Technology: Dancetemp.com
February 1, 2014

Finding a last-minute substitute

Holidays, illness, emergencies—there’s a seemingly endless list of reasons you might need a substitute for your classes at a moment’s notice. This is where dancetemp.com comes in. Created by dance teachers for dance teachers in the tri-state area (New York City Dance Alliance’s Joe Lanteri is the director), this website acts as a matchmaking service between studio owners in need of a sub and well-qualified teachers who can fill in with as little as a few hours’ notice.

To access this free substitute-finding service, a studio owner creates an account with dancetemp.com, providing contact information and the studio’s hourly pay rate for subs. Then, when a fill-in teacher is needed, the studio owner completes the teacher request form on the website, detailing what type of teacher is needed and when. The dancetemp.com team responds as quickly as possible, matching up from the service’s database the studio with a vouched-for teacher whose price per hour aligns with the studio’s substitute pay rate. A few hours’ notice for a substitute is recommended—allowing for travel time—but dancetemp.com has been able to place a job within an hour on occasion. Studios in New York City (all five boroughs), New Jersey and Connecticut can use dancetemp.com, and there are plans to branch out to other areas.

Though finding substitute teachers (short- or long-term) is the main service of dancetemp.com, you can also use the site to find guest artists for bigger studio productions (like The Nutcracker), competition choreographers or professionals for master classes and workshops.

Interested in joining the substitute instructor list? You can apply at dancetemp.com and by submitting your resumé and headshot. If dancetemp.com is interested, someone will contact you and ask for a video of you teaching.