I am new to Ballroom Dancing and I have been under the instruction of a studio for the last two months.

I was wondering if someone was willing to put in the most effort. How long would it take them to go from beginner bronze to silver, gold, master?

Could any of these be achieved in less than a year if someone put in the effort. When I say effort constant practice for 8 hours a day or more?

Anyone with a reasonable sense of rhythm, and who was actually fit enough to practise for 8 hours daily, could probably reach a creditable Amateur Gold Medal standard from scratch in about three to four weeks.

That or find a different teacher.

I seriously doubt that.. the practical application of developing the skill sets needed for dancing at the higher levels, is not acquired by simply performing in a concentrated time period of ANY measured length.. they are nigh impossible to measure . I was considered a quick "study " in my childhood, and I danced several days( nites ) a week, yr in and yr out..and in my teaching career, i,ve been fortunate to have some very gifted (?) students, Pro. and Amat. and the progression rate even when accelarated , would not have achieved a standard, that would be comparable to the scenario that was given .

The amount of material to be mastered at those levels over 4 / 5 dances. from scratch, is monumental.

I will give you this for an e.g... when I arrived in the States, I decided to work for A/M and they ran an 8 week course covering 8 of the social bronze level dances ( 10 variations in each ).. I was at that time a prof. with a members degree. I STILL found it demanding to accommodate all the nuances of a new standard... so, is it poss ? maybe, but I,m not convinced..

I'm not talking about MASTERING anything. I'm talking about reaching a creditable standard in an amateur medal test - and if we're talking Gold, then that's four dances (not 4/5), and no more than six figures are required in each (IDTA Current Syllabus).

That's not a lot: and the standard required is modest - otherwise what would be left for the other 17 levels of Medal Test?

I seriously doubt that ANY amateur dancer COULD work for 8 hours a day, except for a very brief period (a few days) - but if they did, and had any aptitude for dance, I would expect rapid progress, but not progress that you could sustain at the same rate over a longer period.

Telemark. I think that to practice several hours a day as a person who a few months ago was a beginner will only increase faults putting them into the muscle memory, and there they will stay. To practice only the absolute Basics for eight hours a day. Now that is sensible. I will quote Karen Hardy when asked What length of time should i practice my Rumba Walks, The answer was Forever.

Are you suggesting that the standard required for a Gold Amateur Medal ISN'T basic? Perhaps you don't have one, yourself?

"Telemark. I think that to practice several hours a day as a person who a few months ago was a beginner will only increase faults putting them into the muscle memory, and there they will stay. To practice only the absolute Basics for eight hours a day. Now that is sensible. I will quote Karen Hardy when asked What length of time should i practice my Rumba Walks, The answer was Forever."

In ANY physical endeavor the practice of the basics, making each effort as close to perfectly as you can make it, will pay dividends over time.

Volume of practice without quality of practice will set bad habits.

Quality practice in any quantity is valuable and the more you do the quality practice the more progress.

I have noticed that the more basics I practice, the easier more advanced moves are to learn.

Also, technique worked on in the basics will be reflected in the habitual movement of the body and carry over.

Great discussion, I'm feeling inspired to go practice an extra bit on the basics. :)

Your response reminded me of a friend..

Many,many moons ago, i had a friend who disappeared for about 18 months.. he suddenly was back on the " floor " .. I proceeded to ask him what he had been doing, and he replied " Ive been working with (very famous coach ).. " so i asked " on what ? ".. his response.. " A Feather and 3 step "..

A little extreme , but a point well made..

I first want to thank all those who answered. I did leave the question vague for a reason. I wanted an honest answer and a wild range answer first.

Bottom line answer to my first question: yes, if you are willing to put in the effect you can achieve a form of bronze, silver and gold within a couple of years. But to really achieve in those areas from the discussion I get that several things need to be in place.

One: you need a willing teacher to correct and supervisor your training. Which seems harder than I first thought.

Two: Serious commitment to practicing the correct form.

Three: Muscle memory takes time since practice and correct form are important.
Time is needed to smooth this area out and can be dangerous if you go to fast and learn the wrong thing.

Now several have stated and some might have even been a little offended by this topic. We all hopefully understand that the over all art form of dancing will not happen within 2 years. There is so much to learn and honestly, I was thinking of just American Style not all style in general. Since each Style "Basic" is different in general because of the geological location they come from.

But thank you all for responding to my first question and I did get the answer I was looking for. Please look for other question that I will post and I appreciate all your help.

Telemark. On your posting 8.12.09. you wrote that Gold is not in any sense an advanced level of dancing. So you are refering to today in the UK. If you took a gold medal at the time i did mine you wouldn't be saying that. This is long before the medals were sub divided into silver and then silver bar and so on. Even the medal itself a Bronze was made of Bronze. A Silver and the Gold were plated and bore a hallmark. All three were hand engraved with your name and date. Somewhere along the line the standard dropped in your country. It has here also . But that is not necessarily everywhere. Maybe this is why so many central Europeans as well as Asians are claiming the top spots in dancing today. I would have liked to see you taking a medal any level where the examiner was Len Scrivener.