You know, I look at the anger and the consistent return to the thread of bad teachers and disreputable studios and I wonder why there isnt a sanctioning board. I dont mean some place that they register but a real governing body with teeth.

These men and women get paid as if this was a profession rather then a vocation and it seems to me that they should behave consistently as if they were professionals. Isnt there a code of ethics?

It took me almost five years to find a good instructor, and he is an independent. His professional partner who is also an independent is a TERRIBLE instructor. She turns out the worst students I have seen. He turns out students who are placing and winning in high level competitions. They teach at the same studio and they charge the same amount.

Most amateur ballroom dancers, at least in America, have to have a pretty solid profession and tend to have a good education. That isnt universal but to afford this EXPENSIVE hobby you must have a real stream of income. What is wrong with us that we are putting up with this as a group?

How many potentially great dancers have been chased off by lousy teachers who are in it for the love of money rather than the love of dance?

When did Ballroom become one of the last bastions where Caveat Emptor still truly reigns?

Its disappointing, and Im glad I found a real teacher. Cant anything be done for all the people who are getting jerked around by disreputable dancers that exist somewhere between car salesmen and prostitutes?

You seem to be basing your impression on Comp. results.. while that is a hallmark, its not the be all and end all of dance .

I,m not defending un qualified " teachers ?" , but.. a certif. does NOT guarantee anything ! ( and yes, I,m highly Qualif. ), more importantly, is the ability to help people to get back into a social life, dance is the tool we provide .

If I depended on medal test and Comp. students, I would be out of work !.

And yes, we( qualif ones ) do have a code of ethics, and they are enforced for major infractions .BUT ,, one cannot regulate "bad " teaching .

Remember.. water always finds its own level.

I'm sorry, I don't mean that the only thing that matters is competition, it just seems a way of casting a quick picture without a thousand words. A benchmark so to speak.

I do wonder why one can't regulate bad teaching and why teacher's themselves don't want to help patrol the water for the slime that is clogging up the works and leaving so many obviously dissatisfied customers...as is evidenced by some of the mile long threads out there written by scorned dancers. (Run on sentence but I can't seem to avoid it)

Belleofyourball. What a coincedence. I was looking for something I had printed on the V. Waltz and I came across this other from this web site which I think is relates to your writting.
Quote. Remember in 1952 in the USA dance was so low as to be none existent. Dance teachers at that time was the newly created Fred Astair chain and the old time Arthur Murray's.
Remember the Arthur Murrays theory that the technique needed for dancing was too hard for the average Joe so he created a syllabus based on magic steps which were taught by six week wonders, thats what chain studio teachers are.
It was in 1961 that English style dancing was introduced to the USA. Untill the 70's there were no American couples on the world scene.Even now due to the damaging presence of the local studio.So very few people make it out of the beginner group classes into an artform which can attract an audience of 20,000 into a staduim in Germany. 10.000 in Japan. From Message board Topic = 8034.

Now your time lines are off........

English style ( as it was then called ) had been introduced way before that . I was coaching in 59/60 and prior to me, John Morton ( still there in LA ),Roy Mavor was coaching in N.E., among several others in various locations since the early 50s.

As to world class, I had coached and trained 2 teachers in DC in 1964, for a short period, of which one danced at a world class Latin event in NYC 1969 ( they both went on in the late 60s, to rank.. 0ne 3rd in standard at the British , and the other 8th in latin world champ. in Tokyo 1969)

If memory serves me, Bobby Medeiros lectured at B/Pool in 1969 ( in Mambo... he had made the 12 in Latin) .

There were many more world class dancers who just had not seen the importance of a " world " stage at that time.. plus expenses for travel were also prohibitive .

Terence. Even as late as 1986 there were only
8 out of 381 competing in the Amateur Ballroom at Blackpool from the USA. In the Latin there were 5 out of 333. In the under 21's there were 1 out of 141.
Whose names was A Harvey dancing with
M Mueller. I put that in just to show I have the records and this isn't just hearsay.

You fail to factor in costs of attending... most amat. cant afford consistent lessons !!

Also, by then, the USA had established itself thru their national championships, which had open and closed divisions, drawing competitors from all over the world. It drew several of the worlds top Pros in the open divisions ( prize money was the best in the world ) and some amat.


Also.. how did you just morph into the 80s ?.. i thought we were discussing the dancing potential of the 60s / 70s ?

Terence. At this moment there are 136 comments about a chain dance studio. Most of the comments are not very flattering. Is being taught by six week wonders actually holding dancing back in the USA. The standard of dancing in those studios can only go so far, and pupils will only get to a little beyond the beginner stage when compared to a competition dancer. We are not talking about Independant Studios and those teachers of dancing who are appearing from abroad.

Did you know that there have been far more notorious legal actions against Independants ?...


At least with a Chain, you do have some recourse .

Like any chain Macs, wendys etc, there are going to be good and bad . I know.. have worked for both majors and some bad indies .

And i quote from over 50yrs experience ..

Terence. I had to read your third paragraph twice. At first I thought you were moonlighting at Macs and Wendys.