Why students are leaving my dance school? Big question.
The dance recital went super well. They were all happy. They said they would come back in September. And then, they just don’t show up.
Knowing how to increase dance students retention is one of the most important things a Dance Studio Owner / Teacher could do. This is probably one of the questions you ask yourself more frequently during summer and it’s totally normal!
But what are the causes that lead to a dance student loss? “Why students are leaving my dance school?” you keep thinking.
Before answering, keep in mind it’s just not always your fault. Let’s start with this. No sense of guilt, no sadness, no bad feelings. It just happens. But we can definitely make it happen LESS frequently.
1. Teaching Quality
You won’t like this one, but you have to be very humble now and start from here. Students can leave (or their parents can choose for them), because they think the teaching quality in your school is not good enough. This doesn’t mean you are / have a bad teacher. In life there will always be someone better than you. Your goal is to become better that yourself, then you will become better than anyone else! Encourage your teachers to improve their teaching quality and do the same with yourself (attend courses, read books, etc)
Believe it or not, the dance school on the other side of the street can have better teachers than yours. So the only way to increase the quality of teaching of your studio is by increasing your teacher’s professional education. Don’t just fire them, the problem can be you. Firing your teachers for this reason is like (seen from the opposite perspective), being a basketball coach of a non-professional team and firing your players hoping to get some NBA player who can replace them. It will never happen, it’s probably not them. It’s you. Make them great to be great.
2. Personal problems
This factor covers a wide variety of small problems, sometimes invisible. It can be a problem between the student and the teacher, or between the parents and a teacher. Sometimes it’s just a problem between parents. Unfortunately there’s not a lot to do here, unless you can be really great at perceiving the problem, reading your student’s mind (psichologically speaking) and understand what’s going on. If you are able to intercept the problem you’re already in a good situation.
A solution to prevent this kind of problems is to frequently ask (once per month is ok) your teachers if everything is going well with their students. A sort of students report.
You can do the same with parents. You can for example let them know that they can sign up on a schedule for talking with the DSO or with a teacher about their children. This can also increase students retention.
3. Financial Stability
When it comes to financial stability it’s up to student’s parents to talk to you about the problem. Financial stability is a serious issue. If they explain the problem it’s then up to you to decide whether you want to lose them or keep them by offering a lower tuition. Offering a lower pricing for attending courses at your studio shouldn’t be for ever. You can for example offer a discounted rate for the next 3-6 months.
4. Social Integration
If the student has a problem with another student or has just general social integration problems, it is your responsibility to take care of the situation. Ask your teachers to make students engage in social dance activities such as dancing in groups, choreographic laboratories, games etc.
Some students, if particularly shy, can have also problems with this kind of activities. Making them engage in dance exercises that must be done in couples (such as dance partnering, contact, etc) can be more useful in this case.
Also talking directly to students having this problem or to their parents can help with social integration. Some students don’t like this kind of approach though, as this could just sound as putting them under a spotlight. If you want to follow this approach, be careful about how you do it.
5. Student Performances
If students (or their parents for them) have the feeling of not being considered enough, not receiving feedbacks, being totally ignored, being just an annoying presence or not improving as expected, they could just suddenly quit. When you will notice they had these problems, it’s already too late.
- Make sure you and your teachers provide constructive feedbacks to everyone.
- If a correction is specifically given to someone, make also sure that students deeply understand that that correction can be FOR everyone.
- Encourage your students to immediately practice the correction when it’s given and let them know you noticed they are correctly doing it.
- Try not to give corrections always to the same 3 people (even if they’re the best ones in the class) and make sure your tone of voice is always the same ( = respectful) towards anyone.
- Keep your students’ engagement high by offering new opportunities, Masterclasses, ideas, classes, etc. Motivation is fundamental!
That said, keep in mind there will always be someone complaining about something. As a good DSO or teacher, you just need to distinguish people who have a problem from people who just create problems out of nowhere. No one is a problem. People are not problems. But as said, some of them can find themselves with an issue while others just like to create issues. And honestly, in the second case, that’s not your problem. Let them go if it’s better for your school. Don’t forget also to keep a healthy life-work balance (learn here how to do it).
We hope you found some answers to the question “why students are leaving my dance school?” 🙂
Now let’s fill up those classes!