Dance Studio Manager Feature Guide
Mark attendance faster in Dance Studio Manager.
If your instructors still hand in paper attendance sheets and the office has to open student accounts one by one, DSM gives you a much faster way to work. Attendance can be marked from the class view instead of from each individual student record.
This makes attendance easier for front-desk staff, office admins, and teachers who need to move through a full day of classes quickly.
Best starting point
Use the Calendar view and open the class from the daily schedule instead of drilling into each student account.
Good for
- Daily class attendance entry
- Office-side catch-up from paper rosters
- Teachers marking attendance from a device
Why it helps
You can work class by class instead of student by student, which is much more practical for a busy studio schedule.
The basic attendance workflow
A recent DSM client asked whether there was an easier way to mark students present without opening every student account individually. The answer is yes.
- Go to the Calendar.
- Click in the white space inside the class box, next to the date area.
- DSM will show the list of classes for that day.
- Click the class you want.
- Use the class attendance view to work through the roster from one screen.
This is the faster approach when your office is entering attendance after the fact from paper rosters, or when staff needs to update several students in the same class at once.
Teacher-side attendance options
Attendance does not have to be handled only by the office. Teachers can also mark attendance from a mobile device using the same general class-based workflow, and those updates reflect back on the DSM admin side.
DSM also offers teacher-facing attendance workflows through the DSM app for iOS and Android. If your studio wants teachers to handle attendance directly, that can be part of the setup instead of relying only on office-side entry.
Practical studio benefit
If teachers enter attendance closer to the class time, the office spends less time doing cleanup later and the attendance history stays more current.
Attendance status options
Depending on your studio settings, attendance may include more than simply Present or Absent. Some studios keep attendance simple, while others use more detailed status tracking.
DSM can support basic statuses such as Present, Late, and Absent, as well as expanded statuses such as Attended, Scheduled, Early Cancel, Late Cancel, No Show, Cancelled, and Cancelled Hidden.
- A student attended class as expected
- A student arrived late
- A student cancelled in time
- A student cancelled too late
- A student did not show up
- A class or lesson was cancelled
This matters because attendance in DSM can be used for more than recordkeeping. It can affect reports, follow-up workflows, and studios that track no-shows or cancellation behavior more closely.
Private lesson attendance and status
Private lessons and coaching appointments may use a slightly different status list than standard class attendance. Depending on the workflow, studios may see statuses such as Scheduled, Complete, Early Cancel, Late Cancel, Did Not Show, and Complimentary.
That distinction is useful when your studio treats private lessons differently from group classes for billing, follow-up, or scheduling purposes.
Permissions and staff access
Attendance access may depend on permissions. Administrators can control which user groups are allowed to open the calendar, use daily schedule views, or update attendance records.
If one staff member can mark attendance and another cannot, the next thing to review is usually the relevant calendar, schedule, or attendance permissions for that user group.
Why attendance status can affect billing
Attendance status is not only for internal tracking. If your studio uses late-cancel or no-show fees, statuses such as Late Cancel or No Show can also affect whether DSM creates a cancellation-related charge.
That makes clean attendance entry important for both class history and financial accuracy.
Reviewing attendance later
After attendance has been entered, staff can review it through reporting tools and class history instead of relying only on the live class screen.
- Attendance at a Glance for day-by-day attendance review
- Attendance by Sales Item when attendance ties back to packages or sales items
- Roll Sheet and Attendance Summary workflows for class participation history
These reports are especially useful for reviewing attendance patterns, cancellations, no-shows, package usage, and overall class participation over time.
When this is especially useful
- When instructors still rely on printed roll sheets
- When one office staff member has to update attendance for many classes
- When you want a cleaner daily process without opening student records one at a time
- When teachers should participate in attendance entry from a phone or tablet
Video walkthrough
This short video shows the attendance workflow in context.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to open each student account to mark attendance?
No. The faster workflow is to open the class from the calendar and work from the class attendance screen.
Can office staff enter attendance from paper rosters?
Yes. That is one of the most practical uses of this workflow. Staff can move through class rosters without opening every student separately.
Can teachers mark attendance from a mobile device?
Yes. Teachers can use mobile-friendly attendance workflows, and studios using the DSM app for iOS or Android can also support teacher-side attendance entry there.
Will attendance entered by teachers show up on the admin side?
Yes. Attendance entered through the teacher-facing workflow is reflected back in DSM for admin review.
Can DSM track late cancels and no-shows?
Yes. Depending on your attendance settings, DSM can track statuses such as Early Cancel, Late Cancel, and No Show.
Are private lesson statuses different from class attendance?
They can be. Private lessons may use statuses such as Scheduled, Complete, Early Cancel, Late Cancel, Did Not Show, and Complimentary.
Can attendance affect cancellation fees?
Yes. If your studio uses cancellation or no-show fees, the attendance status can help determine whether a fee should be created.
Where can I review attendance after it is marked?
You can review attendance through class history and through reports such as Attendance at a Glance, Attendance by Sales Item, and roll-sheet or attendance-summary workflows.
Can I hide attendance from clients?
Yes. Studios can control whether attendance is shown through client-facing settings, so attendance visibility does not have to match the full admin view.
What is the simplest reason to use this feature?
It saves time. Instead of thinking student by student, you can think class by class, which is usually how attendance work actually happens in a dance studio.