Hi Standardnut.

I am in NYC but I work on Long Island, so either area is convenient.

Since you are in NYC you are very lucky. There are a lot of excellent competitive teachers there. Check out Ballroom on Fifth.

"She had no concept of counts...just relies on her S-Q-Q...How can I learn from someone who can't hear the beat and gets thrown off count on a rumba or hustle and blames it on me not doing the step correctly?!?"

Just because she's inexperienced doesn't mean she's wrong.

Are you aware that hustle uses 3 beats of music to take four steps? As a result, you will be starting patterns on every possible beat in turn - the dance should not match the measure structure of the music.

The real problem with the chain studios is that the real issues of instructor qualification and lesson pacing get mixed in with the inherint misconceptions about these things that all beginner dancers have. Even with the best teacher, there will be times a new student will be convinced the teacher is wrong. The problem in your case is that we simply can't tell - your teacher is not highly qualified, but she probably does have 10 times your experience...

Beg to differ here, Anonymous.First, I taught other styles of dance and choreographed for well over 15 years. I have taken classes on methodology of teaching dance and have been very successful myself at teaching people at various levels many styles of dance. Even if she did have 10 times more experience in ballroom dancing than I do, that would not make her a good teacher. Second, I am aware that the hustle has a three count. Maybe you don't quite understand that although there is a 3- count, it can and does still match the music. It's only that your 4 count now becomes the next 1 count. She just randomly counts 1-2-3 and starts going slower than the music. With the rumba, she will call out S-Q-Q and end up completely off. For me, that's dancing 101. She even said once, "wow, you are better at finding the beat than I am." ?????? Maybe it's just me, but that's dancing 101, otherwise, what's the music for?

My suggestion is if you are serious about competing you should leave franchised dancing altogether. You need to find a studio started and run by former professional competitors. AM and the like are great places to get an intro to dance or if you are just interested in social dancing. But if you want truly qualified teachers you can't do better than someone who has been there and experienced competitions themselves. And anyone who has spent a lot of time devoted to the sport of ballroom won't hire a beginner to teach other beginners. True professionals take much more pride in the sport to do that. Just beware that you will probably be paying more, but as always, you get what you pay for. Stick with your feeling. If it feels like a come on it probably is.

Thanks for your response, Dancer. I will not be going back to AM. Can you believe my last lesson there she actually told me I would be taking it with another teacher because they were the expert in Tango? I need the "expert" to teach me the basic steps in Tango? How about she hadn't learned it yet, that's more likely.

I danced with a very good amateur partner and had good coaches for about 4 years. She moved out of town, so now I am dancing Pro Am.

Pro Am dancing, for me, is much easier and you don't keep making silly mistakes over and over.

My strategy now is to find another amateur partner and dance the same loops or choreograhy. We would use my Pro Am teacher-partner as a coach.

However, if you are just starting, I think a guy needs a male coach to help with framing and visualization--then bring a female teacher or partner in after your skills have developed.

Great suggestion, Jim. I will definitely keep that in mind.

"I don't want to learn to lead 50 different women. I want to find 1 partner and improve technique with her."

i can see where your comeing from, but it is good to lead many differnt partners when you are frist learning. if you only dance with one person, you may start compensateing for something they are doing wrong and vice versa. by going to "dance parties" you get experence with differnt followers, and that helps you in the long run with your competitive partner. i know that my partner and i wouldnt be at the level we are at now if we didt go to the social dances. also it helps you learn floor craft. and there are always alot of people on the floor other than you in competitions, especally the lower levels. when you find a new studio, you should attend the "dance parties". not only will it help your leading and floor craft skills, but it will be fun and you just might meet a competitive partner there.

Learn to dance with many women. You will gain so much more lead ability that way. I am also sorry you have had such a bad time with your AM instructor. I am fortunate in my personal experience with AM, for the two female instructors I have had have been wonderful to learn from.