Dance Teacher Resume Example & Writing Guide
- What should your dance teacher resume include?
- How can you create a professional summary?
- How should you describe your work experience as a dance teacher?
- Include a fitting dance teacher resume education and certifications section
- Which key skills are relevant for a dance teacher resume?
- How to select the most impactful dance teacher resume template
- Copyable dance teacher resume example
- Key takeaways for writing a dance teacher resume
Dance teachers establish creative spaces where students can learn choreography and enhance their dancing skills across a wide range of disciplines. Whether you’re teaching hip-hop, salsa, modern, or ballet, your resume needs to showcase your area of dance expertise, ability to inspire great choreography, and teaching prowess. A well-written dance teacher resume can help you highlight these qualities and stand out as the one to hire.
This resume guide, along with the corresponding dance teacher resume example, will cover the following topics:
What should a dance teacher resume include
Advice on each section of your resume (summary, work history, education)
Adding relevant key skills to your resume
Choosing the right resume template for a dance teacher
What should your dance teacher resume include?
Creating a compelling and convincing resume can be a difficult task. As a dance teacher, you’ll need to focus on what sets you apart from your peers and how you make a positive impression on your students. Highlight your creativity, physical fitness, and performance management skills, as these are key skills that employers are looking for.
Your dance teacher resume should contain the following elements:
The resume header with your contact information
The resume summary
The employment history section
The resume skills section
The education section
How can you create a professional summary?
For your dance teacher resume to be successful, open with a strong and convincing professional summary. Highlight your level of experience, relevant education, dancing, and teaching-related skills and why you’re so passionate about being a dance teacher.
Stick to around two to three sentences that are focused on how your professional values and strengths relate to your teaching experience. This could include your extensive experience developing choreography, your versatile expertise across different dance styles, and success teaching different types of students in various settings, including organizing performances.
See our adaptable dance teacher resume summary below.
Accomplished dancer and educator with extensive experience developing choreography and delivering instruction in a wide range of styles, including ballet, tap, ballroom, and jazz. Proven success teaching students of various age groups, of all experience levels, through private and group classes. Highly skilled in organizing performances.
How should you describe your work experience as a dance teacher?
The all-important professional experience section comes next. This is your opportunity to show why you’re the best dance teacher on the floor! The first thing to do is review (and re-review) the job description to cherry-pick the role’s key requirements. Look out for skills and keywords that are repeated or emphasized as these are the areas you need to focus on.
Detail your teaching experience in reverse chronological order, including your job title, years of employment, and your teaching responsibilities. Highlight any specific accomplishments and successful dance projects you have delivered via bullet points. This will ensure your achievements really stand out to recruiters.
For example:
Led dance and performance workshops for high school students at Southern Regional High School and Kacey High School.
Take a look at the adaptable dance teacher resume employment history section below.
Dance Teacher at ABC Dance Academy, Newark, NJ 2014 - Present
Teach four weekly classes, design lessons plans, and choreograph routines.
Substitute for other dance teachers.
Provide coaching and help students build skills in confidence, professional development, and auditioning.
Collaborate with production team to develop and produce dance performances.
Developed a rendition of "Tribal Elements" dance choreography.
Led dance and performance workshop for high school students at Southern Regional High School and Kacey High School.
Dance Teacher at Kerry’s School of Dance, Cartersville, GA 2010 - 2014
Conceptualized and executed successful lesson plans and activities to teach students about basic rhythm and movement in a fun, safe environment.
Choreographed dances that matched students’ abilities, effectively balancing a wide variety of students with each class and dance.
Created strong working relationships with students, parents, and colleagues that led to improved learning facilities and performance.
Focus your resume on the value you can offer a prospective employer
It’s your resume, so it is going to be all about you! However, focus your resume (and any supporting documents, such as a cover letter) on the value that you can bring to the hiring dance school. Essentially, what skills and experience you have that can help the dance school thrive. This will demonstrate your commitment and enthusiasm for the role and help you get a step closer to that all-important interview.
