How many ballet schools are there in Germany, how many ballet students are there in Germany?

By Olga Leibrandt Last updated: July 14, 2023 Ballet Blog 5 min read original article is published in german on Ballettstudio Ost.

Ballet is a fascinating form of movement and art that is particularly important for children and young people and is enjoying increasing popularity in Germany.

Unfortunately, there are no official statistics on ballet schools and ballet students. But one looks in vain for "real figures" on ballet schools or the question of how many ballet students there are in Germany. The problem is that there is no register or official registration for ballet schools or ballet teachers. Anyone can offer ballet lessons because it is not a protected job title .

However, there are some clues and publicly available data that allow conclusions to be drawn about the questions raised. I've always been interested in how widespread ballet is in Germany.

Official stats related to ballet:

At statista.com it says: "In the 2020/21 season, around 150,000 people attended a ballet performance in Germany's theaters." What does that say about our ballet culture? Not much! Theoretically, every 553rd German citizen attends a ballet performance per year. Since ballet lovers also go more often a year, there are certainly fewer Germans. For comparison: 6,431,246 people attended a Bundesliga game in 2022 , ie theoretically every 13th.

Figures on dance schools:

According to Wikipedia, around 800 dance schools and 3100 dance teachers in Germany are registered in the General German Dance Teachers Association (ADTV). However, these are dance schools in general and not specifically ballet schools. Also, not every dance teacher is a member of the ADTV.

What does Bard say?

Google's artificial intelligence says the following: "There are over 1,000 ballet schools in Germany with a total of over 100,000 students. However, it is difficult to determine the exact number as there is no central register of ballet schools in the country. Most ballet schools in Germany are small, independent schools. There are also a number of larger, state-funded schools, such as the John Cranko School in Stuttgart and the Staatliche Ballettschule Berlin. The number of ballet students in Germany has increased in recent years steadily increased due to the growing popularity of ballet as a movement and art form."

Address seller:

Address sellers offer addresses for 3,467 dance schools and for over 1,392 ballet schools in Germany. This still seems too little to me. So I did a little research and evaluated data from dance school directories by Google search operators.

Search Operators:

Google has the largest amount of available data. Hardly any local company can avoid Google My Business (GMB). Therefore, I primarily used and evaluated this data. In theory, a search operator like "ballet school | ballet studio" +"Hesse" with a concatenated or (|) and (+) query is the right approach.

However, the search engines limit the maximum number here.

Better results are obtained with "ballet school | ballet studio" in +state.

Corrections had to be made in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg. Instead of North Rhine-Westphalia, NRW achieved a better result. In the case of Brandenburg, the "Berlin" ballet schools were included and had to be subtracted.

How many ballet schools are there by my count?

According to my evaluation, there are about 1797 ballet schools in Germany. The Corona crisis may have forced some of these schools to give up. Some schools are either "temporarily" or "permanently closed".

There are also duplicates on Google My Business, ie the same ballet school appears with different names. The owners hope that this practice will give them better visibility on the Internet. On the other hand, there are also ballet schools that are not listed on Google My Business.

For my calculation I subtract 10% from the calculated number, leaving 1617

There are about 1617 open ballet schools in Germany

How many ballet schools are there per inhabitant and federal state?

The national average is one ballet school for about 52,000 inhabitants.

When looking at the numbers, it can be seen that city-states such as Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg function as cultural centers and artistic hubs in Germany. This affects the diversity and density of ballet schools. The statistics show that Berlin has the highest number of ballet schools with 189 ballet schools. This is partly due to the large population, but also due to the city's cultural importance for the dance and arts scene. At the same time, you can see that Berlin also supplies the surrounding area (Brandenburg). Here the density is significantly lower at 1/71,476.

The situation is similar in Hamburg, which has 139 ballet schools despite a comparatively smaller population of 1,892,122 people. The long tradition of dance and the role of the city as a port and cultural center plays a role here.

But the question that interests me the most is:

How many people attend a ballet school?

Here is an assumption. A ballet school with high rents and additional costs can only be operated economically if it has at least 200 students.

Here is a simple calculation example:

A ballet school with two teachers and rental or ancillary rental costs of €2,500 and a required net salary of €2,000 each must have a gross income of at least €8,500. In fact, there are still costs for your own pension provision, marketing, costumes, photographers, web designers, website, replacement purchases, soap, disinfectants, means of transport and cleaning help, etc. This puts us at at least €10,000 gross income.

For €10,000 gross you need 200 students who pay €50 a month.

The value may be lower in rural regions with cheaper rents. However, the value is rather higher in many large cities.

In my calculations, I still assume a lower value, since not all ballet schools only offer ballet 100%. Dance and ballet schools are often mixed up and courses such as standard dance, jazz dance, or yoga are also offered. Therefore, about 30% of the theoretically determined 323,400 (1617 x 200) ballet students are still to be deducted. This results in the following picture:

It can be assumed that there are around 200,000 - 250,000 ballet students in Germany.

This value results from the determined 1617 ballet schools with ⌀ 124-155 students.

Number of students per ballet school Total number of ballet students

Estimated industry turnover of all ballet schools in Germany

An annual turnover for the branch can also be developed from the calculated figures. The average course fee is decisive here.

With a monthly contribution of €45, you already get €122,245,200. That's a lot of money. The annual turnover of the ballet schools sector is around €122,245,200. A monthly fee of €45 is assumed.

In summary, I determined the following values:

• There are about 1617 open ballet schools in Germany
• The national average is one ballet school for almost 52,000 inhabitants.
• It can be assumed that there are around 200,000 - 250,000 ballet students in Germany.
• The industry turnover for ballet schools in Germany is around €122,245,200.

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