hi, i am a 21/f in nyc, i love ballroom dancing, i studied ballet ans tap for 8 years when i was younger, so i have some dance experience. i have started taking lessons at a studio , and have fallen in love. i wander about becoming a professional but cant seem to find any information as to the steps to take in that direction. i would also love to train hard, and devote hours a day to learning and improving. where would i go to find someone to train me in this way? what steps should i take. any and all advice would be much appreciated? also am i to old to train to become a professional?

In dancesport in the US, anyone can be a professional -- even people who have had as little as six weeks of teacher training. All you have to do to be a professional is to say "I'm a professional" and start charging money for lessons. Of course, there are different kinds of professionals.

So the question isn't if you are too old. The question is what kind of professional career do you want? If you want to teach social dancers and wedding couples, you can take a teacher training class with "no experience necessary" and be out there in a few months teaching people how to dance. If you want to be a teacher with higher level students, then you must establish yourself as a competitor so that you can develop the kind of resume that will draw the better students to you.

If you want to be a competitor, ask yourself if you have to be a professional competitor, or if you'd like to try amateur competition first. The barriers for entry into amateur competitions are much lower than for pros. Basically, there are two categories of pro competition, and the people in the lower category are quite accomplished. But for amateurs, there are many more levels and many more opportunities to compete while you learn and improve.

In dancesport, the money to be made is in the high-level teaching, not in the competition prize money and not as a new teacher. (In fact, the real money comes from being a male teacher who takes female students to competitions and competes with them in the Pro/Am events.) Anyway, some studios only pay about minimum wage to new teachers that don't have a lot of experience. And professionals in Pro/Pro competitions might win $1500 or $1000 for first place, but between coaching, costumes, travel expenses, and entry fees, you're lucky if you come out even.

I'm not trying to discourage you, but am rather trying to give a picture of what the professional opportunities out there are. Also, I keep running into people who have no idea that there are amateurs out there dancing in competitions at a high level. In fact, the best amateurs in the US are as good or better than the best pros -- these amateurs are even allowed to earn money teaching and performing. The only real difference at that high a level is what governing body you are registered with.

Heavenly,

Unfortunately what Laura is telling is often the case.

That doesn't mean there aren't legitimate courses and teachers to lead you to certification.

Myself, I'm taking teacher training from an examiner for the ISTD (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance from Britain). This is definitely not a 6-week course. It is 3 levels of certification (4 if you count the Student Teacher category) that can take years of study and experience to achieve.

I'm following ISTD but could have just as easily followed CDTA (Canadian Teachers of Dance Association) that mirrors the ISTD Syllabus.

If you're aiming at teaching International Style you'll want the grey book for Standard (and the 5 red books for latin) that can be found for sale on this site.

Most people start with the standard first. You'll want to work through the book with a competent teacher (who wants to teach rather than just make money off you).

ISTD recently opened branches in the US and there are lots of ISTD Examiners around.

I looked at Dance Visins curriculum and it seems similar.

You might also consider checking BYU out too as they have a large ballroom dance curriculum.

BTW: Laura,

Don't know if you saw my other post.

You mentioned dancing and taking lessons with a Canadian Champion now. At lunch today someone mentioned Y.R. is dancing in California now. I thought you mentioned you live in California. Possible?????

OB