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Re: More Acces to Advanced Dances
Posted by anymouse
6/9/2007  11:21:00 PM
Well said Jonathan, it has been an interesting debate/discussion.

Something that regrettably got lost in the argument is the diminishing marginal utility of the higher syllabus levels.

Having examples of the basic actions available to look at and discuss is great. But given those, students who are at a level to seriously work on the more advanced figures almost don't need to see them, because they have the ability to apply the lessons apparent in the basic figures to most of the problems of the advanced ones.

There is one notable gap in the coverage though: the basics of the american continuity style. That's different enough from the bronze forms to be very nearly different dances, and so its inclusion might be of more benefit than anything else. Some of the necessary ideas are on display in the international vidoes of course, but the promenade ideas and open turns aren't there, and having them would be a good reference for both styles.

Still, the first handful of basics that is there is of more benefit than the majority of variations that are missing, because in the end it's about ideas not figures, and most of the key ideas are represented.
Re: More Acces to Advanced Dances
Posted by Administrator
6/10/2007  12:04:00 AM
You may be right. Unfortunately, however, what may be "best for the public" is not the primary decision-making factor. First and foremost, it's a matter of money.

We dropped a huge amount of money into the filming of the bronze syllabus. This came out of our own pockets, and was a one-time investment. If there are to be any more web syllabus film shoots in the future, the profits derived from the premium membership program will need to be strong enough to make a future film shoot not only finincially feasible, but financially comfortable. "Financially feasible" means we generate enough revenue to recoup the cost of the original bronze production, in addition to covering the cost of the proposed production. "Financially comfortable" means enough income left over after covering these costs to pay us back for our own time and effort. Even at minimum wage, that's a significant sum.

More than likely, the web-based footage for the upper levels will come from material filmed for DVD. With DVD, profits are more immediate and typically pay for the cost of production within a month or two of initial release. The production therefore pays for itself, and the footage can double as web-based clips. This is a much smarter approach to acquiring web footage.

There is one catch, however: DVD's are much slower to produce. The current set of web clips are simple demonstrations, which allowed us to fly through the syllabus in just 3 days of filming. To produce a quality DVD, you need to add complete instruction for each figure, as well as fundamental principles of dancing. This slows things down to a snail's pace. Instead of 22 dances in 3 days, we'll probably require 1 day of filming per dance per level. That's 22 days of filming for bronze alone.

Since we are quite comfortable selling DanceVision's DVD's at 50% profit, it makes it that much more difficult to commit to the kind of time and effort commitment it will take to produce an entire syllabus of DVD's. Factor in all the other projects I want to pursue (including continuing my own dance education), and it's not looking good for the DVD prospect.

That's not to say we will never sell our own line of complete syllabus instruction from bronze through gold. It's just too difficult right now to predict how long it might take, or for that matter, what form it will take. By the time we're able to do it, it might be much smarter to forget DVD's and jusgt focus on web-based delivery methods. Who knows. Whatever the case, I think it's safe to say that silver level is still quite a ways off.

But I do agree that continuity Waltz & Foxtrot are so unique that we should probably try somehow to add video clips for them, even if we can't do it for any other silver dance. Since that can probably be done in just a couple of hours, we might be able to piggyback the project at the end of some other DVD-related film shoot. I'll keep it in mind.

Regards,
Jonathan
Re: More Acces to Advanced Dances
Posted by slowfox
6/12/2007  10:08:00 AM
I just want to make it clear that I was neither agreeing or disagreeing with Clive and Anymouse. I just felt they had no grounds to target this person. They have no idea what other form of training she has. They have no idea whom she is teaching, or what THEY consider their money's worth! Maybe she's trying to put together a group class for all they know!

There are plenty of amateurs who are better dancers than most professionals...they have that kind of talent, ambition, and have invested wisely in their educations (i.e. COACHING) There is no endpoint to improvement for the serious competetor (or serious athlete).

My point is this...we are as ballroom dancers a DIVERSE group-professionals, amateurs, competetors, social dancers, teachers, and students. We have different goals! I can assure you that I am ambitious as Clive and Anymouse are, but there are plenty of people who just do it for fun or social reasons.

MOST beginning Bronze students don't need a blackpool finalist to get started (unless you're 10 years old and planning to make a career of it...then your best bet is to move in with Corky and Shirley). Anyone who finds himself getting more serious about it will learn very quickly where to find the right teacher or coach. (No Clive, we are not slaves to the franchises)
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