How to Teach Hip Hop Dance

Co-authored by Yolanda Thomas

Last Updated: July 8, 2021 References

Spread the love of hip hop dance by becoming a teacher. You can teach in a studio, or more informally at a club or gym. To teach hip hop, gain confidence in your dancing skills, find a venue to teach at, and advertise your skills. Then teach your students with warmups, encouragement, and routines that fit their level. Soon they’ll be improvising and having a blast.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Becoming a Hip Hop Dance Teacher

1
Improve your dance skills and confidence. To teach hip hop, you don’t have to be a total expert. You just have to know more than your students. But you’ll be a better teacher the more you know! Take hip hop dance classes. Join a dance club at your school or in your town. Watch tutorial videos to learn new moves.^{[1]
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- You don’t have to take a formal class to improve. Find a group of friends to practice with, breaking together and sharing new moves.
2
Research the qualifications for the venue you want to teach. Most hip hop dance teaching jobs don’t require a specific level of education or dance degree. However, they will probably require a high school diploma, and some might require a college degree, like if you want to teach hip hop in a public school.^{[2]
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3
Put together a dance resume. Include your training, any dance schools and conventions you’ve attended, and shows you’ve performed in. If you’ve worked with any big name dancers or choreographers, make sure to highlight that! If you’ve performed in a music video, or a commercial, make note.^{[3]
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- Start by listing training, then any teaching experience you have, then prominent performances, and finally any commercial appearances.^{[4]
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4
Figure out how much to charge. If you have a strong background in dance but have never taught before, charge at least 35 dollars an hour. If you have a B.A. in dance, and a teaching certificate, charge at least 50 dollars an hour. This will vary slightly depending on where you live. Ask other dance teachers in your area what they charge per hour.
- You can use the Freelancers Hourly Rate Calculator to determine how much to charge based on your business costs. Navigate on your web browser to: http://www.freelancebusinessguide.com/freelance-hourly-rate-calculator.
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Set up a personal website. The more students you have, the more people you can give the gift of hip hop, and the more income you can earn as a dance teacher, if you’re charging. Even if teaching hip hop is more of a hobby than a full career, making a personal website is a great way to advertise your services.^{[5]
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- Include videos of your dancing, information on your dance background and training, and information on your lessons and classes, including location, schedule, and rates.
- There are many websites, like Wix, and Wordpress, that allow you to easily create your own webpage, for free. You don’t have to know programming to use them, you can just select one of their templates.^{[6]
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Curate your social media presence to be teacher-appropriate. Create a separate social media account for your dance teacher persona, that includes hip-hop related posts, and doesn’t have any pics of you getting partying with your friends. Make sure that any posts you don’t want your students to see are very hidden. Or consider not posting them at all!^{[7]
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Make a professional email and business cards. Email, social media, and business cards are great ways to build your professional persona and get started teaching hip hop. If your email address is something silly like sleepycat4ever@noodles.com, it’s time to update to a professional email address, which should include your first or last name. If you’re hired by a dance studio, they might give you an email account with them.^{[8]
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- Although business cards might seem old-fashioned, they’re still useful to have to give out to potential clients. A business card should list your name, title (hip hop dance teacher) and contact information, including your telephone number, email address, social media handles, and personal website address.^{[9]
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Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Leading a Class

