I think you must messure you decision in sections and decide from there. For example:
1. How long have you been with your home studio?
The time messured in one studio may define how important an instructor you are to that studio in particular and what may be expected of you (whether those expectations are ethically warrented or not has no barring on how the owner and/or members view you and your loyalty to them.
2. How much business have you brought in for them with your skills and talents, and was the kick-back from that time and effort compensated and appreciated?
If you've shead blood (not literally, or literally if you truly have), sweat, and tears for your studio over time and you have not felt as though you were rightfully recognized or rewarded (whether by payroll, comission, or simply kind words of encouragement) then the decision should be much easier than you're making it on yourself. Never short change yourself as a dancer and instructor. You do what you do because you earned your place doing it, so if you feel less than the best you are, re-evaluate yourself and circumstances and move on to bigger and better things, because believe me you're worth it.
3. This is more of an obvious statement than a questions, but, weigh your overall currency.
If you find other studios that are willing you pay you more than you're currently getting paid and your home studio isn't willing to budge on what they are paying you then you need to do what is financially best for you. If others can recognize that you are a find and are willing to up the anti to lock you in I'd say your decision is made right there. Your only problem/question then becomes who's willing to pay you more for your awesomeness? I know that sounds very greedy, when in reality, you need to think about feeding, clothing, and homing yourself before anything else.
4. As an instructor, do you feel as though you've reached a plateau at your home studio and you think you have much more to learn, develope, and ultimately offer to others?
FIrst of all I don't think that going to other studios to learn more than you already know is wrong. How else will you learn anything new to teach others? It's the same as going online to youtube.com or any other sites that offer lessions or examples to try out on your own time. How are you expected to teach anything new if you don't branch out and learn new things on your own? Any business owner, instructor, even just a studio member should appreciate and understand the importance of this concept. If they don't and act overly offended by what you've done, that proves right there how petty they are. They should be happy for you wanting to better yourself and they should be supporting you every step of the way. The only time that it's not cool for you to be going around to other places is if you're being sneaky about it and if you are teaching things to people improperly regardless of what you learned along the way. Questioning your own methods and not following proper steps can lead to serious injuries and if you're not willing to perfect or improve what you've learned to properly teach others safely then that because your own moral dilemma and you should feel bad in that respect.
Look, in the end you need to decide what is best for you, not worry about how others around you will feel if you take a chance and decide you want to expand your horizons. That may sound thoughtless and harsh but if you don't start taking care of you and respecting your own needs first, how will you ever expect to gain that much from those you're teaching? I leave you with that to think about. Let us all know how things turn out and good luck!
