Dear ann,
If you would like to see how we REALLY teach (by the way, out basic foundation is NO WHERE NEAR $6000) please feel free to contact me so that you can spend a night observing in our AM studio and make better informed comments, I promise you that we do not teach "zero technique" as you call it, but we also dont turn people away or kick them out for being a slow learner either.

Thats to much! The B. S. factor is in play. Finish Bronze 1 and move to another Studiio. AM tries to maxamize the emotional attachment and excitment to dance with profits. Other studios are not the same and can be more demanding but then one learns to dance with the challange. Visit other studios and make no bones about it. Read the contract carefully and there is probably the ability to cancel without penalty.

I dance at a Fred Astaire studio, which is one of the other chains mentioned in this posting. I've only been dancing since May........so I am inexperienced, but I would just like to point out that some well known and popular dancers (that have appeared on DWTS and helped to bring new attention and interest to ballroom dancing)are Fred Astaire dancers/ studio owners.......What about Tony Dovolani? Jesse De Soto? Are they performing shuffling steps? Perhaps they had other training before affiliating with the chain, but would dancers of that caliber really affiliate with a studio that that is as awful as stated in some of the postings? I am having the best time....so I hope that doesn't mean that I'm one of the worst dancers.

Am not posting to defend ALL of the schools in the franchises.

Yes, there are some that are not up to standard .
But I wonder how many are aware of the top flite Prof,s they have produced over the yrs ?

I, personally started the training of 2 from Freds, who went on to become US.champs=== one in Latin and the other in Standard ( he went on to become 3rd in the world ) there are numerous others .

I started dancing at Arthur Murray; went independent, had my own dance studio in Dallas TX foralmost 5 years, competed Pro-Am for at least 11 years with the same teacher. There are wonderful people all over the dance world. Shop around and you will be able to dance longer. Watch the alcohol they serve, that is also a sales gimic.

Happy Dancing!
Dottie

As an instructor for AM, I would reccomend that you speak with your instructor and explain your frustrations. He or she may have a valid reason why they will not let you learn bz 2 steps yet - one of them being that they may not feel you are ready for the difference in technique that is taught in bz 2. In the school I teach at, if you are in a bz 1 program with lessons left, but you are ready for bz 2, you are checked out of bz 1 by the supervisor and then can start learning bz 2. We do not hold any of our students back. Our programs are planned as a guidline and estimation of how long we think it will take you to get through a certain amount of material. Sometimes students get through more quickly than we thought, and sometimes it takes longer than the original program planned. Our job is to make sure you are learning the correct foundation of dancing so that there are no gaps in your dancing. If you do not feel that your instructor is able to explain their reasoning to you, request a meeting with the supervisor or owner. They should be able to hear your concerns, and I'm sure they would be upset to know that you think group classes are a waste of time, and would take steps to make sure you are happier. I do agree with another message posted though - no matter what level, you can always learn something from a group class. Just having the practice is good, and you can work on basic foot technique better when you are already comfortable with the steps. Anyone can show you a silver step, but if you don't have the technique, it will not look like a silver step. If you do not feel that they have heard your concerns or explained their reasoning in a way that is comfortable to you, I would reccomend that you search for a different studio. Although I believe in the AM process and the value of our teaching, it does not work for everyone. I hope no matter what you decide to do, keep dancing!!! Don't let these issues stop you from enjoying the joy it has brought to your life, and don't let the issues taint your view on dance studios. Good luck!

I have asked my instructor at AM if I could take the bronze 2/3 group class when I was with 6 lessons left in bronze one. She was honest with me saying that I am able to handle those class (which I picked up faster than the students in bronze 3) but she continued to say that she cannot work with me on the materials taught in the higher level classes because I haven't paid for those programs. What do you make of that? She's honest, but they are a bunch of leeches. AM are the worst studios you can go to.

One other thing I would like to point out after reading all the other posts on this topic - they should not require you to pay the total program fee up front. In our AM school, most of our students pay as they go, and if at any time they would like to cancel their program, they can do so without penalty. Any tuition that they have paid for in advance is refunded to them if they have not taken those lessons. Also, if you divide 35 group classes and 35 private lessons into $6000, you are paying $85 a lesson. This is not much more expensive than other studios with certified teachers. Most studios charge between $50-$100 for classes, and at the end of the day if you feel you're getting the value for what you pay for, then that's all that matters. Are you learning how to dance? I'm sorry that you are unhappy with things at your school, but not every AM is sales driven. That is a reflection upon the franchisee.

This is ridiculous, $85 for a class is not much more expensive than the typical $10-$15 for a class in other studios? Their teachers are often serious competing professionals, current or in the past, and are usually better dancers than most of the teachers from a chain studio.

Any instructor who is trying to make a living by teaching only cannot do so by charging $15 for a private lesson. any champion dancer would never charge that little because they are worth much more than that. Charging $15 for a group class I can see because you're making hundreds of dollars still. The average PRIVATE lesson rate is $50-$100 an hour for any certified teacher. Not every teacher has a wish to be a champion dancer-that does not mean they do not know what they are talking about. It is completely disrespectful to teachers who have spent years training not only in dancing, but in teaching as well to make a statement that if you work for AM you don't know what you're doing. You don't have to like the way AM does things-I don't agree with everything and I work there-but don't insult all of the teachers. I agree-not all AM's are great. Not all independent studios are great either and there are alot of self-proclaimed 'professionals' who are teaching people out there.But it's unfair to label all of the teachers who bust their ass every day to teach people how to dance at AM as not knowing what they are doing. In my school we only receive training from current and former champions, contrary to what apparantly people believe