"If everyone took Anonymous' advice and only studied with the independent coaches who can afford to take pay-as-you-go students, there would be no studios."

Realistically, many studios do not have enough real dance business going on to stay open without taking advantage of both newbies and either trainee or sponsored-visa staff. For those where that's true, perhaps they should not be open, at least not as seperate entitys. It probably takes 6 or more top-flight teachers to keep a full sized ballroom open and dedicated to ballroom dancing. Either the guy with the biggest floor invites the others to use it and offers to treat them with real respect (this usually only works if they are allowed to be independent rather than employees), or if each teacher wants their own little fiefdom, they go and rent space by the hour from the church or tap school or elks club.

I'm not going to insist that those studios that take advantage of beginners and junior staff close; I'm not even going to avoid them as long as I can get good terms there. But I am going to campaign against that business model, and feel a lot happier when in a place where everyone can be generous while preseving their own self interest at the same time.

Hi Mary!
I commend you for wanting to dance. I am in the same boat with my husband. We took quite a few lessons together, but he doesn't enjoy it...and it was taking the fun out of it for me! I am looking in to taking some private lessons myself...would love to take group lessons, but need a partner for that. It seems as though there is a shortage of fellas who want to dance...go figure! I am in Southern Indiana and we have quite a few studios and dance clubs..just need to find a partner. Thought about placing an ad, but it kind of freaks me out.
Anyway, I feel your pain and wish you the best of luck. It would be great if ballroom dancing could be done solo! ;)

That's not completely true in a lot of cases. The studio I take group lessons at don't require you to bring a partner. And, as hard as it may be to believe, the men usually outnumber the women at the group classes. I haven't quite figured that one out yet. We just finished up a sambe series and there were 6-8 guys there and only 3-4 women. And it's been like that in every series I take there. The receptionist is getting a lot of free dance lessons because they call her out to the floor to add one more lady to the class.

There are alternatives to studios for learning to dance.

This web site (BallroomDancers.com) is one.

There are video CDs of BallroomDancers.com instructional material, as well as video tapes and video CDs of the instructional material of others. And your library may well have some instructional videos.

Another avenue is to locate and tap in to the dance community in your (North Boston) area. From my experience, looking for a contra dance group would be an excellent start (check with the COuntry Song and Dance Society for places in your area). Contra dance is great fun and exercise. And most of those who contra dance are singles who love to dance, the implicit rule most places is to dance around rather than exclusively with one person so there are few wallflowers, most contra dancers are helpful to newcomers, and there will probably be flyers at the contra dance announcing an array of other dancers and ask folks at the contra dance about where to learn (and do) -- other than at studios -- various dances for personal assessments and recommendations.

My engagement with Contra dance in this (the Washington, D.C.) area led me in to various other dances, including swing, waltzes, Cajun, with out an intersection with a studio, usually with benefit of instruction before dances and inexpensive group classes.