If you’re reading this post, you already know the difficulty of trying to get quality dance training as an adult. If you didn’t realize you had dancing dreams while you were still in elementary school, it can feel like you’ve missed the bus. There aren’t many dance classes for adults out there other than beginner level/just for fun, and dance-based exercise.
You can’t blame your local dance studio for focusing on kids classes when that’s where the money is. Dance studios are businesses, after all. But fear not, there are ways to get pre-professional dance training as an adult!
For clarity: my focus for this post is pre-professional dance training for adults who do not already dance at a pre-professional level. Once you can dance at a higher level, training is a whole different game. This post is to help you get to that level in the first place.
(The skill threshold for getting professional dance jobs isn’t as high as you think! Read my post Am I Good Enough to be a Professional Dancer? to hear my thoughts.)
Each training option below includes my rough assessment of the cost per hour and the instructional value. I haven’t included dollar amounts, because the cost of dance classes varies so much from place to place.
Please note that my ranking something as “low value” doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t recommend it. Getting pre-professional dance training as an adult is about taking whatever opportunities you can find and making the most of them. Just because something isn’t ideal doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it!
Private Lessons
Cost Per Hour: Highest | Instructional Value: Highest
The absolute best value for your time and money is private lessons. If you can find a teacher who supports your goal to be a professional dancer and meet with them regularly, you’re in really good shape. You’ll need to supplement with group classes, strength training, and personal practice of course, but private lessons are the best foundation to improve your dancing quickly.
Unfortunately, private lessons are extremely expensive, and the average person doesn’t have that much disposable income. If this isn’t an option for you, fear not! There are many more choices for pre-professional dance training as an adult below.
Intensives
Cost Per Hour: High | Instructional Value: High
Yes, there are dance intensives for adults! While there are many programs that accept young adults with advanced technique (such as Broadway Dance Center’s professional semester and summer training program), there are plenty that accept any age and skill level.
- If you’re pursuing modern dance, I recommend the American Dance Festival. I’ve attended twice and loved it. There are other similar intensives in the States as well, but I don’t have personal experience with them.
- If you’re pursuing ballet, check out the International Adult Ballet Festival or Ducon (Both sell out very quickly, from what I’ve seen, so register early.)
- If you have a professional dance company in your area, check to see if they do mini intensives for the community.
- Professional ballet companies that have a school associated with them sometimes do mini intensives for adults. I’ve attended Orlando Ballet’s twice, and it’s very good value for the money.
- Check your local dance studios as well!
Make sure to look for intensives year-round, for two reasons: 1) you typically have to register for dance intensives about 6 months in advance, and 2) dance intensives don’t just happen in the summer! Winter break and spring break are other common times.
College Dance Program
Cost Per Hour: High | Instructional Value: High
They’re few and far between, but some colleges/universities don’t require auditions in order to be a dance major. Others require auditions, but they accept students with less experience, or those with experience in only one dance style. Someone I went to college with had only done Irish dance before she got into the program, and she graduated as an amazing modern dancer!
If you’re considering getting a degree in dance, you might be interested in these related posts:
- How to Ace Your College Dance Audition
- Dance Majors: 5 Things to Look for in a College
- 5 Reasons You Should Major in Dance
- How to Get Started as a Professional Dancer (I talk about whether or not getting a degree is worth it)
Professional Experience
Cost Per Hour: Lowest | Instructional Value: Low for Technique/High for Performance Quality
Yes, you can train to be a professional dancer by… dancing professionally! It’s a real thing. I know a lot of people who’ve done it!
Maybe you’ve been cast as an actor in a show that requires you to dance with the ensemble. Maybe you’ve been hired as an atmosphere character in a parade and you have to learn choreography. Maybe your friend owns a dance studio and they need adult dancers for the party scene in their Nutcracker. There are so many ways to get dance performance experience while you’re training as an adult.
Important myth to dispel here. While performance experience is important for every dancer’s training, you can’t learn technique from performing onstage.
It’s common to think that learning choreography and learning dance technique are the same thing. In reality, they’re totally separate skills. If you can step “back-side-front,” then you can do a pas de bourée. That’s choreography. But how you do the pas de bourée (e.g. turning out and shifting your weight smoothly) is your technique.
