE PROGRAM - sense my sarcasm. (It’s forgotten, often, that success for anyone in our industry is a skill stack, not one size fits all - there’s a whole section on this in the Essentials course from The Dance Parent Academy )

It’s hard not to follow parenting trends though. This is the parents problem: being realistic about what is important, looking past the cover girls, trusting your gut. The over packing of your child’s schedule and the clashes of prior commitments with your dance school, the formulated burnout, the travel costs of what you chose to do is purely the parents problem.

Now - you must be thinking, okay she’s completely for Associate Programs - but this final point is the associate programs problem.

3. Untrue selling points

The associate program world is saturated. There used to be perhaps a few ballet ones. connected to companies, hence the word associate, then there

were some jazz ones, now there are loads. All offering different but at the same time exactly the

same - additional training and exposure.

Our dance world is one big network and no-one knows who's going to know who is in the right place at the right time. My concern with some of

the marketing is using the words ‘industry professionals’. And without being super salty, The people who are casting the big Westend shows,

the arena tours, those choreographing TV are 95% of the time not running associate programs. The people they’re employed to work for them are. However I am not saying there isn't anything to learn from the people who run these programs, and you never know

where someones career may transition into the creative side - in fact I think there's loads

to learn from new and different teachers. But it needs to be marketed truthfully and honestly.

And that means not charging insane amounts of money - just to make a quick bucks The ability to educate, especially the younger generation is an honor not an exploitation

And again, I'm not saying this is every associate program. But if you want longevity, Associates should make it there problem to offer quality, as well

as always tag and support the dance school the dancers are from; without grass roots, elite is nothing

In conclusion - and if you thought I was going to down any specific program you don’t know me or what I stand for well enough.

Social Media makes people want and aspire for more. Associate Programs or shall I say Extra Training satisfy that itch. But as ever, use them as a supplement. Additional Vitamin C is no

good just on its own. And neither is an Associate

Program without grade 5 ballet

and your strength + conditioning class before Acro.