occasionally I get to dance with lady students from the local Fred's. To their own admission there are some slight differences in basic steps, but very easy to adjust to.

My instructor teaches from a variety of syllabi. For example, at one time he took us through the entire Silver-level Tango syllabi of Fred Astaire, DVIDA, and USISTD (even including a few figures that have been dropped from their syllabus but that he likes). They are different from one another, but there is substantial overlap. In some cases two syllabi have patterns that differ from each other only in trivial ways, though the figures have different names. If you go to a comp you need to follow their rules, but your Fred Astaire training should allow you to prepare to dance whatever syllabus they specify.

In response to 2rightfeet's question and comments, please realize that FADs and AM are franchise operations. As such, each studio owner is, on one hand, subject to "corporate" directions such as syllabi, competence testing of instructors, studio administrative procedures, etc. On the other hand, the owner is free to encourage the use of outside coaches, outside competitions, etc. The owner of our studio recognizes the use of outside coaches and outside competition can develop the students level of dancing, and he encourages it. Other owners I have met are loathe to even recognize that there is a world of dancing outside their studio, let alone encourage students to participate. My wife, and her pro partner, danced at the US Dance Championships in Orlando this past year. And she noted that there were many FADS students in the competition (Michael Meade was there as a judge).

Regarding Michael Meade, he is not under any contract with FADS that I know of, and currently spends most of his time as a judge at various events around the world. Since he lives in Southern California, our studio brings him in 6 or more times a year for coaching. I take full advantage of his time in the studio and schedule many sessions with Michael.

Going back to the syllabi issue, to me it is funny the differences between syllabi, with each organization having a different name for the same move and slightly different openings. For example, in FADS the first basic Rumba steps are Q-Q-S starting on the 1 beat. In AM the first Rumba steps are S-Q-Q, also starting on the 1 beat. As nloftofan1 states, "the differences are trivial".