Dear Sri:

Thank you so much for your thorough answer. We live in east Fairfield county, Connecticut.

A friend we met in a recent social dance party pointed us to this forum. From what I have learned from you and a few other authurs of this forum, I think I know what we should do with our dance training from now on. First we will drop our studio organized entry level competition, $1900 for a 3-day event for two. Now we understand that we just want to be happy social dancers. After finishing our current prepaid program, we will find a good private instructor for private lessons.

In a franchesed studio environment, we have a one on one training but we share the big room with a few other "private" students and their instructors. Every instructor has the right to switch music from the only CD player at anytime. We also have "commercial break" like "bring a friend on our Thursday party and you'll get free lessons". It is sad to see a studio gets so commercialized to a degree that you feel constant pressure to increase your lesson frequency or take double lessons (an hour and half for double the fee) or to bring in a new customer.

I will check out the web sites you mentioned and thanks again. Your kind answers have provided a great service to the forum and a honest direction for me.

Dave

Interesting to read this since just last night I asked my (group) instructor to recommend if she could a "good" video from which to learn intermediate (American) ballroom. Her reply was basically non-comittal, but to watch tapes of good dancers, such as Dancesport competitions, and note the posture, technique.....

She, by the way, has just begun a new Beginner's class for Ballroom, and it is only $8 a fifty minute lesson. This class will go on forever, eventually getting to advanced beginner/intermediate level. I have no doubt she is an excellent dancer and teacher, having done both for about 15 years, (and I have seen her dance), but alas, I am a little impatient, especially since my partner and I are beyond the rank beginner level ("1 and 2, 3 and 4, pick it up, put it down" for Swing, as an example. While I eagerly await the class to reach a little higher level of instruction, I can be glad SHE doesn't get $75.00 an hour!!! So, there is some good to it.

So aside from thanks for the info from former participants, I would just like to add, you really can learn alot from just watching tapes of good dancers, or going to a dance and watching couples whose style you like. Especially if you just want to be a good/excellent social dancer.

(You may want to see if your local university or college has a branch of the ballroom dance association. Ours here in Madison Wis does (UWMBDA - affectionately known as You wahm da) and go to their dances. Those college dancers, here at least, are really fun to watch.)