20 Steps to Start a Dance Companies Business
Starting a dance companies business means building an organization that produces, rehearses, and performs dance for live audiences. This guide walks you through every stage—from choosing your artistic direction and registering your entity to booking your first venue and selling tickets—using the language dancers and arts entrepreneurs actually search.
Starting and running your arts and entertainment business, one step at a time.
Whether you perform, create, coach, manage, or put on shows, this guide walks you through turning what you already do into a business that holds up on paper. You don't need a degree or a plan on day one. You need to make one thing you can sell, sell it once, and let the structure follow.
Most people who read this are already earning. You've played a paid gig, sold a painting, coached a session, or booked a room and taken a cut. That is a real business, even if nothing is registered yet. The paperwork catches up to the work — not the other way round. Find where you are above and start there. You don't need to go back and fix a beginning you already passed.
Say it out loud: you're running an arts and entertainment business, not waiting for permission to call it one. This step is a decision, not a form. Deciding means you treat the work as a thing that earns, that you can name, and that other people can pay you for. This week, write one sentence: "I get paid to ______." Fill the blank with what you actually do — perform, teach, book, represent, produce. Keep it plain. If you can't finish the sentence yet, that's fine; the next steps help you find it. But make the decision first, because everything after this assumes you've made it.
You probably do several things. Pick the one people already pay for, or the one you'd bet on. A musician sells performances, but also lessons, recordings, and licensing — those are different products with different buyers. Narrow to one to start. The thing you sell is specific enough that someone could hand you money for it today: a 45-minute set, a commissioned portrait, a booked venue night, a managed booking deal. This week, write down exactly what the buyer receives and when. If you can't describe it in one line, it's too fuzzy to sell. Sharpen it until a stranger would understand what they're getting.
A dance companies business sells direct to its audiences, so the buyer relationships worth mapping are the intermediaries and patron sources that channel people toward tickets and contracts. Art dealers and galleries (the retail art dealers category) represent one important connection—these businesses sometimes co-present performance events, commission site-specific work, or introduce collectors who become major donors and underwriters. Institutional buyers such as presenting organizations, arts councils, and performing arts centers contract with dance companies to deliver performances to their existing audiences, functioning as a channel that brings substantial revenue per engagement. Individual ticket buyers reached through the company's own box office are the third primary buyer type. Understanding all the buyer relationships for a dance companies business requires looking at the full distribution picture, which is broader than these examples suggest.
Before any paperwork, prove someone will pay. One real sale tells you more than a month of planning. This week, offer your one thing to one person who fits your buyer and ask them to commit — a booking, a deposit, a signed date, a purchase. Cash, transfer, or a written yes with a date allcount. Don't discount it to nothing to close the deal; you're testing whether the real thing sells at a real price. If they say no, ask why, and adjust what you sell or who you ask. When money moves once, you have a business. You are now allowed to build everything else on top of that fact.
If you're already earning, you're operating as a sole proprietor by default — that's a real structure, not a gap. Now you choose whether to stay that way or form something separate, like an LLC or a corporation, which can shield your personal money if the work goes wrong. Performers, artists, and small managers often start as sole proprietors and change later; companies with partners or investors usually pick something formal from the start. This week, list who shares the money and the risk with you. If it's only you and the stakes are low, staying simple is a fair choice. If you're touring, employing others, or holding client money, lean toward a separate entity.
If you chose a separate entity in step 5, this is where you file it. You register with your state's business filing office — usually the Secretary of State — and pick a name that isn't already taken. This isn't a punishment for having earned money already; it's the moment the paperwork catches up to work you've been doing. If you stay a sole proprietor, you may still register a trading name so you can operate and bank under something other than your legal name. This week, search your state's business registry for the name you want and confirm it's free. Then file, or note exactly what you'll file. One afternoon usually covers it.
An EIN is a federal tax number for your business, issued by the IRS, free to get online. You'll want one to open a bank account, hire anyone, or keep your Social Security number off contracts. Getting it doesn't create new taxes — it just identifies the business. Beyond the EIN, most states and many cities require you to register for local business tax or a general business registration once you're operating. This week, apply for your EIN — it takes minutes — and search "[your city] business registration" to see what your locality asks of a business like yours. Write down what applies. Doing this now keeps venues, clients, and platforms from stalling on payments to you.
Starting a dance companies business requires the same foundational registrations any business needs. You will want to form a legal entity—most dance companies choose an LLC or a nonprofit corporation—and register that entity with your state's secretary of state office. You will need a federal Employer Identification Number if you plan to hire dancers or open a business bank account. A general business license from your city or county is typically required to operate. If you collect ticket revenue, your state may require you to register for sales tax depending on how your state treats admissions. Because your dance companies business operates at the LOW regulatory tier, no specialized performance license is mandated at the state level, but confirm local venue-use and occupancy requirements with your city before your first public performance.
Open a separate account for the business, even if you're a sole proprietor. Mixing personal and business money is the single most common thing that makes bookkeeping and taxes miserable later. A dedicated account means every gig fee, sale, and deposit lands in one place, and every expense leaves from one place. To open one, most banks want your EIN, your registration or entity papers, and identification. This week, compare two or three banks or credit unions on monthly fees and how they handle transfers and deposits, then open the account. Move your business money into it going forward. From this point, pay yourself by transferring to your personal account — don't spend business income directly.
The first money a dance companies business spends tends to flow in a predictable order. Rehearsal space rental comes first—this is usually the largest recurring cost before any revenue arrives. Next comes liability insurance, which most venues require before they will let you through the door. Costume and production materials follow, along with sound and lighting equipment or rentals for early performances. Administrative costs—accounting software, a simple website, and basic legal formation fees—layer on top. Marketing and promotional materials, including photography and video for grant applications and ticket sales, round out early spending. The range of startup capital varies widely depending on company size, whether dancers are paid, and whether you own or rent space, so cost categories matter more than any single figure at this stage.