Let’s say you’re a “singer who moves” and you’re learning a dance number for a musical. The choreographer doesn’t have time to drill the finer details of technique with you. They’ll just tell you “back-side-front” and say that’s good enough. Then you carry on thinking that you’ve mastered pas de bourées, when you’re actually missing a lot of important information that no one has had time to teach you. That’s the danger of only learning to dance in the context of shows. You need time in the classroom if you want to take your dancing to the next level.
Learning to dance by dancing professionally is great for building your resume and performance quality, but it can’t be the only way you train.
Drop-In or Year-Round Classes at a Dance Studio
Cost Per Hour: Medium | Instructional Value: Medium
Consider yourself lucky if there are dance studios in your area that offer adult classes beyond beginner level! It’s surprisingly rare, even in major cities. Take advantage of these as much as you can. You might not get individual attention, but group classes are excellent for building technique and holding you accountable to regular practice. Plus, they’re fun!
If you can’t find drop-in dance classes for adults in your area, see if any studios that are more geared towards kids offer adult classes. Keep in mind they’ll probably require committing to the full school year. I know this isn’t an option for a lot of adults, but if you can make it work, you’ll probably get some performance experience in the end-of-year recital!
If none of the above options work out, you may need to make one of two sacrifices. 1) Sacrifice your pride and see if there’s a studio that’ll let you join the kids’ classes. 2) Sacrifice some time and gas money and search for classes outside of your immediate area. If you’re really serious about your dancing dreams, these sacrifices will be worth it!
Online Private Lessons
Cost Per Hour: High | Instructional Value: Medium
A lot of dance teachers offer online private lessons. Search Instagram for a bit and you’ll find dozens. These will be cheaper than in-person private lessons, but you won’t get quite as high-quality feedback as you would in person. Depending on your living situation, you may also have to rent out a dance studio if you can’t practice at home, which increases the cost.
On the positive side, though, online private lessons give you access to dance teachers from across the country, and can be an affordable way to get that personalized feedback that you won’t get in group classes.
Online Group Classes (Live)
Cost Per Hour: Low | Instructional Value: Low-Medium
Dance studios across the world started live-streaming their classes during the Covid-19 pandemic, and some never stopped! As of this writing in early 2026, you can still take Zoom classes at Steps on Broadway, a studio in New York City which comes with my highest recommendation.
Live-streamed classes have their disadvantages, though.
It’s difficult to give feedback over a video call, even for the most experienced teacher. This is especially true for an in-person class that’s being streamed on Zoom. It can also be harder for you to see the teacher’s demonstrations online. All of this makes it harder to learn, which is why I marked the instructional value as low-medium.
As always, though, given the choice between Zoom dance classes and not pursuing your dream, choose the Zoom classes and make the most of it!
Online Group Classes (Asynchronous)
Cost Per Hour: Low | Instructional Value: Low
What I mean by asynchronous is:
- Pre-recorded classes, found on platforms such as YouTube, CLI Studios, or a subscription service run by an individual teacher.
- You take these classes on your own time, probably at home.
- They may be technique classes, choreography classes, or short-form videos such as guided workouts.
This is a great way to get started if you’re an absolute beginner, but no matter how excellent a teacher you learn from, there’s no way for them to give you feedback in an asynchronous online format. Without feedback, you can only get so far in your dance training.
Earlier, I talked about how you can’t learn technique from performing onstage. You can only learn choreography. Now here’s a follow-up to that: you also can’t learn technique from choreography-based classes. Obviously, you’ll do some kind of choreography in every dance class, but I’m talking about the classes where all you do is warm up and learn a combo. Most of CLI Studios’ classes are like this (they don’t even include a warm-up), as are a lot of classes on YouTube. These are great for learning how to pick up choreography quickly, but not for technique.
You NEED technique to be a professional dancer. Whether you’re pursuing hip-hop, ballet, or musical theater, each style has its own technique, full of little nuances that will signal your training (or lack thereof) to a casting director, and will hold you back from more advanced skills. Seek out online classes where the teacher really breaks down each step and tells you exactly how it should be done. That’s how to get the most value out of online classes.
I hope this list has been helpful and gives you direction for pursuing your dancing dreams! This random stranger on the Internet believes in you. You got this!
