"You can come to Atlanta and attend classes at various studios for a while. You'll quickly see that men outnumber women at these classes 80% of the time."

Pro/am siphoning off the ladies is no doubt part of the problem, but it may not be the whole story.

Many group class formats are more useful or at least more tolerable for leaders than for followers.

Much of what can be easily presented in a group class concerns the men, and regardless if they are or are not picking it up well, there is at least something for them to do. In contrast, the skills missing in most intermediate ladies are quite a bit harder to address in a group class setting - they have nothing to do with choreography, but are much more about details of movement technique and philosophy of partnering. I've seen that effectively addressed in a group class, but it's unusual.

Is it the right thing to do to split with your partner to dance with a higher profile dancer. After an extended try out yes it is. Would the now retired Karen Hardy, whome you would have heard commentating on many IDSF competitions, have won every title there was if she had not split with her former partner and danced with Brian Watson.

That lady's a trip. I'd love to hear some critical commentary on America's dance shows but I wonder if everyone's on the take or something.

Ron Montez used to offer some insightful criticisms but now he just pimps for pro/am. Marilu Henner is a fatuous cow.



jj