Seen and Heard at the Dance Teacher Summit: Carole Royal
July 11, 2014

Dance Teacher Summit ambassador Carole Royal has been a Summit attendee for years, and she never fails to implement what she learns in business seminars and from other teachers. “The Dance Teacher Summit has completely changed my business,” she says. “I’ve utilized many suggestions from teachers across the country, like creating a new program for preschoolers and updating the way I charge for costumes. I’m in Phoenix, so traveling to New York is a little bit hard for me. But after last year, I came back to my studio and said, ‘You guys just have to go!’”

Carole Royale

Royal Dance Works

Phoenix, AZ

Number of students: 500

Years open: 32

Dance Teacher: What is the biggest piece of advice you have for other business owners?

Carole Royal: For the first years of my business, I really just bobbed along, hoping for good circumstances without a real plan. I had a vast dance background, but trying to learn the business aspects of running my studio was hard. Setting concrete goals turned everything around for my business and my dancers. I gave a seminar on goal setting at the Summit, just like I give to my teachers every year. I even have my students write out their goals at the beginning of each year.

DT: What kind of things do the students write down?

CR: Some will say that they want to get their left split or a solid triple turn. Some will say that they want to receive a scholarship at a particular convention. If students really focus on what they want to accomplish, it brings them closer to it. It’s fun to go back and look at the goals that dancers have written, and what they’re doing now. One of our dancers mentioned that she wanted to dance with a star. She just toured with Lady Gaga! —Rachel Zar

 

 

Photo by Dustin Curtis, courtesy of Carole Royal

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