I used to work for Arthur Murray and I would recommend them to anyone wanting to learn to dance and to dance well. Yes, its expensive, but you get what you pay for. Our studio was like one big happy family and no one ever said they regretted any money spent there to learn.
Our instructors, including myself were professionally trained by other highly qualified instructors and dance competitors.
Anyone can go to a group class and pay $10 to learn a step or two in any given dance. But can the follower follow a partner on the dance floor? Can the leader get the follower to do what he wants them to do on the dance floor? At Arthur Murray, the student is actually taught how to dance! You learn to either follow your partner or lead your partner, and sometimes both if you are interested in that.
You are taught posture so that you will look great with your partner, you are taught how to look and act either feminine or masculine on the dance floor. You are taught balance, muscle memory, stretching techniques, choreography, the art of being social including proper etiquette for use on and off of the dance floor. You are also taught the history of the dances you are learning so that you have an understanding of the cultures that developed the different dances.
You as a student learn so much more than just steps and when you have finally reached the level of dancing that you are comfortable with, others will see you as a highly trained ambassador of dance. But most of all, you will have the time of your life learning, laughing, socializing, traveling, and so much more!!
What it comes down to is this. No one pushes you to buy anything. You are simply offered more lessons so that you can take your dancing to the level that you want to learn. Not everyone wants to be a standout on the dance floor, but some do, and they are the ones that will spend thousands of dollars to master the craft of dancing.
I had a lady tell me onetime that she and her husband had been taking dance classes for quite a while but they were not very good. She could not tell what he wanted her to do next, and he could not get her to follow him. I told her to come by the studio with her husband for a free dance lesson with me, and I would guarantee that after that one lesson their dancing would be better, and I would not even offer to sell her more lessons. She agreed and we set a date and time for the lesson. Now remember these guys had been taking group classes and they knew some steps already. They came in for the lesson, we chatted briefly, I told them what we were going to do for the lesson and we spent the next 45 minutes doing nothing more than working on their ability to lead and follow. At the end of the lesson I asked them to show me 3 steps that they had learned in group class. I then put on the music and asked them to dance with the music. After about a minute I stopped the music and asked them how they felt. Grinning from ear to ear, both of them proceeded to tell me how much better their dancing felt. He said, she actually did what I wanted her too without me telling her with my mouth. She was so overjoyed that she hugged me and asked if they could buy some lessons with me.
So there you have it.!!
Oh, and by the way, I was a student myself for about 10 years before I became an instructor! I never regretted a single dime spent!!