Has anyone ever heard of a 'closed' studio before? My husband and I called and emailed a studio to ask to join a tango/cha cha class last night. We got no reply. When we showed up, the owner came over to us and IN FRONT OF EVERYONE told us we couldn't join the class, she doesn't let 'just anyone' take her classes, she'd have to interview us first, and if we want to come back IN A MONTH when the next class starts, we could see about that, even though she understands we're really good dancers. I was appalled and humiliated. I had been to her dance the previous Saturday, but she wasn't there, and all her students were so nice and friendly. I've been dancing and teaching for 15 years, and have NEVER known something like this to happen.

We thought she might feel threatened, that perhaps she thought I would 'steal' her students. But in fact I recruited two singles at her dance Saturday night to join her Tuesday group class

I don't want to start getting paranoid and think it's us. Any thoughts?

Lee Ann

I looked at a website for a studio a few towns over, and regarding their dance socials, it says right there in black and white, "Admittance to social is at our discretion."

I have never heard of such a thing! It reeks of discrimination, and I can't imagine it's even legal.

On the other hand, something really awful must have happened in the past to make them so paranoid. At least (I think) it's not me

Lee Ann

It must be related to something bad that happened in the past. I can't imagine a studio turing potential business away.

Just curious, was it a franchised studio or an indepenedent?

They are both independent studios.

I thought the same thing about turning away potential business, especially for no apparent reason; it's unimaginable. After we were turned away, I kept saying to my husband, "...and I had my checkbook right in my hand!".

The owner hasn't called us to set up the 'interview', but I didn't think she really would anyway.

We've since found a higher-level coach, and may have found a social dance venue as well. But someone new to dancing would definitely have been completely turned off and would have hung up their dance shoes for good.

Admittance to social at discretion is the same fine print used by clubs with bouncers - it's probably nothing more than reserving the right to kick someone who is disruptive out, maybe they had a problem in the past, and unless it's done on the basis of something like race it is legal.

Closed studio - possibly a different story. It's very hard to run real classes with a constant open door and if they studio has a good client base they may not need to make an effort to recruit more students. This is a reminder that studios can be in the business of selling dancing, not encouraging it.

Can you give us a link to the studio?

OB

some people are strange

Interesting!

Please, could you give us a link?

I am doing research on a piece "Ballroom, the Next Golf?" based on networking that happens, interests of a changing workforce, and the country club mentality that exists in some places.

Sure, it's:

http://www.ballroomdanceinfrederick.com/

Her behavior is no reflection on her students, because they were all very friendly and gracious at the social dance I attended.

My thought is that the students present were at a certain stage in the lesson plan and the instructor closed the lessons so that he/she would not have to keep reveiwing what was taught the week before. That would insure that everyone present was on the same page and level. If you had say an eight week course in a particular dance style starting with basic to intermediate. Someone entering the class after five weeks with no experience would most likely not fit in. Not knowing anything about the new entries background or skill lever the instructor did what he/she felt necessary.