Is it not a fact that in countries that allow Amateurs to teach, two of which are Italy and Russia, are producing the best Amateurs

Yes, "amaters" teach in a lot of countries now, including the US. The different countries' governing bodies have different rules that describe the conditions under which "amateurs" can teach.

I think i can tell you why Russia produces better dancers then States. In States to become a good dancer you should be talented and have HUUUUGE amount of money. In Russia you should be talented and have _some_ money.
That simple.
Don't know about Italy though.

It's not just the money, although that is a huge part of it. In places like Russia, Finland, and China (I pick these places because I know dancers from these places), people look on dancing as a fun exercise activity that is good for kids, and kids start it quite young -- just like kids in the US play soccer or little league. A Finnish woman I know told me there were about 1000 kids who would come to the sports school near her each week for lessons. In the US, there's only about 6000 registered amateur competitors, while in this one town in Finland outside of Helskini, there were about 1000 kids alone! The programs are geared toward teaching people in inexpensive group class situations, so that keeps the price lower. In China, people view dancing as a healthful activity that should be done every day as part of one's regular life -- some people do tai chi, some do gong fu, some dance ballroom.

Ballroom dancing in the US was long looked at as being something for old people, and because of the way the US studio system evolved it catered to wealthy older people, particularly women with lots of time and money on their hands. This is changing, thank goodness.

Another problem that people face in the US that they don't in places where ballroom dancing is more popular is the misplaced idea that boys who dance are gay. That is so completely ridiculous, yet it persists in the US, and makes it more difficult for boys and men to get involved. Hopefully the popularity of "Dancing with the Stars" in the US is changing this conception on a mass scale, too.

>wealthy older people, particularly women with lots of time
>and money on their hands. This is changing, thank goodness.

I do not see much of a change here. Or you mean that 10 years ago prices were even higher?
But this is an intersting point. At different times I visited three different local studios and overall picture is same everywhere: some private lessons are taken by older people (usually with young and sharp teachers) and most of the group lessons are younger or middle-aged people who have no serious intentions and just want to be able to dance socially. And to complete the picture, there is usually few enthusiastic ladies polishing their pro/am routines in a faint hope to find a partner.

>Another problem that people face in the US that they don't in places where ballroom
>dancing is more popular is the misplaced idea that boys who dance are gay.

Yeah, this is popular not only on US. I thing this is an expansion of the popular prejudice about ballet dancers.

Hello,

I'm from Germany and we have lots of Amateurs teaching. We have very good amateur dancers who are on par with the professionals.

To give you an idea: most teachers get paid a $30-50 for one full hour, top teachers $60-120. There are no contracts, you can schedule a lesson whenever and how often you want. You can moreover practise on your own whenever you want in the dance club you are in (at no charge!).

I think competition dancing in Germany is less expensive than in America and we do have more international top teachers. Except private lessons and costumes we have no real further costs on competition dancing...
Sometimes you need to sleep in a hotel and spend a little on gas when the comp is far from your hometown; but usually small comps take place every 1-2 weeks in your area.

>Except private lessons and costumes we have no real further costs on
>competition dancing...


What about competition registration? Here in States it can easily be up to $1000-1500 (for pro/am comps).

the comp registration is usually about $10 per couple for the whole comp and sometimes you don't need to pay anything. I thought this is too little to be mentioned in comparison with what couples have to pay in America.

Something like Pro/Am doesn't exist here. What I said is true for all amateur comps here.

Hm. One more reason to concider moving to Europe. I was thinking about it for a long time.
But what do you mean saying that Pro/Am does not exist there? You still can go to the comp with your teacher, can't you? And here you usually pay him/her for that.

Pro/Am competitions are where a student dances with his or her teacher. These sorts of competitions are popular in the US and even in Canada, and I've also met Pro/Am dancers from Australia, Greece, and Hong Kong.

However, as a general rule, in the world outside of North America there aren't Pro/Am competitive events like the kind they have in the US.