Not everyone has the means or the will to open up their own Studio. But some teachers want to teach pole dance so badly, they teach from home. It’s a simple way to get started as a teacher and also to get teaching experience. The first thing to consider is that just because you can pole dance pretty well, doesn’t mean you are qualified to teach. Teaching requires a lot of knowledge of the body, knowledge of proper form, and spotting techniques for safety. A teaching certification such as X-Pert is a great way to get this information.

My sister and I decided in early 2015 that we wanted to teach pole dance at home. My parents own a large house with a wide space in the back and good ceiling heights and we thought it was a perfect small studio space. I had two poles professionally installed there, moved the furniture around and were set to go! (If you don’t have your own pole yet, I recommend you check out what Bad Kitty’s selling).

Rebeca Sánchez is another pole dance teacher that decided to transform an unused space at her house into a studio: Pole Art Rebeca. She has six poles, wall to wall mirrors and air conditioning. “One of the benefits is that I don’t have to leave my home to go to work”, Rebeca says. “I just get up, have breakfast, brush my teeth and walk down the stairs to teach pole”, she adds.

Organizing Your Space and Teaching Times

Since my family lives in the house where we teach, we decided that we would only teach on Saturdays, and do an occasional workshop on Sundays. This arrangement allows us to focus on what we normally do during the week and opens up class times for girls who want to learn to pole but don’t have time on weekdays.

My sister María Laura and I trade off teaching every two weeks. That way we can also have a free weekend every now and then for our personal life.

The downside of this arrangement is that if you want to take some time off you have to have someone you really trust substitute for you because you are handing over the keys to your home. Also, you will regularly be letting strangers  into your home and you need to be careful with regards to your privacy. For example, the girls who attend our classes walk around the outside of the house to get to the back where the studio is.

What the students think

One student, Elena Pérez, says that she likes to receive pole dance lessons at a house because it’s comfortable and cozy for her. Other students think the same thing. They feel like a  family member.

The cost is also something students like, since teaching at home means you don’t have to pay for rent or many other expenses a studio might have. This means the teacher is able to charge less than studios.

However location for home studios can be a challenge because studios are located in places that are more accessible to the public and are closer to public transportation routes, whereas a home studio may be in a residential neighborhood, which can frequently be less accessible.

Protect your business

It is beneficial to run your home studio as a legitimate business. Keep receipts and hire an accountant to take care of everything. Also, you should implement rules, just like any regular studio does: punctuality, the use of the uniform, payment policies, behavior, waivers, and more. It’s also important to have crash mats, stretching mats, rubbing alcohol and clean towels to clean the poles. Also, make sure you have a first aid kit and emergency plan in place in case anyone gets injured. Empower yourself with everything a professional pole studio has in order to run a good business.

You should also get insurance for your business and protect yourself in case of accidents. If your home studio is not an official business, then you could get your house insurance to include the poles you use in their policy. If you want to protect yourself and your students, in case of an accident, you could do so with civil liability insurance.

Another important thing to note is that tension home poles are not meant for commercial use such as classes. If you plan to teach classes you should get a permanent pole installed (bolted in), to make sure it can handle the wear and tear from use by many students.

I think that opening a small studio at home is an excellent way to start a business or to make some extra money for yourself. But, if you’re more ambitious and everything runs smoothly, you’d probably like to rent a place and install more professionally. This happened, for instance, to the owners of Venezuelan Pole Institute, who started out as a home studio and today they have a very nice place set up at a mall.

Ermelinda Maglione

Pole Dance Venezuela (www.poledancevenezuela.org)

@poledancev @s0natagrl