Hi
Ihave finally gotten around to pursuing a long term desire to take ballroom lessons and have now been dancing for 6 months. I have been taking 2 -3 hours of private instruction a week in american style plus a 2 hour coaching session every 6 weeks or so. I also attend a small beginners group lesson with the same instructor each week and go out dancing socially at least once a week , sometimes more.

I have two questions that everyone seems to have a differnet answer to and would appreciate any input on these issues.

THe first is the benefits of dancing socially ( i dont have a regular partner though am usually dancing with the same group of people). On the one hand I think the practice must be a good thing, and it certainly tells me something about my leading abilities, but I also became aware at one point of bad habits creaping in to my dancing ( over leading being the most noticeable ). Do you feel there is an optimum ratio between instruction and practice in this type of social setting where you really do have to dance with all levels of dancers.

Secondly I am english so even though I am enjoying and having fun dancing american style smooth in the back of my mind there is a part of me that considers International Standard should be my real goal, this is what I grew up admiring and am awe of. What are the pros and cons of introducing interantional along side the American. Some people say the american will mess up my international, others argue that the international technique can only help my American. If doing both is there an optimum combination of time spent on each or any other tips for best ways to combine them. I really cant afford to go above 3 hours of private tuition a week and worry about spreading this too thinly by adding in international.

I suppose all the same questions apply to latin and Rhythm but that isnt worrying me so much at the moment, but fel free to comment.

My instructor has no problem introducing International as well, although her specialty is clearly American our coaches are all from an international background.

SOrry this got so long for a first post.

For a ratio, my dance instructor suggests to the men - 3 hrs of practice(on your own or socially) to 1 hr of coaching. But dancing socially is great, because you have the chance to dance with all kinds of ladies. Having a regular partner can have a negative impact, in the fact, she can learn your leads which no other lady can follow.
But after 6 months of dancing, you're already able to figure out what some of your bad habits are. It took me 1 year to start to figure out some of mine, and some habits after 4 years of dancing, I still work hard at correcting. *footwork* *footwork* *arrgh*

As for American vs International. Depends on your studio, if at the parties a good number of people know international then go ahead. But I find most studio's teach American in the group classes, so that's what people do. But learning the technique would never hurt.

"After all is said and done, more is said than done. " - Twix Cookie Wrapper

I will try to answer your questions. However, I am not clear about about your dance goals (i.e. social, competitive, both?).

While it is easy say that more practice is always better, the question you should ask yourself is what more can I do to practice? Without a regular partner, you are limited to practicing at socials, practicing alone and practicing with your instructor during lessons.

The way I would look at deciding between American and International styles is: "when in Rome ... do as the Romans." If social dancing is important to you and most (if not all) of the people you dance with dance American style, then who will you dance standard with?

However, for competitive dancing, standard is good training for smooth. You shouldn't have problems adding standard if you understand its limitations in a social setting and that you may not be able to lead partners, unfamiliar with standard figures, through some of the figures.

Since there are many similarities between standard and smooth, I wouldn't worry to much about spreading yourself too thin. If you don't include quickstep, every figure in standard can be danced in smooth (at some level). Why not take the time you are dedicating to smooth, and split it between smooth and standard. Use the standard to improve your technique.

Blair

Thanks for the input. As far as my goals go I find it hard to sum up as either social or competition. In my mind the gaol is to be as good a dancer as I can be and I suppose that entails being able to dance socially, comfortably at a number of levels, but I am also concerned about doing it correctly from the start so as not to hit a brick wall later on and competiton(pro/am) seems a fun way to make sure that isnt happening, not to mention getting the exposure to all the cool dancers there and the professional shows .....humbling but fun. Just got to figure out how to do that and eat as well !