We have long wanted to talk about this rather trending topic.
Have you ever noticed that in network dance schools people are being trained for many years with little progress?
What does a network dance school mean? A network dance school is a franchise business, just like McDonald’s. Each school has its own owner, but all of them have the same or similar structure that they follow. The general policy of such schools is focused on keeping the students as long as possible; hence, they slow down the learning progress, so their clients keep coming back for lessons.
The questions is how to find out if you are being held back from progressing? Here is what you might want to pay attention to:
1. In one lesson, you are taught 3 or more dances at once.
On an average, the duration of one lesson is 45 minutes, 10 minutes of which is a mandatory conversation. Give yourself another 5 to 10 minutes for a warmup, and you are left with 25 minutes to learn three new dances. It's only 8 minutes per dance, which is less than the conversation or warmup time.
Dancing can be compared to a body language. In each lesson you learn to speak as if every dance is like a new language. There are related languages, as well as there are similar dances. For example, Waltz and Foxtrot; each has a completely different dialect that requires time to be learned. On the other hand, there are completely different languages as well as dances such as East Coast Swing and Tango.
What would you say if you wanted to learn a new language and you were taught three languages at once in one lesson: 8 minutes German, 8 minutes Italian, and 8 minutes Chinese? How much would you remember? You would have everything mixed up in your head, right? But that's what happens when Rumba, Foxtrot, and Tango are being taught all at once. You will keep taking lessons and stay at the bronze level for years. Some do that for decades.
This is a specific approach that gives the impression that you are learning many different dances, but, in fact, you are not learning nearly as much as you think.
2. Furthermore, you are being taught just the steps but nothing about the dance itself is being explained.
You don't know what type of dance it is and what is the difference between them, where it is from, or why it is danced this way. You are being taught just a set of movements that are not related to each other without explanation on how they can be developed. It's like learning a language from a dictionary by just memorizing individual words, and not knowing how to put them in sentences. Yes, you can learn a certain amount of words, but words are not a language. Eventually, you will be able to explain what you need, but you will never be able to communicate freely with others.
So, a set of steps is not a dance!
The instructor’s responsibility is to first give a general idea, an understanding of the dance as a whole system.
Why is it important? Because understanding the whole gives you perspective and escalated progress in the dance.
3. You are being “sugar coated”.
Your dance instructor makes you feel like you are the best dancer if not in the world then at least in the studio. They compliment you all the time, showing their interest in your dog’s daily routine… If you make a mistake, they prefer not to focus on it, or will apply the normalization method without explaining why it’s happening and what would be the process to fix the problem.
What is the normalization method?
During special trainings, dance teachers are taught how to enter into emotional contact with their students and most importantly create a feeling in them that they are the coolest and everything works out for them. If a student makes a mistake, tell them that it's okay and don’t concentrate the attention on that. It is important to create the feeling that the student is making great progress with little effort!
How do you know if this method is being applied to you?
Your instructor praises you and says that everything is working out great for you, but your questions are left unanswered, and deep down you feel that you’re not being told the full truth; however, you like hearing that. Be careful not to become addicted to compliments.
With that being said, sugar coating slows down any learning progress, including dancing, since nobody pays attention to your mistakes and helps you to fix them. Instead, you become addicted to “feeling good” and loose your focus on the progress.
Now, knowing the secrets of slowing down the learning progress that many dance schools use, you can determine for yourself if this is something you’re willing to pay for with your time and wallet.
In the US, most dance schools do not provide dance instructions but only commercial services.
Dance Amadis Ballroom is proud of its unique way of teaching that allows our students to progress in their skills faster and truly look beautiful on the dance floor.
Have you heard that our student, Ruzanna Tarannik, took most of the first places in her division at the annual Palm Beach Classic Ballroom Competition.
Last weekend Palm Beach hosted an open ballroom dancing competition.
Traditionally, not only the majority of Florida ballroom dance schools participate in it, but also schools from other states across the country.
