For dance studio owners looking for a better way to train and develop their assistant teachers, Dance Training Organisation (DTO) is hosting a free online ASPIRE Open House on Tuesday 27 October, offering the chance to hear how its nationally accredited assistant dance teaching program works inside real Australian studios.
Held live on Zoom, the casual information session is designed for studio owners and teachers who want to learn more about ASPIRE, ask questions directly and hear from studio owners already delivering the program. There’s no cost to attend and, as DTO puts it, “no pitch, no pressure” – simply an opportunity to find out whether the program could be a good fit for your studio.
It addresses a challenge familiar to many studio owners. A promising senior student starts helping with younger classes and, before long, becomes an important part of the teaching team. But the transition from dancer to teacher isn’t necessarily automatic.
Knowing how to execute a movement and knowing how to help someone else learn it are different skills. So are understanding the responsibilities that come with assisting in a class, communicating with younger dancers and learning how to contribute effectively alongside a teacher.
For studios, developing those skills can also become an important part of succession planning. Today’s assistant may become tomorrow’s teacher, and creating a clearer pathway at the beginning of that journey can help studios invest in people who already understand their values, students and community.
Founded by Kerrie Power, DTO created ASPIRE specifically around this early stage of teacher development. The nationally accredited CUA30320 Certificate III in Assistant Dance Teaching is delivered within the student’s own dance studio and is free for studios to implement.
“Every dance studio eventually hits the same wall: you need reliable assistant teachers, but there’s no clear path to train them properly,” says Power.
With 16 studios already running ASPIRE, the Open House gives other studio owners the opportunity to find out what delivering the program actually looks like, hear from those already doing it and ask the practical questions that matter to their own studio.
The free ASPIRE Open House will be held on Tuesday 27 October 2026 at 11.30am AEDT (VIC, NSW, ACT and TAS), 11am SA, 10.30am QLD, 10am NT and 8.30am WA, live via Zoom.
Register free at dancetrainingorg.com.au/events/aspire-open-house.
