Welcome to the Global Professional Dance Instructors Association

If you offer dance instruction, you are probably here for one of two reasons:

  1. You have been wondering what qualifies you to become a dance professional
  2. You are already a professional dance instructor and would like to become better at it

We are glad you have taken that first step. Here is why you will benefit greatly from the GPDIA.

GPDIA was started back in 1995 by Michael Kiehm as a way to be able to train dance professionals quickly, after he had already been training staff at his studio for the previous 10 years. Over the years it has been refined and compressed into an intensive format. At the same time it has been molded using the combined knowledge, experience and influence from many renowned professionals. Where most teacher training courses give you one person’s perspective, we come from a combined sense of knowledge. Which is why our curriculum is a full one. Be cautious of other courses that charge less but also offer less. We will give you the tips, shortcuts and little secrets to avoid the pitfalls and common mistakes that many inexperienced instructors have to struggle through while developing their teaching skills. At the same time we’ll show you how to make any dance, especially West Coast Swing, one of the easiest dances to learn. Stop believing the hype that West Coast Swing is difficult to learn. It is only difficult if it is taught in a complicated manner. By learning to keep things simple we will show you how to retain students and not have a high turnover rate.

Our advisors come from the past, present and future of West Coast Swing with over 100 years of combined teaching experience, and also include multiple U.S. Swing Dance Champions.

This year we plan to start offering continuing education as well as video tips to keep you current with the latest styling trends and technique.

Come and see all that GPDIA has to offer.

We’re looking forward to working with you.