This is the exact text a teacher signs before they can apply for work or accept an offer. Studios do not sign it — it is published here so a studio can read, word for word, what the teacher on their booking agreed to. Signatures are recorded against a specific version, so a teacher who signed an earlier version signed that version, not this one. This is version 1.
The short version
- You are an independent contractor. Not an employee of StudioShift, and not an employee of the studio that books you.
- Your income tax, CPP and GST/HST are yours to handle. Nothing is withheld for you.
- You carry your own insurance, or you accept the risk of teaching without it.
- Where a studio requires a vulnerable sector check, that is between you and the studio. StudioShift records what you declare; it does not verify it.
- The class is yours while you are in the room — your conduct, and the safety of the students in front of you.
- Bookings that start on StudioShift stay on StudioShift.
- You are paid after the booking is marked complete, less your half of the fee.
Everything below says the same things with the detail that matters.
1. Who this is between
This agreement is between you — the teacher — and StudioShift, which operates the marketplace at shift.studiobeat.io. It applies from the moment you sign it, to every application you make and every booking you accept.
2. You are an independent contractor
You are not an employee of StudioShift. You are not an employee of the studio that books you, unless that studio separately hires you as one, which is a different arrangement made directly between the two of you. You are not an agent of StudioShift and you cannot commit it to anything.
In practice this means you decide which openings to apply for, which offers to accept, what rate to ask, and how you teach the class. You are not required to accept any work, and StudioShift does not guarantee you any.
Nothing in this agreement creates a partnership, a joint venture, or an employment relationship.
3. Your taxes are yours
- StudioShift does not withhold income tax, does not deduct or remit CPP or EI, and does not issue you a T4.
- What you earn from bookings is income you report yourself. Setting money aside for it is your responsibility.
- If you are registered for GST/HST — or QST in Quebec — record your number on your profile so that tax is handled correctly on what you charge for teaching. If you have not recorded a number, you are telling us you are not registered.
- Sales tax on StudioShift's own platform fee is a separate matter and is shown as its own line on the booking.
4. Insurance and liability
You are responsible for your own insurance.
StudioShift does not carry insurance that covers you, your teaching, or anything that happens in a class you cover. Some studios' policies extend to contractors teaching on their premises and some do not — ask the studio, do not assume.
When you sign this you are confirming that you know which of these is true of you: either you carry your own liability insurance, or you do not and you accept the risk of teaching without it.
5. Vulnerable sector check
Many studios require a current vulnerable sector check — a police record check for people working with children — before you set foot in a classroom.
- If you record a check on your profile, you are attesting that it is true, current, and yours: the date it was completed, the date it expires, and the police service that issued it.
- StudioShift records that claim. It does not verify it. A studio sees the words *"Self-declared — not verified by StudioShift"* beside it, and that is exactly what they mean.
- The only time anything says verified is when a StudioShift operator has actually seen the document. If you edit the dates afterwards, that verification is cleared and has to be done again.
- Declaring a check you do not hold, or one that has expired, is grounds for immediate removal from the platform, and we will tell any studio that booked you on the strength of it.
- Where a studio requires a check, meeting that requirement is between you and the studio. StudioShift does not stand between you on it.
6. Your conduct, and the safety of the class
The class is yours while you are in the room.
- Turn up on time, prepared, and able to teach the class as it was described.
- Follow the studio's rules and policies, and the law.
- The safety of the students in front of you is your responsibility for the duration of the class. Teach to the level and age you were told to expect. Do not push a dancer past what is safe for them.
- Follow the studio's child protection policy. Ask for it if you were not given one.
- Treat everyone — students, parents, staff — with respect. Harassment, discrimination and abuse of any kind end an account immediately.
- If someone is injured, or anything happens that a studio owner would want to know about, tell the studio at once and tell StudioShift.
7. Cancelling, and not showing up
Accepting a booking is a commitment. A studio stops looking for anyone else the moment you accept.
