We were lucky to catch up with Corinne Smith recently and have shared our conversation below.

Corinne, appreciate you joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Ballroom dancing has been a part of my life since I was 8 years old and after getting involved in competitive dancing as a teenager I knew it was what I wanted to do. After graduating from college my goal was to start teaching dance and find a professional partner. I found myself briefly working for a studio in Chicago area while looking for a professional dance partner. Six months later I was moving across the country to Atlanta, GA to start dancing with my first professional dance partner and teaching at the studio he worked out of.

The professional partnership and job at the studio came to an abrupt stop two months after moving to Atlanta as things didn’t seem to be working out well. At this point I was feeling discouraged, although I had more teaching experience I had moved very far from home and felt alone. The job at the studio had not provided me with much income and I was struggling to support myself, so I did what I could to survive and managed to find a new job working as a receptionist at another dance studio in the area. With the connections I made at the studio I managed to land my dream job teaching dance for the non-profit organization JV Outreach that brought dancing into middle schools in the Atlanta area.

Although I was working my dream job in Atlanta I still had not fulfilled my goal of finding a professional dance partner to compete with. A friend of mine reached out to me about a studio he started working for in Columbus and had mentioned that they could assist me in my search for a professional dance partner. I decided it would be worth the risk to leave Atlanta and start a new adventure in Columbus, OH. Shortly after moving to Columbus and working at the studio I began dancing with the studio’s owner who was looking for a dance partner as well. This studio was a pivotal point in where I grew as a dancer, teacher and person as they provided their staff with the best dance training as well as business training. I stayed there for 2 and a half years and made the decision to leave after ending my professional partnership with the studio’s owner.

Briefly I moved back to Chicago area to stay with my parents while in pursuit of a new dance partnership and began saving money to make another move. While I was in Chicago area I created a continued education ballroom dance class at a local community college and taught independently for a local studio. As I was establishing a nice business of my own I finally managed to find a new professional partner who just so happened to be located in Columbus, OH. We traveled back and forth for a while until we decided it was the right fit and I moved back to Columbus to continue with my professional dancing. It was bittersweet leaving Chicago as I had to say goodbye to all of my students there.

It was just my luck that two weeks after moving to Columbus everything got shut down because of the pandemic. As we all know the pandemic was hard on everyone, especially businesses that involved a lot of human contact. For a few months I had no work and even after coming back it was very challenging for the studio to provide new clients as people were fearful of coming back and dancing. In order to make ends meet I had to pick up a job nannying and found myself frustrated as I really just wanted to teach dance. Over the span of a year I was able to save up enough money and take the risk to leave my job nannying and leave the studio and become an independent dance teacher.

Becoming an independent dance teacher meant I was my own boss and had to work to get my own clients. It was a risk, but a risk worth taking! Working for 4 different studios, teaching for a non-profit and working as a receptionist gave me the knowledge I needed to run my own business. Looking back on it I don’t think there are shortcuts to knowing what I know now. My experiences taught me how I want to run my business and also taught me how I don’t want to run my business. There were a lot of hard lessons learned along the way, however I wouldn’t change a thing about my journey. For the first time in 10 years I can say that I am able to earn a full-time living from teaching dance. It has been a challenging and rewarding journey and I can’t wait to see what the future holds. With hard work and dedication anything you put your mind to is possible.

Corinne, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Ballroom dancing came into my life through my parents as it was the activity they chose to learn together as a newly married couple. They decided to enroll my brother and I in dance lessons when I was 8 years old and I haven’t stopped dancing since. As a teenager I got involved in competitive ballroom dancing and that’s when I decided it was what I wanted to do for a living. After graduating from college in 2013 with a degree in Dance I pursued my dream of being a Ballroom dance teacher.

The services I offer include private dance lessons, group classes, kids classes and being hired to teach at events. Private dance lessons are one of the best ways to learn as they are one on one with an instructor. I offer private dance lessons for all occasions including weddings, social dancing and competitive dancing. The group classes I offer are for 3 or more people wanting to learn how to dance at a time and can be set up as semi-private with a group of your friends or family. Currently I do not have a group class for kids, however I do teach private lessons for kids at a discounted rate.

What sets me apart from others is the investment I have in my business and students. I am always striving to become a better teacher for my clients and taking my time to make sure they have the best experience during their lessons. My work inspires me to be better and you can see my passion for dance in my teaching. My students would say that I am a patient, kind and detail oriented teacher. Sometimes the little details make the biggest difference.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being creative?

What is most rewarding for me as a dance teacher is seeing how dance impacts my students’ lives in different ways. For every wedding dance I get to see it brings tears to my eyes because you can see the joy that dance brings on their wedding day. That dance is something they will never forget and sometimes brings couples into dancing through their marriage. For my social students it’s seeing them improve over time and seeing them make friends through dancing. Dancing brings people together and has a beautiful loving community that is unique in its own ways.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

This makes me think back to something I have heard many times in my career. I have been asked many times if teaching dance is what I do for a living and I believe that’s because sometimes it’s hard to believe someone can make a living off just teaching dance. The term “struggling artist” was created for a reason and I am sure some people would wonder why one would want to struggle through life. We struggle because we just can’t imagine doing anything else in life and our creative journey gives us so much joy that it is worth the struggle. I truly love what I do and wouldn’t chose to do anything that doesn’t bring me happiness.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ballroomavenue.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ballroomavenue
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ballroomavenue