AUGGG...

After many years at the same studio, my partner and I have left the studio... Wont go into the whys...

So we began to search for a new instructors, and ran into an interesting situations....

Here is our expereinces... We are a competitive couple, but choice... We prefer learning technique and setting goals, rather than social dance...

So our first stop was Fred Astire..., as we were looking for an international instructor... We were quite aprehensive going to a chain studio and gettting a sales pitch. We were pleasantly suprised. The gave us 3 priviate lessons @30.00 a lesson(thier intro)... At the end of the second lesson, comes what we thought the sales pitch... The owner says to us, "look, I dont have to sell you, either you like our level of instruction or you dont.".. She told us you know what is a fair price, she gave us a price sheet, which was fair, and pretty much walked away. No Pitch...WOW!. We made a decision with no pressure.

NEXT.....We like to train with 2 instructors... We took lessons with well known competitive couples.... This is where I was a bit taken back....I could accept that we would pay $80.00 per hour... What I found hard to take was that these instructors rent floor space, and if I wanted to work with them, I had to follow them to the studio they were at, at any given day.... This means up to an hour drive... They could not give me a set day per week, was constanly changing.... I had to hold open my schedule to accomdiate them... As much as we felt the instuction was very very good, I had this sense that they were doing me a favor to teach us.... Don't think so.... The not knowing where or when the lesson will be was not worth it. This is a new wexpereince for us, but if this is what it is like to train with a top coach, I am going to pass.......

This whole expereine has quite interesting to us, not to mention fustrating!!

Not all independent floor-renting instructors are like this, to be sure. We see our coach at the same studio every week, and at pretty much the same time. Usually when the times change, it's to accomodate our schedule, not some whim of the coach.

It would drive me crazy if my coach was always changing our location and time. I like having consistency.

Thanks for your response.... So I am not crazy after all....

I just felt, no, as much as the instuction is good, I am not going to chase this coach around the state...

Kind of all depends on how (uniquely) good they are or aren't, doesn't it?

Kind of...sometimes no matter how good someone is, if you can't book them and if they're always moving around and cancelling and rescheduling on you, it's just not worth the hassle if you're doing this for a fun hobby.

It's easier if they are only one of your teachers, not your TEACHER.

I guess it is all how we learn. I never understood how you go to an event where pro's are giving lessons... They are booked pretty solid.

I just cant take one lesson, walk away and take what I have learned and apply it with much success... I need reinforcement of the principiles... I think perhaps it takes me longer to understand and apply instuction. So to take lessons from a pro, that is not consistant week after week, is just throwing away an $80.00 an hour fee... Just won't work for me.

In the end, I have examined how I learn, and then sought out instruction that will work for me... I guess I am not meant to work with a pro.... It is a good thing that there are still many good instructors that are affiliated with a studio where I can obtain weekly instruction, at the consistancy that I learn best with.

Joanie.If the teacher of your choice does not have a studio that they can call home, then thats how it is. I for a consideral time used to have a lesson once a week . Sometimes it was a forty minute drive in one direction, and then twenty minutes in another, and anything in between. But and, and here's the reason . The lady was a top Latin dancer with international experience, and what she taught me I would not get anywhere else in my locality. When they come back from the UK I would do it again without a second thought.

In my area there is an EXCELLENT instructor who happens to charge $80.00 an hour. Also, coincidentally, I had to drive a distance to the studio. But within one lesson (which I was able to videotape) she was able to identify critical technical problems, and give me the homework to correct it...

If I compete in the future, trust me, I would not pass on a lesson with her - despite the scheduling conflict.