Hey guys. I am so frustrated! I have been taking ballroom for about 2 mos now, although I have taken other forms of dance all my life (ballet, lyrical, hip hop, theatre, etc). I just found out from my teacher at AM that she just started training to be a teacher there 4 mos. ago -- but the worst part is, she says that prior to that she had absolutley NO dance instruction at ALL!!!! Oh my God! It's so obvious too. She had no concept of counts...just relies on her S-Q-Q...How can I learn from someone who can't hear the beat and gets thrown off count on a rumba or hustle and blames it on me not doing the step correctly?!? This has already happened more than once and how can she teach proper technique if she doesn't even have any!!! I want to enter into competitions. These "dance parties" they sign you up for are bogus too. I don't want to learn to lead 50 different women. I want to find 1 partner and improve technique with her. Help! How can I find a place that will help promote that? What should I be looking for?

You are definitely on the right track as to what to be looking for. I suggest you check out every single studio, both franchised and not, that is within a reasonable driving distance of where you live.

Go to a couple of group classes and parties and see how the teachers teach and how the students are learning and dancing. Find out which teachers coach competitive couples. Try taking a lesson or two from a few of them as a "try out." (If a studio is going to make you purchase a long-term or otherwise expensive package just to check them out, cross them off your list...you should be able to drop into any group class or party, or book one-off lessons, with no problems or sales pitches.) Eventually you will find someone you click with who has a lot of experience and knowledge, combined with good teaching skills.

Good luck. Knowing that you can do better and wanting to look for something better is the first step in the right direction.

Thanks for the encouragement. This place definitely seems more interested in "cattle call" dancing rather than individulaized and personalized instruction. The best is when I signed up, they asked me to fill out a questionnaire in order to help the teacher better personalize my lessons to my goals and ability. Yeah, right! I don't see anything different going on with my instruction or package than anyone else. And I wouldn't even mond paying those expensive rates if I was being taught by some one who actually knew what "staccato" meant five mos. ago and I didin't have to share my private lessons with 40 other people taking private or group lessons at the same time!!!! Sorry just venting here. But I appreciate your response.

"if....and I didin't have to share my private lessons with 40 other people taking private or group lessons at the same time!!!"

FYI private lessons almost never mean private space. It can happen that no one else is teaching then but it's extremely rare for a studio to guarantee your privacy.

What city are you in?

Hi Standardnut.

I am in NYC but I work on Long Island, so either area is convenient.

Since you are in NYC you are very lucky. There are a lot of excellent competitive teachers there. Check out Ballroom on Fifth.

"She had no concept of counts...just relies on her S-Q-Q...How can I learn from someone who can't hear the beat and gets thrown off count on a rumba or hustle and blames it on me not doing the step correctly?!?"

Just because she's inexperienced doesn't mean she's wrong.

Are you aware that hustle uses 3 beats of music to take four steps? As a result, you will be starting patterns on every possible beat in turn - the dance should not match the measure structure of the music.

The real problem with the chain studios is that the real issues of instructor qualification and lesson pacing get mixed in with the inherint misconceptions about these things that all beginner dancers have. Even with the best teacher, there will be times a new student will be convinced the teacher is wrong. The problem in your case is that we simply can't tell - your teacher is not highly qualified, but she probably does have 10 times your experience...

Beg to differ here, Anonymous.First, I taught other styles of dance and choreographed for well over 15 years. I have taken classes on methodology of teaching dance and have been very successful myself at teaching people at various levels many styles of dance. Even if she did have 10 times more experience in ballroom dancing than I do, that would not make her a good teacher. Second, I am aware that the hustle has a three count. Maybe you don't quite understand that although there is a 3- count, it can and does still match the music. It's only that your 4 count now becomes the next 1 count. She just randomly counts 1-2-3 and starts going slower than the music. With the rumba, she will call out S-Q-Q and end up completely off. For me, that's dancing 101. She even said once, "wow, you are better at finding the beat than I am." ?????? Maybe it's just me, but that's dancing 101, otherwise, what's the music for?

My suggestion is if you are serious about competing you should leave franchised dancing altogether. You need to find a studio started and run by former professional competitors. AM and the like are great places to get an intro to dance or if you are just interested in social dancing. But if you want truly qualified teachers you can't do better than someone who has been there and experienced competitions themselves. And anyone who has spent a lot of time devoted to the sport of ballroom won't hire a beginner to teach other beginners. True professionals take much more pride in the sport to do that. Just beware that you will probably be paying more, but as always, you get what you pay for. Stick with your feeling. If it feels like a come on it probably is.