A lack of standard in China’s multi-billion yuan dance industry

Li Jin is 22 years old and has been dancing for 15 years. She now works as a part-time dance teacher in Foshan, China. For her, dancing is a passion and a way of life.

At the beginning of this year, Ms. Li was looking for her next part-time teaching job on 58 Tongcheng, a Chinese website that lists jobs and apartments. She felt insulted by one of the advertisements. It read: “We promise to get everyone certified as a dance teacher within three to five months! No experience needed, come and join us!”

The advertisement was meant for a dance teacher training class run by an agency, JS Dancing. The ad claimed that they have 1000 branches nationwide.

“I was shocked and angry when I saw this advertisement. It's so disrespectful to those who train hard for years to be professional dancers,” said Li Jin.

Ms. Li qualified for a grade-3 jazz dance teacher certificate in 2017, and a grade-3 Chinese dance teacher certificate earlier this year. It took her many years of training because she did not graduate from a professional dance academy. She believed that it’s impossible for anyone to become a dance teacher in five months.

“I’ve seen their (JS Dancing) dance videos. They were really amateurish. It’s unethical for them to make money from people who cannot recognize the professionalism of dance. But you cannot stop them because they are not doing anything illegal,” she said.

Ms. Li tried to figure out how the agency ran its business. So she contacted the person in charge, the “principal” of a branch of JS Dancing agency in Foshan, whose name is Liang Qing, and told them she had no experience but wanted to get certified as a jazz dance teacher.

Liang Qing told Ms. Li that the six months of coaching would cost 22,000 yuan. Upon finishing the course, she was promised a certificate plus a job at any one of the branches of JS Dancing. Being employed as their coaches, according to Liang Qing, can earn up to 20,000 yuan a month and would only need to work three to four hours a day.

“The coaches attract customers to coach classes and teach these students some basic techniques and a couple of choreographies. After that, the students were offered certificates and got employed by the agency. Then they start recruiting new students all over again. What a ‘smart’ way to sustain the profit!”

According to the Market Analysis of China Dancing Industry in 2016-2023, the total value of dance training classes in China was estimated at 14.6 billion yuan in 2016. It increased to 16.82 billion yuan a year later, accounting for 26% of the value of domestic art education and it is expected to reach 35 billion yuan over the next seven years.

“The dance training industry has been growing fast in recent years but meanwhile, it’s hard to control,” said Yang Qing, a council member of the China Society of Children’s Song and Dance. She has been engaged in ballet education for over 30 years and now has her own dance troupe in Shenzhen.

“There are thousands of registered dance agencies in Shenzhen, but the qualities vary and hard to be assessed,” said Ms. Yang, “because dancing is not a tangible product. There is no objective standard to gauge the quality and professionalism. Everyone can own a dance agency as long as they have a business license. Thus, it allows unethical people to take advantage of it.”

Ms. Li herself has been to many dance classes in different types of agencies over her 15 years as a dancer. On one occasion, she felt cheated.

“It was a one-to-one private teaching class recommended by my previous dance teacher,” Ms. Li recalled. “I’ve learned that the new teacher graduated as a Chinese dance major from Xinghai Conservatory of Music, an art school where dancers are mostly professionals, and she owns an agency herself so I thought she might be good enough.”

However, Ms. Li found that she herself was better than the new teacher.

“I don’t think this teacher was professional enough for me. Maybe she could teach some freshman. I paid her 600 yuan for a one-and-a-half-hour class but I learned nothing,” she said.

According to Ms. Li and Ms. Yang, there are no objective or national standards in deciding whether a dance teacher is qualified, and there are no associations or government departments in charge of the marketing of the dance training industry.

Ms. Li took time to obtain her certificates from the China Dancers Association, and she needs to update her training every year, but she admitted that the certificates do not mean much to many agencies.

“I was once employed by an art agency to teach some teenage students who had never danced before but needed to take the art college entrance exam in two months. The agency didn’t even ask about the certificate. They just simply asked me to send them some of my videos,” said Ms. Li.

Ms. Yang pointed out that being a dance teacher needs to satisfy at least two aspects - graduating from a professional dance academy and having certain knowledge of physiology. She also warned that unprofessional dance training may hurt the body and lower students’ ability to appreciate the arts.

“It’s a pity that this industry is not well managed,” said Ms. Yang. “If you want to learn to dance, always be careful in selecting the agency. I suggest seeking advice from people you know who are professional dancers or search the official website of China Dancers Association. Dance training industry is waiting to be protected. Before that, we have to protect ourselves.”