- If you have to cancel, cancel in the app as soon as you know, so the date reopens and the studio is told. A message alone does not release the booking.
- When a booking is cancelled the studio is refunded in full and you are paid nothing for it. There is no cancellation charge today; if that ever changes it will be said plainly and in advance.
- A no-show — not arriving, with no notice — is the most damaging thing that can happen on this platform. It can end your account on a single occurrence.
- Repeated late cancellations can end it too. Cancellations are recorded, and studios review you after every booking.
The full policy is at Cancellations & refunds.
8. Getting paid
- The studio pays StudioShift when the booking is made. StudioShift holds the money.
- Your payout is released after the booking is marked complete, as a transfer to your own Stripe account: the class total, less your half of the fee.
- The fee is 6.4% of the class total — 3.5% to StudioShift plus 2.9% card processing — and it is split evenly, so your half is 3.2%. Where the split leaves an odd cent, it rounds in your favour. StudioShift absorbs Stripe's flat per-charge fee itself.
- Every offer shows you the exact figures before you accept, and those figures are frozen onto the booking. What you saw is what you are paid.
- You need a Stripe payout account set up before money can reach you. Until it is, a completed booking's payout cannot be released.
- How long a transfer takes to appear in your bank account is up to Stripe and your bank.
- Part-time and full-time contracts arranged through StudioShift are settled directly with the studio. No money passes through the platform and no platform fee is charged.
9. Bookings that start on StudioShift stay on StudioShift
Plainly:
- Do not arrange, invoice, or take payment for substitute teaching off the platform with a studio you met here, for 12 months after your last booking with that studio.
- Do not ask a studio to move a booking off the platform. If a studio asks you to, tell us.
- Contact details are held back until a booking exists. Do not put phone numbers, email addresses or social handles into your profile, an application or a message to get around that — the app blocks them, and repeated attempts are recorded.
Why this matters: the fee is what pays for the marketplace that found you the work. A teacher who takes bookings off the platform is being carried by the teachers who do not.
What happens if you do it: your account can be closed permanently, and you lose access to bookings, your ratings and your review history. StudioShift may also invoice you for the platform fee it would have earned on the bookings that moved off it. Work you already completed on the platform is still paid.
Taking a genuine part-time or full-time staff position with a studio you met here is not circumvention. That is a different relationship, it is one of the good outcomes of this marketplace, and it carries no platform fee. Just tell us.
10. Reviews and reports
After a booking is completed, you and the studio review each other. Neither review is visible until both are written or the window closes, so neither of you is writing in response to the other. You cannot edit or remove a review someone wrote about you. If something serious happened, file a report — that is private and goes to a StudioShift operator.
11. What StudioShift does not do
- It does not employ you, supervise your teaching, or set your rate.
- It does not guarantee you work, income, or that a studio's description of a class is accurate.
- It does not verify anything beyond what it explicitly says it has verified.
- It does not insure you.
- It is not a court. The Resolution Centre is a private negotiation between you and the studio, with a StudioShift operator deciding if the two of you cannot agree.
12. Ending this
You can stop taking work at any time, and you can close your account at any time — see the privacy page for how. StudioShift can close an account for a breach of this agreement.
Two things survive the end of this agreement: the no-circumvention section above, for the period stated in it, and your right to be paid for work you already completed.
13. If this document changes
A revision is a new version of this document, not an edit to this one. Your signature is recorded against the version you signed, and that version is kept. When a new version takes effect you are asked to read and sign it before your next application or offer.
14. If we disagree
Start in the Resolution Centre, from the booking page — it is private, both sides can put evidence in, and an operator decides if you cannot agree between yourselves. Nothing in this agreement takes away your right to go to a court or a small claims tribunal.
Signing this
By typing your name you confirm that you have read this agreement, that you are at least 18 years old, that you are entitled to work in Canada as an independent contractor, and that everything on your StudioShift profile is true.