The Palm Beach Classic was a full day of friendly competitive dancing, followed by dinner and general dancing. This incredible ballroom dance competition was held at the Hilton Palm Beach Airport Hotel on Sunday, January 15, 2023.
The Palm Beach Classic, presented by Colleen Christman is an exciting dance competition in West Palm Beach, Florida that is sanctioned by the NDCA (National Dance Council of America, Inc.).
Our student Ruzanna Tarannik has recently started dancing at our school.
Only two years ago she took her first steps on our dance floor.
She didn't go to win, she just went to dance and have fun. But, when you are so good at something, you often want to see how you compare to others. That is what Ruzanna did in this competition.
Our unique teaching method allows rapid progress in dancing, even for people who have never danced before.
An obvious piece of evidence of Ruzanna's success was her first place in the nomination for smooth style in the following:
Three 2-dance challenges - 1st place
Two 3-dance challenges - 1st place
One scholarship - 1st place
This is not only a reflection of her incredible success in the corresponding competition categories, but also the success of our dance school as a whole.
In addition, she received the following placements in Rhythm:
Three 2-dance challenges - 1st place
One 3-dance challenge -1st place
One 3-dance challenge - 2nd place
One scholarship - 2nd place
Results published and available for review at https://ndcapremier.com/results/?cyi=1101
We heartily congratulate the winner of the Palm Beach Classic Ballroom Competition, Ruzanna Tarannik, and wish her continued success.
We want dance to inspire and be a source of joy and energy.
What about you? Are you ready to let joy into your life?
Most dance studios offer two ways of learning to dance: in a group and individually. How do you know which one is right for you?
When you decide to do something different in your life, it is likely that you spend some time considering how to go about it. The same applies for learning to dance.
Someone thinks that when they come to a dance studio, there will be people who dance better than them. For many people, this is a frustrating situation. For such people, we would recommend private classes with a teacher in an individual format.
Of course, individual dance lessons are much more effective than group lessons, because they provide a different quality of dance and allow the instructor to provide you with more attentive advice.
Now we can talk about when it is beneficial to choose private over group lessons
1) If you want more attention to be paid to you and have the teacher work only with you, then the individual format of dance classes is exactly right for you
2) As we said, if you don't want to be left behind in a group, if you feel like you have "two left feet" and can't learn as fast as everyone else
3) If you are planning to get married and want to prepare a wedding dance, then this option is 100% suitable for you
4) If you want to get a completely different quality of dance
5) If you want to participate in dance competitions and win
6) You need a flexible schedule and cannot attend classes in the evening when the groups are running
What does another quality of dance mean?
WHAT IS THE MAIN THING IN DANCE?
DO NOT STEP ON YOUR PARTNER'S FEET!
You may think that you are not a bad dancer.
But at the same time you sometimes stumble, step on your partner’s feet or pull on their hands, then the dance is not at its best potential quality.
A high-quality dance is a pure dance, without twitching and stumbling, and individual lessons can provide you with such a result.
When should you attend to group classes?
1) If you want to make new friends
2) Get more communication and socialize
3) Save money
While private lessons are the best way to quickly and efficiently learn to dance, they are not the cheapest way. Because of this, if you wish to spend less money and learn to dance with different people, group lessons are the best choice for you.
Learning to dance can be compared to learning a new spoken language. Only in this case, you are learning a new body language.
Therefore, you must understand that you will not be a professional dancer after just a couple months, it takes time and money and your desire to get to that level.
So, what's the best way to learn?
I would say the best option is to combine private lessons with group lessons. This is the way that gives you the best result.
You get the best of both worlds because you get to socialize in group lessons and still get the best quality of dance by studying individually with your instructor.
By the way, Dance Amadis is the only dance school in Palm Coast where you can sign up for group classes even if you don't take private lessons because we want as many people as possible to learn how to dance.
Dance and have fun, doctors point out that people who dance, on average, live 3-5 years longer than those who don't dance.
Dance Amadis Ballroom Instructor - Alex Pavlov.