The Daily Routine Of A Dance Teacher.... Compared To What My Friend's Think!

Following on from last weeks blog, '15 Other Jobs of a Dance Teacher,' I thought I would follow it up with the daily routine of a dance teacher, compared to what my friends think my day comprises of!

What my friends think:

12pm - Get out of bed

As any self-respecting, lazy, self-employed person, this is the time a dance teacher gets out of bed. With no office to go to and no boss on our back, we leisurely lounge around in bed till around midday, until it is time to get up for dinner (and yes, it is dinner in the middle of the day, no one has a 'roast lunch' or a 'Christmas lunch'!)

12pm - 4pm - Watch day-time TV

Now fresh out of bed after a tiring 12 hour sleep, it's time to hit the classic day-time TV. After a few episodes of Time Team and Judge Rinder, the adrenaline really begins to rush when shows such as Tenable, Pointless and Tipping Point come on!

4pm - 6pm - Laugh at the rush hour traffic

Feeling educated enough on the layout of Roman villas and the top 10 most populated cities in the UK, it is now time to laugh at the 9 till 5 workers trying to get home. Leisurely walk towards the main road, erect your deckchair on the pavement, pour yourself a glass of champagne and laugh at the grim, grey faces of those who have been up since 6:30am and are now battling their way through the traffic to get home.

6pm - 8pm - Tea time

Feeling thoroughly smug, it's time to carb up before teaching later that evening. Take a trip down to your local Italian, where the waiter has reserved your favourite table for one in the private alcove away from the rest of the plebs. Casually gorge your way through a 7 course feast, before paying the £100 bill with a size-able tip on top.

8pm - 8:30pm - Work

Right, time for work! It's time to hop in your Bentley and make your way over to class. After a thoroughly enjoyable day, you are on top form for your 30 minute class and everyone leaves happy, especially yourself after pocketing anywhere between £1500-£2000

9pm - 12pm - Play-time

Having arrived home after a hard evenings work, it's time to unwind. This could involve throwing your money all over the floor and making money-angels, shoveling the money into your safe or perhaps indulging in some internet shopping.

Of course, the reality is very different...

The actual daily routine of a dance teacher:

8:30am - 9am - Wake up

This may sound late to most, however since you are working till around 11pm, you don't feel too guilty about getting a few extra hours in bed in the morning!

9am - 1pm - Admin

This period can cover a multitude of things including, responding to all emails, phone calls, texts, Whats Apps and Facebook messages, updating your website, totting up your accounts, posting social media statuses, keeping your diary up to date, lesson planning and generally lamenting the fact you can't afford to have a secretary to do all this for you.

1pm - 2pm - Trip to bank and purchasing dinner

You've counted and bagged all the pennies and it's time to head to the bank. This is followed by a 15 minute wait as the cashier counts the measly amount of money you have brought in, though you have already checked it 22 times at home. Now flush on cash with an extra £37.45p in your account, it's time to make your way to the local Supermarket to buy the £3.50 dinner deal. Your mouth waters when you see a sandwich triple is included in the meal deal....Ha! Why buy a pack of 2 sandwiches when I can get 3 for the same price!? Suckers!!

Having finally got through the annoying 'unexpected items in bagging area' electronic check-out till, you place your now purchased food with pride in the passenger seat of your '08' plate Ford KA with the dodgy brakes. It'll make for a tasty supper on your back home from work later.

2pm - 2:30pm - Mid-Afternoon slump

You arrive home after an already busy day and begin to question why you even do this. Office workers go through the same slump; blood sugars are low, you are tired and you know that your day has only really just started.

Then you remind yourself that you love dancing and teaching and create a real difference in people's lives. You give yourself a slap, shout out a 'you got this' and carry on with your day.

2:30pm - 3:30pm - Pre-lesson preparations

You now enter your pre-lesson prep stage. This means ironing those dance tops that have been on the ironing pile for over a month, making sure your music devices are all charged up and ready to go, going over any existing or new choreography for class and ensuring you are mentally ready to deliver a tip-top class full of wit, humour and knowledge.

3:30pm - 4pm - Tea time!

Time for your main meal of the day, earlier then most other's, but yet again, you have failed to allocate yourself anytime for a break during teaching later that day.

4pm - 10pm - Dance Teaching

You arrive at class and nervously await your pupils. Hundreds of excuses run through your head as to why people won't turn up this week. Perhaps it's that their cousin's, next door neighbours, best friend, kids puppy is having it's hair-cut, or perhaps they have all fallen out of love with dancing all together.

You breathe a sigh of relief when all your worries are proven wrong and everyone arrives on time and in good spirits. You have a great evening of teaching and after locking up around 10-ish, you salivate at the thought of the triple brunch sandwich awaiting you in the car.

10pm - 11:30pm - Messaging pupils

After discarding of the sandwich packaging in the now, knee deep clutter of plastic bottles, wrappers and discarded food in the passenger seat, you arrive home. Predictably, your phone was buzzing constantly all through lessons earlier and even though you know you could leave it till tomorrow, you feel obliged to reply back.

After finally letting Doris know of the details of the new class starting next week, which you had already reminded her of 10 times previously, you hit the sack, content after a good day and that tomorrow is Tuesday, meaning you only have another 6 days of this to go for the week!