Studio Design

How to design your own dance studio

For a lot of dancers and dance teachers designing and opening their own studio is something that seems like and impossible goal. However, once the day comes that you finally gather the courage and rent that space the fun part begins: the part where you get to put your stamp on the building. Your studio wouldn’t be yours without it looking just how you wanted. So, if you’re in need of a bit of information regarding the technical bits, you’ve come to the right place. Here is some necessary information you’re going to need while you’re designing your new studio:

Getting the dance space right

The floor has to meet certain requirements based on your expectations and the sort of dance you’ll be teaching. You need to know how many people will be using the studio at one time, how old these people are and the type of activities they’ll be doing. Different dance styles require different types of floor and different amounts of space. Traditional African styles of dance involve staying in one place while ballet requires travelling across the room and leaping and jumping around the stage. You want your dancers and students to have a good amount of space to move around the studio and stretch during exercises. That also means avoiding making the classes you teach too big. If you keep it small and personal your teachers can pay more attention to your students and your students will have the freedom of movement.

Getting your branding right

Sometimes the detail is all in the branding. Think of Pineapple studios, for example. There is no way their logo and their style could be mistaken as belonging to anyone else. That’s all thanks to effective branding and publicity and you might want to think about doing that too. Decide on a good logo and theme that match and these can be the guidelines to your studio design and, maybe in the future, merchandise. One great place to get some help for your front window and reception design is to speak to some retail designers. They’re used to putting emphasis on branding when they design spaces and that’s what you’re looking for, too. You want to design your studio so it’s attractive and stylish, but also give it an identity that can’t be mistaken for any other brand than yours.

Your interior design depends on your dancing

If you want to teach dramatic, contemporary adult ballet then you should paint your studios with dark colours to enhance the intensity of their performance. If you’re teaching tap to young children then you should paint it with light, fresh colours to create a bright and stimulating atmosphere. Every little aspect of the way you design your interior spaces is relative to the dancing you’ll be teaching. The amount and location of mirrors, the barre, the lights, the material of the floor, the setting for an audience are all important in creating the perfect atmosphere for your dancers and performances. Like a dance, everything should coalesce and become part of a whole, so think carefully about what you intend to do in your studio before you get carried away with the interior design.