6 Ways to start your Virtual dance fitness classes and Get Paid.

The Covid19 situation is posing a new challenge to Dance fitness instructors around the world. In this blog post we will explore different ways to teach your classes online and get paid.

First let’s explore the difference between Dance fitness class and fitness or dance class.

• Since Dance Fitness class is a group class, interaction with participants is less and the number of participants are many. The stream quality has to be very good as people are dancing and they wouldn’t want breaks or buffering in between. There is also the issue of Music licensing.
• For Fitness or a dance class since the interaction is more with the students, instructors can take a break and talk to participants etc. If the stream buffers it should not be a problem as participants can wait for a bit and resume their exercise or dance step , or can ask the instructor to repeat.

FREE OPTIONS

For Dance fitness instructors here are the few free to explore . Please comment below if you used any of these options and give feedback . You will however have to collect payments from your clients via google pay or paytm.

1. Zoom App This app is being used by many. You can collect payment and provide a unique URL / Meet code with the participants.
   • Pros
     1. Free
     2. Decent quality stream.
     3. Easy for you manage as you can schedule and give out a unique meeting url.
     4. Will work great if you have good internet speed.
     5. Easy for your participants to join.
   • Cons
     1. Can flicker a lot at low internet speeds.
     2. Quality of stream is not the best for a great viewing experience.
2. Make a Private Facebook group : Make a private group and provide access to paid members and go live from there .
   • Pros
     1. Free
     2. Good quality stream.
     3. Less flicker.
     4. Easy for your clients to watch as its facebook and most of them have fb accounts.
   • Cons
     • Adding and removing members can be a hassle.
     • Music licensing can be a problem
3. Make a closed instagram account : Create closed account and only provide access to paid members.
   • Pros
     1. Free
     2. Good quality stream.
     3. Less flicker.
     4. Easy for your clients to watch as its instagram and most of them have fb accounts.
   • Cons
     1. Adding and removing members can be a hassle
     2. Music licensing can be a problem
4. Twitch.tv : They have their own app through which you can stream. However you cannot make twitch.tv channel private . So if anyone gets hold of your channel they can watch it. However you can make your channel not visible in the twitch directory. This can be temporary solution say for a month.
   • Pros
     1. Free
     2. Very good quality stream.
     3. Easy for your clients to watch as its just one url all the time and no need to login
     4. Stream a Pre-recorded Live Stream using a Free Streaming software – OBS. This can be a life saver for many.
   • Cons
     1. Its open link. so if your client’s membership is over you wont be able to stop them from watching the stream as they already have the url.
     2. You need another app to stream live. The suggested app is Streamlabs .Can be confusing to set it up for some.

PAID OPTIONS

5. Dacast : Streaming option with a 14 day trial. If you have a paypal account you can also collect money per session or come up with subscription.

• Pros

1. Great streaming experience.
2. Option to collect payments if you have a paypal account.
3. Works very well with good internet speeds
   
4. Easy for people as they just have one link to go to and pay via credit or paypal account .
5. Stream a Pre-recorded Live Stream using a Free Streaming software – OBS.

Cons

• Can be tricky if you are not tech savvy.
• Not suitable if you have majority of Indian Participants. Paypal is not used by many indians.
• Can get expensive if you stream regularly and have lot of participants.

6. Bambuser and Vimeo Livestream is great reliable options but expensive for regular users.

Please leave your Feedback and suggestions in the comments below or DM me on @karthik_bollybeats on instagram.