Arts and entertainment work carries real risks: someone gets hurt at your show, gear gets damaged, a client claims your work cost them money, or a venue demands proof of coverage before you set foot inside. General liability insurance covers injury and damage to others; other policies cover your equipment, your recordings, or claims against your professional judgment. Which you need depends on what you do and what your clients and venues require. This week, list the moments where something could go wrong and who'd be angry, then call one insurance broker who works with performers or event businesses and describe your work. Ask what venues in your area typically require. Coverage often costs less than one lost claim.
A dance companies business draws from a wider supply chain than most founders expect, and the full set of supplier relationships is larger than what appears here. Two positions that show up early are worth understanding by category. General educational services providers Other educational services supply the dance instruction, master classes, and training programs that keep a company's performers at a professional level—this relationship is often ongoing rather than one-time. Legal services firms Legal services supply contract drafting, intellectual property guidance for choreography, and entity formation support, all of which a dance companies business needs before and after launch. Ground transportation providers (NAICS 485) become relevant as soon as a company tours or moves between rehearsal and performance venues. These three categories alone do not represent the complete picture of what the business sources.
The way you deliver your work lives in your head right now. Write it down so it's repeatable and so you could hand parts of it to someone else. Note your steps from first contact to getting paid: how you book, what you confirm in writing, what you bring, how you set up, how you deliver, how you follow up. For a performer that's the run of show; for a manager it's how you handle a client's calendar and money. This week, pick your most common job and write the steps as you actually do them, not as you imagine them. Keep it to one page. When something goes wrong later, you fix the page, not just the memory.
Keep track of money coming in and going out from day one — or from today, if you didn't. You need this for taxes, for pricing, and to know whether you're actually making money. Save every invoice, receipt, and payment record. Simple bookkeeping software, a spreadsheet, or a tool like the one built into this platform all work; what matters is that you do it weekly, not once a year in a panic. This week, set up one place for records and enter the last month of income and expenses. Then block fifteen minutes each week to keep it current. Consistent small effort beats a heroic cleanup every time, and it makes tax season dull instead of frightening.
As a business, you're responsible for your own taxes, and no one withholds them from your gig fees or sales. That usually means setting aside a share of every payment and paying estimated tax during the year, not just at filing time. What you owe depends on your structure and where youlive. Entertainment income also often arrives from many payers, each reporting separately, so your records matter. This week, set up a separate savings space and start moving a portion of each payment into it for taxes. Then spend an hour with an accountant or tax preparer who knows performers and small arts businesses, so you know your rate and your dates. Paying as you go prevents a bill you can't cover.
At some point one person can't do it all — you need a session player, a stagehand, a booking assistant, a bookkeeper. You can bring people on as contractors, who run their own businesses and handle their own taxes, or as employees, whom you pay through payroll and withhold for. The difference matters legally and depends on how much control you have over their work, not on what you call them. This week, write down the one task that most drains you or blocks growth, and decide whether it's a one-off contractor job or an ongoing role. Start with a contractor for occasional, defined work. Keep a written agreement for anyone you pay, however small the job.
The first three sales for a dance companies business almost never come from strangers. They come from the artistic director's existing professional network—former teachers, fellow dancers, and choreographers who already believe in the work and will buy a ticket, donate to a launch campaign, or recommend the company to a presenting organization. The second source is the community around your rehearsal space: studios, gyms, and arts centers often have bulletin boards, newsletters, and social media followings whose audiences are already primed for live performance. The third source is local arts funding organizations and small presenting venues that actively look for emerging companies to fill programming gaps. A brief, well-produced video of rehearsal footage and a personal outreach email to five to ten contacts in each of these circles is how most dance companies businesses book their first paid performance.
Buyers, venues, and collaborators look you up before they commit. Being findable and verified turns a search into a booking. Claim your listing on the directories and platforms your buyers actually use, including this platform, and fill every field — what you do, where, samples of your work, and how to reach you. Verification badges, complete profiles, and reviews all signal you're real and reliable. This week, search your own name and your business name to see what shows up, then claim or complete the top listing that's missing or thin. Add photos, audio, or video of your actual work — arts and entertainment buyers decide with their eyes and ears. Ask two past clients to leave a review.
You can't tell if you're doing well without something to compare against. Industry figures — typical rates, how much of your income goes to expenses, how often work repeats — tell you whether your prices, costs, and workload are normal or out of line. If most in your field keep a certain share as profit and you're keeping far less, that's a signal to raise prices or cut costs, not to work more hours. This week, find one benchmark for your specific work through an industry association, a trade report, or peers you trust, and compare it to your own numbers from step 14. Pick the one gap that costs you most and plan a single change to close it.
Now that you've proven the work, structured it, and measured it, write the plan — short, honest, and yours. Not a document for a bank unless you need one, but a page that says what you sell, who buys it, what it costs to deliver, what you charge, and what you want the next year to look like. A plan turns scattered decisions into a direction. Use whatever helps, including the planning tools on this platform, but keep it to something you'll actually reread. This week, draft one page answering those questions, then set three specific goals for the next quarter with dates. Revisit it every few months and change it as the real business teaches you what's true.
Starting this business? Get the printable one-page checklist for these 20 steps.
This is how to get started. If you want the whole thing — a plan with your numbers in it, benchmarked against federal figures for your industry, with the procedures for running it already written — that is what we build. A free template asks you to describe your customers. Ours names them.