My Pro/Am partner and I just did a very successful Int. Rumba Showcase. Everyone was impressed with our dance chemisty and how we danced together.
It took about 30 hours to prepare and she really helped with the technique, choreography, patience--plus she helped make us look good.

How can I tell her that I'm lucky to have her as a partner, enjoy dancing with her, and hope to have many more successful performances and comps.
I don't want it to appear that I have lurking romantic interests. What have some of you done for teacher-partner appreciation. What are some appropriate ideas--cards, small gift
--probably not flowers.

Anonymous. The best gift I ever received was a brush for roughing up the sole of the shoes. I used it from the first day i recieved it and ever since. Even if they aleady have one another wont go astray.

I always find it interesting how some pro/am students would like to think their teachers as partners.

She is my dance partner first and teaching is secondary. I hire other pros for technique and fixing problems.
She is tall like me and we move together better than anyone I have ever danced with--not to mention the dance chemistry that we have developed. She is available, reliable, great to work with, worth every dollar that I pay her--a lucky find for me.

I take dance lessons and technique lessons from about 10 other dance pros. Yes, she is a great teacher, dances pro with another partner, keeps up her dancing with lessons from high level visiting pros--which I use too. Others may not understand what I am trying to communicate until you find that perfect partner whether it is a pro, amateur or whatever. I have been through 5 years of partner frustration until I started dancing with her. Now I am really motivated and focused on becoming more competitive and a much better dancer.

"She is my dance partner first ."

If that is the case, why do you pay her? I don't pay to my partner.

Just put yourself in your teacher's place. Obviously, she would not be in the studio unless she is being paid, so what would she rather be doing? With whom? Where is she when she is not teaching or working with her partner?

To give a dance related gift is like giving a carpenter a christmas gift of a new hammer. Think about her real interests. Oh, and food is not an option here - nor is anything personal - your auto mechanic gets a gift card, not a pair of socks!

Your personal feelings for your teacher are part of the fantasy created for YOU. It is not hers, and when you distance yourself from that, you'll soon see what she would want to get.

It seems to me the OP has been dancing long enough to know about students' crushes on teachers.
And I for one did not get the impression he had one.
So I don't really think people should keep returning to the "she gets paid" part. Yes we know. All of us have paid way too much money for dance lessons to ever forget that part.

My mother teaches in primary school (1st to 4th grade) parents always get her presents. Does she not get paid for being a teacher? She does. Would she be in school if she wasn't? Most likely no. Does she have anythign to do with the parents in her free time? No.
People like showing appreciation through a thoughful gift. It's what makes us human.

Though Joey has a valid point. There might not be much dancerelated to get as she probably ash everything in excess. Still noone teaches dancing who doesn't absolutely love the sport so there will always be something.

Give her a token in kind - money. After all, this is not a 'partnership' and she is there for the income, so a gift should reflect the relationship.

I have a amateur partner too-- I don't directly pay her money to dance with me (but have to pay in other ways), I get lots of grief, aggravation, arguments, late lessons starts, unwilling to practice, and lack of teamwork. We do have our moments when everything comes together in competitions. I even pay for more than my share of lessons, comp. fees etc. and have much more down time trying to figure out what is right or wrong. She is stressed at work and has little money for dance lessons and other fees, but she is worth keeping and paying some of her extra expenses since we have been dancing together for years and she is a wonderful dancer. However, she is 3 times harder to progress with than my Pro/Am partner.

Any type of dance partnership is a team and you are paying out in one form or another. Even paid business employees are part of a team and should be treated like a partneship--even though they are paid a bonus or salary. I have never heard of paying a Pro/Am partner a bonus in the form of money.

You guys underestimate how hard it is too find a good dance partner--even a suitable Pro/Am partner that you pay to dance with you. I have about 15 other female pros to choose from to dance with, but I chose my current Pro/Am partner because I liked the way she danced and she is 5'10" tall (I am 6'2"). I has been very hard for me to find a tall female dance partner. Just because someone is a Pro doesn't mean you can dance well with them. Some pros are better at teaching and shouldn't even bother dancing Pro/Am. Probably only 5% of the dance population compete and probably a small per cent of dance Pros are suitable for high level Pro/Am dancing. I had the hardest time when I first began dancing and used social dance teachers as coachs. I was a beginner and didn't the difference-- I just didn't know that there was a higher caliber of competition dance teachers.

If you have that many negative things to say about your amateur partner, then you shouldn't be dancing with her! It sounds like pro-am is the better option for you.