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Start class with a warmup and stretching. Get your students limber and excited by starting the class with a group warmup. The best warmups still feel like dancing. Put on a great hip hop song and do simple warm up exercises, like lunges and stretches, to the beat.
- Stand in front of all the students, and show them each exercise. Tell them to mirror you, to make it easier for them to follow along. So if you move your left hand, they move their right hands.
2
Help students identify the beat. If your students are beginning dancers, don’t jump into teaching them flashy moves right away. Instead, make sure they can identify the beat of the music. Practice counting the beat out loud and moving on the beat. Hip hop dance is all about sharp, coordinated movement, so it’s important that your students can hear the beat and now how to move to a count.^{[10]
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Teach beginners the step-touch. If your students are beginners, have them start with the simplest hip hop move: the step-touch. They step to one side with their right foot, then bring their left foot to touch it. Then they step with their left foot, and bring their right foot to touch. Encourage your students to loosen up, move their arms, and step on the beat.^{[11]
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- Because this move is so simple, students can add their own personal flair and style without having to think too much about fancy footwork, which is great for building confidence.
4
Have students practice isolations. In dance, isolations are practices of moving just one body part without moving the others. For example, have the students move just their upper body in circles and side to side motions, without moving their hips and legs. Having control over moving just one body part at a time is essential to learning hip hop dance.^{[12]
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Break down complicated moves into multiple steps. First, show the whole move to your students so they know what it looks like. Then break it into small steps, and have the class practice each step. Divide the class into partners and have them practice with each other, so they can give each other advice, and don’t have to worry about the whole class watching them.^{[13]
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Teach your students a routine. Even if your students don’t know any fancy moves yet, they will find it gratifying and encouraging to learn a routine. Start with an 8-count routine, with whichever moves you think they are capable of following. Start without music, counting very slowly. Repeat the routine again and again until everyone in the class can follow along at the pace of the music, and then have them all do it to music.^{[14]
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Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Finding Your Teaching Personality

1
Experiment with your teaching style. Depending on what age and personality of students you’re teaching, you may want to approach teaching them with different tactics. Some students might learn best with a strict, silent teacher, who models the moves and expects students to follow along. Others might prefer a teacher who is loud and joyful, dancing all over the room. Experiment with what feels natural to you, and what helps your students learn.
2
Alternate asking your students for their ideas, and telling them yours. Some teachers prefer to frequently stop the class and ask their students if they understand, or even ask a student to suggest a move for choreography. Others prefer a more direct approach, in which they lead the class at a quick, challenging place, and have the students raise their hands if they need clarification.
- Experiment with different styles until you find one that fits you and your students’ needs.
3
Embrace body positivity. No matter the age or demographic of your students, it’s important to embrace body positivity in your teaching. There’s no one kind of body that’s necessary for hip hop dancing. When people are dancing, in a classroom in front of mirrors, or on stage in front of an audience their bodies are on display, and they can feel self-conscious about how they look.^{[15]
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- Reassure your students that they look great, no matter if they are tall or short, skinny or heavy. Anyone can look great dancing hip hop and there is no perfect body for the dance.
- The best way to help your students develop more confidence is to compliment them when they're doing a good job. Try to build your students up.^{[16]
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  Expert Source
  
  Yolanda Thomas
  Dance Instructor
  Expert Interview. 15 November 2019.}
4
Modify your classes for different physical abilities. Before the class starts, ask your students to come up one by one and privately tell you if they have any physical limitations or disabilities. Then, modify your dance instruction to accommodate everyone’s needs and restrictions.
- If you are presenting a move that you know will be challenging to some of your students, present an easier alternative as well. That way everyone can still participate.
- For instance, if your whole class is doing push-ups to work on arm strength, let your students know that they can do push ups on their knees if that’s where they’re at.

Community Q&A

Question

How do you dance hip hop as a beginners?

Yolanda Thomas
Dance Instructor
Yolanda Thomas is a Hip Hop Dance Instructor based in Los Angeles, California and Sydney, Australia. Yolanda has taught hip hop at the Sydney Dance Company and is a two-time winner of the LA Music Award for singing and songwriting. She has won Choreographer of the Year by GROOVE, an Australian hip hop dance competition and was hired by Google to choreograph their Sydney Mardi Gras float.

Yolanda Thomas

Dance Instructor

Expert Answer

Make sure you stretch your calves and quads ahead of time. Also, wear loose, baggy clothes whenever you practice. Doing hip hop dance is harder when you're wearing tight, restrictive clothing.