I really don't know what's going on up here- good enrollment in September, but January just about bottomed out. did an extra 6 week session in April tho & had record enrollment, & even my summer classes are up from normal. I don't think anyone is feeling more secure, necessarily, but they are no longer willing to put life completely on hold. BUT Alaska hasn't been hit quite as hard either (remarkable lack of high tech & financial sector jobs on the line I guess- & no one making cars up here, heh)

My numbers have been slingshotting back and forth. I know a good part of that has to do with advertising opportunities. I had a couple performances in the fall and into the early Christmas season that inspired higher enrollment, but right before Christmas a lot of people dropped it and haven't been back. Then I started performing at a local hookah lounge and as a result, picked up a few more new students from my performances there. Now enrollment is starting to drop again. I think in my case, it's just time to amp it up with advertising again. We're hoping to get some new students from the sign-up sheets out at Rabbit Fest this weekend, and that should help. The place I work at is putting out fliers with all their class information.

However, I live in a military town. Whether the economy is good or bad, soldiers still get paid the same. Their wives still tend to spend on the same things, like belly dance classes. A lot of them have formed walking clubs and things like that, the idea being that they want to be so much more in shape before their husband gets home from deployment that he won't recognize them! As a result, the class I run that's more geared towards fitness with technique and isolations is doing wonderfully. The ATS class doesn't have near as much interest. I've noticed the classes around here that are a little more geared towards flirty, sassy, sexy dancing are doing really well too. It seems you've got two dynamics here, those who want to get in shape and stay that way, and those that just want to learn so they can dance for their husbands. Since I don't teach the latter, I'm gearing my classes more on the first aspect. Even though the economy is bad, I've just been asked if I would teach another class in the mornings just after all the kids go to school at the local community center. The neighborhood moms have also offered to pay me to teach dance to their kids one day a week, but we'll see where that goes. It seems like the economy taking a dive isn't really effecting my area. Like I said, soldiers get paid the same no matter what and it's not exactly easy for them to lose their jobs. I think I have a major advantage here.