We will have approx. 30-45min group class, Followed by 10-15 minutes of general dancing, Then we will do approx 15 minutes of staff and student demos, 10-15 minutes of general dancing, some raffles prizes, then a professional show by James Dutton and Kelly Lakomy (which usually lasts approx. 10 min), whom you may have seen at local comps such as Indiana Challenge, Crystal Ball, Harvest Moon etc. So we will start around 8pm and end approx. 9:30pm
We hope that you can attend this event.
Feel free to contact James Dutton at 630-355-6240 if you have any questions or to RSVP. A description and photo of us can be found in the directory.Or visit our website http://www.chicagoarthurmurray.com

Arthur Murray???


Try Fred Astaire!!!!!!!

They know how to actually teach....

I see a lot of people knock Arthur Murray on this board, and let me tell you about my experience with them.
My wife and I started taking lessons there almost 3 years ago. We knew it was more expensive than some other studios, but we really liked the location and our instructor.
As we moved through their program as a couple after about 6 months we were really getting the hang of it. We had no prior dance knowledge at all. So we decided to stick it out awhile longer.
Needless to say we will have been there 3 years in another 6 weeks. We are at Bronze 4 level, and everywhere we go dancing we stand out in the crowd. We get a lot of compliments from other dancers who have been doing this for a lot more years, and who have taken lessons from other studios like Glenn Clark, Fred Astaire and others. When I lead a woman I don't know and have never danced with before she follows me with no problems.
All I can say is we have nothing but positive experiences at our studio and feel it is worth a little more money to get the kind of quality teaching we have had.
Our studio is in Royal Oak, Michigan and I will pit my dancing against any guy who has been taking lessons for the same amount of time.

Thanks for your confidence and speaking up, Tony. In no way do I feel my skill level is lacking or being held back by taking lessons at AM.

A person's dance experience has as much to do with individual character and effort of both student and teacher than the affiliation of the studio.

I've looked around at independent studios and found they offer very different services and thus pricing. Not necessarily better, just different.

A person must choose what is best for themselves.

The Guest Party was very nice. We would like to thank all the guest who came to the studio and all the students who have supported us. We will be posting more events soon.
Thanks

Tony- MY guy against YOU. Care to find a mutually convenient time and place? pasodancer at msn dot com. For that matter, my OTHER guy against you too, same bat time, same bat channel. You just got called out, Mr. Bronze Four.

Anyway, on to what I was going to say- FADS isn't much better if you go by isolatd incidences. FADS somewhere in Northern IL is where one former sort of never was new guy (yeah, confusing_ came from to our place. Bout a month ago, he shows up down at our studio, wanting to just jump right in and take over... well after a couple parties, he completely disappears, and we don't hear from him ever again. He ditched his new temporary dance partner for a sold-out, 600-people charity event and didn't even say a word to her. HE was from a Fred Astaire studio. Bragged about all the training Jesse DeSoto et al gave him, and he couldn't even get up and dance at our parties.

Edit: My point is, I like neither chain very much. I've seen some really stupid policies in both, and frankly, I hate the hard-sell lack of ethics accompanying both of them. If you're happy with a studio, that's great- and it works for you, so that's a positive thing... but when someone goes calling others out... be careful. You don't know what you're getting into, and you just might get eaten for breakfast.

If you want something done right, you gotta break the "chains" sometimes.

"All I can say is we have nothing but positive experiences at our studio and feel it is worth a little more money to get the kind of quality teaching we have had."

What is a little more money? From what I've read we are talking thousands of dollars more.

Well, that's why Jim Jones was so successful- he used *real* Kool-Aid, not that cheap Flavr-Aid stuff.

I have owned a ballroom studio in Metro Detroit for 10 years. My husband and many staff members have also worked at A.M. and Freds. I think that students should take lessons where they feel the most progress and comfortable. Not all A.M's are the same. It really depends on the owners and teachers. Good luck to you and your dancing.

I danced at an AM studio in Chicago for about 4 years; initially I thought I was making some progress, but I think things kind of slowed down for me by the 2nd year and my instructor seemed to not want to teach me too much after I realized I couldn't afford too many of the expensive competitions (it's just other AM studios from around the country anyway). By the time I got to the third year I didn't feel was getting enough of the teaching quality I"d gotten in the 1st 1 & a 1/2 years and should've gotten out then but I wanted to just give my AM instructor 1 more chance. I still didn't think that I was progressing, or maybe b/c I had just 20 lessons. Anyways now I'm out of there for good and more happier for it. I went to another dance studio on the North Side of Chicago and I think they're much better teachers besides refining what I'd already learned from Arthur Murray.