I have a young lady friend that is not wealthy, but totally involved with dancing with her pro partner. She works 2 jobs, does 2 big recognized competitions per year, 1 or 2 lessons per week with occasional out of town higher level coaching, and keeps her living expenses to a minimum to pay for dancing.

Her social life is her dancing and she thinks that her hard earned money is well spent. She has a high level pro that she has danced with for about 4 years--she has talent and is very competitive at competitions--usually in the top 2 or 3 or so in her age bracket. She is excited about her goals and gradual improvement.

I have to laugh at the Anonymous' response. She is contradicting herself and does not even realize it. She said, “The upside to Pro Am dancing is that you will dance much better with your pro teacher .” No, you won't. Anon herself said she had messed up her samba at the recent competition and her teacher covered up. You see, her dancing was not any better. Her teacher just worked harder. And if she gets so used to her teacher covering her, she will never dance better. I can guarantee that.

I don't understand what she is trying to say when she wrote “it (amateur dancing) is 3 or 4 times harder to do it at a respectable level, unless you and your partner are very good and you practice a lot.” Is she saying there is a better way to learn how to dance correctly without practicing a lot? She seems to say that pro/am is a way to go if you want to look good (but not dance well yourself) without working hard. What a sad state of mind! To me, her post is one of the big reasons why a lot of people think most of pro/am dancers are deluded about their levels. If this is the typical mind set of pro/am dancers, there is no way that pro/am will ever get the respect as dancers.

Guest,

I would like to compare dancing to Hunter Jumper horse events.

If one rides a green horse in competitions anything can happen.
It will take years to get a green horse ready for a competition and lots of expense and riding lessons.

However, if you take a schooled horse (assmuming that the rider is trained) to a competition it will work better since the horse is already been trained with many dollars of lessons and technique. The rider won't improve any but at least the horse will jump and do the leads and etc. correcly and won't buck, refuse or try to runaway.

Maybe you have had better luck than some of us in finding a suitable amateur partner, but for most it is not a easy task. Plus, when you find an amateur partner you will need to invest lots of time (years) and money--and hope they don't quit, move out of town or whatever. I could write a book on the ins and outs and problems with amateur dancing. Whereas, a pro is stable and will usually be there when needed. For most, ballroom dancing is a hobby not a profession and any short cuts are worthwhile.

I think dancing with a pro and an amateur can be blended together and benefical. It is just apples and oranges--two different types of dancing.

“any short cuts are worthwhile.”
Short cuts to what? If your goal is to become a competent dancer, you will learn quickly there are no real short cuts. It just takes lots and lots of sweat and time and money. But if your goal is just to look good on the competition floor, there you go. You will be happy doing pro/am. But don't delude yourself or try to delude others that you are a skilled dancer on your own. My problem with the Anon I referred to in my first post is when he says something like he dances better as a pro/am, because he does not. (I just reread his post and realized that the Anon is male, which makes me think he has bigger problem than he thinks. In ballroom dancing a male is a leader, but in his case he is the follower. I suspect he will ever learn how to lead if he does not change his perspective.) Trust me I don't have a problem with pro/amers per se. I have a problem with their delusion. That is all.

There is an article in last months Dance Beat newspaper that describes the medal system and coaching in England.
At one time every serious dancer went to England for coaching or dance education. Now Italy, Russia, and Poland and other countries have good coachs and training systems.

In the USA most good dancers are imported or Russian. Lots of amateur ballroom dancers start as an adult--say in their 40's after they have divorced and not so involved in child raising. In Russia unless you are a pro, you usually quit dancing at age 25 and get on with your life. The USA has an expensive scattered system or no system like the English medal system. Brigham Young and a few NY Russian programs are the only High School programs that I know of, but there are lots of college teams. Overall, it is hard to get a younger generation involved in ball room dance.

The USA is football, basketball, baseball activities for guys--not ballroom dance.

Every geographical region has its own type of dance instruction. Where I live in the Southeast USA it is not easy finding a good teacher and a good technique class is unheard of. There are some good teachers, but few and far between--so what does an adult do that wants to dance? You take what you can get locally and pick up traveling coachs or you dance Pro Am. Pro Am is not about you becoming such a polished perfect dancer, but as an adult--to just keep up your dancing or quit--until a suitable amateur partner comes along. Sure everyone would like to practice correctly, have a good coach, have a good partner, have a good learning system, and so on, but it is not always an option to bring all of these things together.

In the USA Pro Am feeds many many teaching pros that would be forced out of the profession. Even Donnie Burns is now dancing Pro Am.

So maybe Pro Am is better than nothing--which is what would happen for many dancers--and there would be many less ballroom dancers and teachers in the USA if it were not for Pro Am. To start dancing as an adult has limitations and it is not all about being the best you can be or shooting for the stars. You just do the best you can with your time limitations--again for most it's a serious hobby sort of like golf or whatever--and as an adult you can put just so much time, abilities, money and energy into it.

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,108302,00.html

I think that's the most I've ever heard of someone spending on Pro/Am. EGAD! But with that driving the high end of the market...I shudder to think...EGAD.

What a huge story on Ballroom Dancing. Mimi Wong is suing her dance instructor for 8 million US dollars. She prepaid 25 million in advance to Mirko Saccani and Gaynor Fairweather for unlimited future dance lessons and competitions.

Ms. Wong sponsored the Emerald Ball in LA and she won the ProAm with Saccani that year. Hmmmm...

dancescape.com has the scoop with photos. Is this good or bad publicity for Ballroom dancing?

Is Donnie Burns next? I saw a video stream of him dancing Pro Am with a similiar looking asian lady.

And she's the head of HSBC for Asia. There are certain things in this world that will make you sit back and go, "hhmmm."

If she's that reckless with her own money, do I want HSBC looking after mine?

Even Mimi Wong, a very high level financial advisor that manages billions of dollars in assets can get caught up in the dream of being a latin dance dance star (at her age) regardless of the cost.

On a much lower level, I have a Pro Am friend that has some physical injuries and is worried about how much longer she will even be able to dance.
Her Pro partner is a very good dancer and is very fair with lesson and competition costs. She would like to compete at some higher level events, regardless of money, but she has to convince him to go with her and some other dancers. He would not think of raising his price of dancing to astronomical levels. Like most typical Pro Am teachers he dances with about 10 ladies at competitions. He has many dancing amateur ladies to keep happy. Most Pro's can't afford to put all their eggs in one basket and need to diversify their students.

Another example of a lady that spent loads of money on Pro Am dancing is Barbara Moore. She was a Playboy centerfold and financed her dance lessons with her artistic pornograpy websites. She was the US Champion Standard Pro Am'er for several years. She started late ( in her 30's), took lots of lessons, worked very hard, found an excellent partner (Igor), had great teachers, and had the time to practice and work on her dancing. She discovered that she had a talent for dancing--(one never knows when starting out how much talent or how their dancing will develop over time) and lived her dream of being a champion. She is a Type A personality, beautiful, in great shape physically, and did what it took to get to this high level.
Dance Beat website has an excellent inspiring article on her life and how she developed her dancing. She is the real thing and probably didn't pay 5 per cent of what Mimi Wong paid for her dance lessons and competitions.

Greed is prevelant in all types of businesses and government--just look at the headlines. There is good, bad and greed in life--it's just the way it is.
Ballroom dance victim stories make good gossip copy since most of the time it's older widowed ladies being taken advantage of by slick talking younger men.