Tips for covering the big business of dancing

The much-hyped debut coming up next week of the new “Dancing with the Stars” season - this one featuring a remix of previous contestants like racer Helio Castroneves, football star Emmitt Smith, weight-loss spokeswoman Kirstie Alley and Olympic champ Apolo Anton Ohno – got me to wondering about the size and strength of the dance industry.
 
As a spectator sport it’s proven popular, supporting 15 seasons of DWTS, which despite a ratings slump last spring still drew more than 17 million viewers to its May finale.  Other programs, from “Glee” to “So You Think You Can Dance” to the various American Idol clones also attest to the popularity of  talent shows.  But how’s dance playing beyond the TV screen.
 
Quite well.  Both the competitive dance and the recreational/social dance industry (think Arthur Murray, which claims to be the nation’s second-oldest franchise company and has some 270 locations worldwide) seem to be holding their own or even growing, driving business to companies and entrepreneurs from nationwide show promoters to independent studios to suppliers of costumes, shoes, accessories, sets, sound equipment and more.   If you cover real estate,

This HighBeam market research report directly attributes a rebound by dance studios to the popularity of “Dancing with the Stars,” and also offers the surprising news that there are more than 500 pole dancing studios nationwide, for those who find the foxtrot and tango too tame.  Talk to franchisees of social dance studios about their customer demographcis, how demand has shifted in recent years (more hip-hop and belly dancing, fewer waltzes?) and the economics of running a studio.  Is it a seasonal business, and when does demand spike? 

Meanwhile the arena of competitive dance, with commercial show promotors and all of the attendant spending, is big business.  The market research firm IBISWorld reports that it’s a $487 million a year industry and growing, with adolescent demographics favoring the market in coming years.  “Continued TV publicity” is also expected to help promote growth, IBISWorld says in the 29-page report.  (No URL but the firm will furnish the report to journalists upon request.)   The promoters make money via registration fees, ticket sales, sponsorships and merchandise sale.  Check out DanceSport for more information about the industry and competitions.

This is colorful fodder for a variety of beats, from retail and real estate to small business.  Even health care reporters could weigh in – a Google search turned up a variety of medical doctors, chiropractors, podiatrists and others offering specialized treatment or physical therapies for dancers; there’s even the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries at the NYU Langone Medical Center.  What an interesting career specialty and niche business to report on.

Personal finance is, of course, a natural, from the cost of belonging to a social club to the long-range investment in a competitive dancer.  You might interview some dance enthusiasts, dance parents and performers at both the professional and amateur levels about annual costs and the odds of making dance a paying profession.  Here’s a  blog post that outlines some of the pros and cons; note the detail that dancers in some competitions have to pay a fee for each dance they perform, for example.  This Bureau of Labor Statistics report on Dancers and Choreographers says demand for these workers is growing about average and that the median pay in 2010 was $15.97 an hour.