1) Look elsewhere for lessons. Most areas have multiple dance studios, especially that have children’s dance classes. If this studio can’t cut you any deals and won’t create a program that works with your budget, find a studio that will. Your daughter’s progress will be slower than if she were doing four classes of week – of course it will – but she will still make progress, and unless you (and she) are really aiming for professional dancer, the slower rate will be fine. The goal is to enjoy her development as a dancer.

2) Consider private lessons instead of or in addition to studio classes. Put an ad on Craigslist looking for a private ballet teacher for your daughter. Dancers, especially amateur ballet dancers, tend to be quite abundant and underpaid. For less than the cost of a second class you can probably find a local college student with a dance background who can work one-on-one with your daughter for an hour or two each month in lieu of the second class. Your current studio may try to make you feel guilty about this; don’t let them. Just tell them, “Your couldn’t give us a program that worked with our family budget so we created our own program that does,” and be firm.

3) Continue with the practice at home, the books, the videos, the whole deal. It’s helping more than you probably realize. The number one problem most dancers have is that they don’t get enough practice outside of lessons. You’re helping your daughter develop habits that will serve her as a dancer and in the rest of her life.

4) If you stay at your current studio, talk to your daughter’s teacher and ask her (I’m presuming it’s a her just by probability; most ballet teachers are women, particularly so that work with children) what her goals are for your daughter. Be clear what your budget for dance is and make it clear that that is the budget for everything: lessons, costumes, recital fees, travel, etc., and that if she wants your continued patronage and your daughter as a student, she needs to work with you to create a program that works within that budget. If they can’t, go elsewhere.

When I started my business it was because I was outraged what dance lessons cost and how I felt it blocked many people from being able to enjoy what should be universally accessible. Dancers are artists, and as such most of us empathize with being down and out because most of us are down and out ourselves. There’s a studio and teacher out there for your daughter; I promise.

The studio she attends costs $60/hr/ month. Fine, I can handle one class but they add on $75 for one costume, and $60 more for a recital fee. That is for one class/ week. They are the least expensive in our area and most only give a $5 reduction in the class price for more than one class. I asked about just taking a class without the recital, they scoffed at the idea. She needs studio time, in front of a mirror, with a bar, and a good floor to get the right technique, right? We watch videos online, checked out books at the library and practice at home. Her teacher says she needs at least 4 classes a week to be where “she” wants to be. She is very focused and practices every day. But as someone who dances you probably know she can’t get enough studio time. Nothing like dancing on a real floor with a mirror and a bar for Ballet. I see it in her face when she dances, she loves to dance. Lord help my pocketbook when she gets to pointe. Those shoes are so expensive.

I made her wait 2 yrs to start lessons because we could not afford them, I am making my other children wait for their activities because their sister wants to dance. My son is into science and I would love to send him to science camp and our eldest is a real artist but I can’t afford the painting supplies.

Thank you for your advice. It is just hard as a parent to see your child want something and not be able to give them what other children in our area take for granted. So many of these other girls look like they don’t even want to be there but their moms make them.

That isn’t to say their children don’t do any lessons, but they have to get by with less. Instead of private coaching with a teacher who runs a feeder program to a company, they do group classes at a local community center or small independent studio. While this can be frustrating, one needs to ask what does the student need? of course the student – any student – will benefit from the best lessons with the best possible teacher, but does the student need that to meet his or her goals? If the student is in middle school or high school and preparing for a career as a dancer, then yes, those lessons are needed (more on this below) but if the student is a young child who is taking classes for fun or just to try them out, he or she will be just as well in the cheaper classes.

It’s very easy to focus on the results of dancing (e.g. how good one is) and lose site of why one wants those results, which for most children are simply to have fun. If your daughter is under twelve, she will be fine with the one class a week. If she is older, she should look into ways to help pay for the lessons herself. An additional class each week should only cost about $15-$20, something that anyone her age can make with a little bit of babysitting or yardwork. She should also speak to her studio and see if they have any programs that can help, such as scholarships or office work-study assistance programs.

Dance, like the other sports and activities you mentioned, can be expensive but the expense doesn’t mean it’s only for the wealthy. Rather, it means the rest of us need to be smarter about how we use our money. It means that we must choose dance OR some other luxury, not dance AND luxury. It is harder for children who lack the financial means and agency of their parents, and it can feel devestating as a parent to have to tell your child no, because it’s a choice between extra lessons and fixing the car’s transmission, but even then it rarely means that the child cannot dance at all. It means the child will not have the same resources and other students, that he or she will have to work that much harder to make up the difference, to put in that much more time practicing on one’s own, conditioning and exercising, studying, and doing drills, so that the child gets as much benefit from his or her one hour of class as more affluent students get out of three, but in the end that child will become the better dancer.

For myself, I have also found that when I need to save money, a double lesson every 2 weeks with diligent and intelligent practice is better than a single lesson every week.