Include a fitting dance teacher resume education and certifications section
It’s important to detail where you received your foundational knowledge of dance as well as any teaching qualifications and certifications. This will demonstrate that you have the right credentials for the job opening. When crafting your education section consider:
List your education in reverse order with the highest degree first. If you haven’t completed a college degree, then just list your highest qualification, whether this is a high school diploma or associate degree.
Keep it simple. Make a clean list of degrees and certifications, with only relevant details listed under the degree.
Bachelor of Arts in Dance at Mason Fox University, Newburg, OR
Which key skills are relevant for a dance teacher resume?
When outlining skills, make sure they are relevant to the opportunity by checking the job description or other target jobs to identify in-demand skills. In a dance teacher's resume, it’s unlikely that applicant tracking systems (ATS) will apply, but you never know which schools may implement these systems. By including keywords from the job description, you’ll be covered either way. To learn more about conquering ATS, check out our article Resume ATS optimization.
Our resume templates provide a key skills list that you can easily adapt for your own unique experience as a dance teacher. Include these keywords across your resume for maximum impact. Some critical skills for a dance teacher include:
Dance instruction
Curriculum development
Dance styles - Latin, Ballet, Contemporary, Salsa, Tap, Ballroom etc.
Choreography
Lesson planning
Student engagement
Artistic direction
Private Lessons
Group Instruction
Event Coordination
Student Safety
Lesson Planning
Customer Service
How to select the most impactful dance teacher resume template
Your dance teacher resume should use a clean, clear, and modern resume design that is easy for the hiring manager to read. If you’re looking to present yourself as a creative and engaging teacher, it’s ok to add a little bit of color. Just don’t go too overboard with graphic design elements, as this can distract from the core information on your resume and also result in ATS struggling to parse your resume.
Reverse-chronological format is the best way to show your career progress as a dance teacher, with recent and relevant experience placed more prominently. Stick to one or two pages in terms of resume length as anything longer can fall into the remit of information overload.
When exploring our many resume templates in our resume builder, start by selecting the resume layout that fits your situation best. Find inspiration with our over 100 available resume examples.
Copyable dance teacher resume example
Summary example
Accomplished dancer and educator with extensive experience developing choreography and delivering instruction in a wide range of styles, including ballet, tap, ballroom, and jazz. Proven success teaching students of various age groups, of all experience levels, through private and group classes. Highly skilled in organizing performances.
Employment history example
Dance Teacher at ABC Dance Academy, Newark, NJ 2014 - Present
Teach four weekly classes, design lessons plans, and choreograph routines.
Substitute for other dance teachers.
Provide coaching and help students build skills in confidence, professional development, and auditioning.
Collaborate with production team to develop and produce dance performances.
Developed a rendition of "Tribal Elements" dance choreography.
Led dance and performance workshop for high school students at Southern Regional High School and Kacey High School.
Dance Teacher at Kerry’s School of Dance, Cartersville, GA 2010 - 2014
Conceptualized and executed successful lesson plans and activities to teach students about basic rhythm and movement in a fun, safe environment.
Choreographed dances that matched students’ abilities, effectively balancing a wide variety of students with each class and dance.
Created strong working relationships with students, parents, and colleagues that led to improved learning facilities and performance.
Education example
Bachelor of Arts in Dance at Mason Fox University, Newburg, OR
Skills example
Private Lessons
Group Instruction
Event Coordination
Student Safety
Lesson Planning
Customer Service
Key takeaways for writing a dance teacher resume
Being a dance teacher is an inspiring career choice, where you get to blend your passion for dance and education, with making a positive impact on students' lives.
Focus on including examples and results in your resume. This could include achievements related to successful dance productions or unique choreography you have delivered as well as student attainment.
Don’t forget to showcase your soft skills across your resume too. Your creative outlook, relationship-building skills, and collaborative approach are all something to shout about.
