Today,in the middle of my lesson,my instructor's direct supervisor came out of the back and told him to"tone down the dance program".He was showing me some footwork/helping me clean up my turns.He simply replied 'ok'and the lesson continued.Was he doing something something wrong?Ive recently started bronze one.Any thoughts on this?I thought that his bosses behavior was rather inappropriate,especially since I pay an exorbitant amount for chain school lessons.This has left a rather bad taste in my mouth and now Im a little hesitant to participate in any of their functions.

My first impression: Very unprofessional. Your instructor's direct supervisor should not have made such a comment within earshot of anyone other than your instructor. From your description of the lesson, the supervisor could easily have waited until the lesson ended and THEN spoken to the instructor in private. To me, it shows a total lack of respect on the part of the direct supervisor for your instructor.

This could mean two things:

1. The supervisor thought your teacher was pushing you too hard, and so wanted your teacher to back off so you wouldn't get upset and quit taking lessons.

2. The supervisor thought you teacher was teaching you too much, and so wanted your teacher to back off so you wouldn't learn too much too fast and outgrow the studio and so have to go elsewhere to take lessons.

Either way, it doesn't bode well in my mind. Teachers should go at their student's pace, not slowed down to meet some kind of "you bought 60 lessons to reach this level" ideal. Supervisors should treat their people with dignity and respect.

I just found out why the 'supervisor' came by and told your teacher he was 'teaching you too fast'.

This is part of the sales technique taught to all Fred Astaire 'teachers'. It is a classic good/cop/bad/cop situation, and it is part of the 'procedure' taught in sales classes at Astaire since the 60s.

After the 'teacher' is 'reprimanded' the 'teacher' tells the student that he will talk to the supervisor. He will then come back to you and tell you that he 'went to bat' for you, since you are such an advanced student. he will then a. sell you more lessons (an 'advanced' package) so you can 'continue' the advanced training OR b. tell you that his supervisor will give you two (!) an 'assignment' and based upon the results of that assignment, decide wheter you will be 'allowed' to advance.

It is a typical chain sales technique. It is also very thoroughly documented in the sales manuals of Fred Astaire Dance Studios.

The folks who replied to the origional question (myself included) did not look at this any other way than as if it was a real situation. We commonly forget that scams and sales pitches are based upon just that - the ;mark' (in this case the student) will tend to see things based upon THEIR perceptions, not the truth.

Remember, the FIRST part of the sales technique at FADS is to 'make a friend' of your student.

This is the classic "go to bat " for your student at fads thay are grooming you for the sale of more hours... you may be told that you need to buy more lessons to work on advance techniques, Your teacher will tell you that your ready and learning faster than most. be careful if you have hours you should be able to use them befor you need to buy more! Dont get sucked in.