Ok, I'm a 56 year old dude who decided that ny inability to dance was simply ignorance - I had never learned any dance steps! I'm athletic, and have rhythm to burn. (professional musician in my past.). So I signed my wife and I up for lessons at Arthur Murray. (yes, she was pleasantly shocked.). We're making progress, and are clearly waaay better than we were. We've taken about 20 private lessons and about the equivalent number of group lessons.

(Side note - I historically danced two dances per occasion (wedding, etc) - go out on a slow dance, stay for a fast one. She led, and I tried manfully not to embarrass us. Headed for a cocktail immediately after.)

So what's the problem? We went to our 2nd dance party tonight. Marginally better than the disastrous 1st. All of the other people are great! Swirling all over the place. Looking great! No problem - we just stumble through our basic steps (yeah! A rumba!). Then they announce a hustle. Don't know it. Sit down and are enjoying watching the others dance. (They're really good. Mostly silver and high bronze.).

A guy comes up and asks my wife to dance. She agrees and he makes her look good. A lady asks me to dance, and I agree, scared to death. She's good! I don't know the steps! I can't lead her!

We stumble through. She's very kind, and back leads me through the steps.

So, my question - is this just normal learning pains? Are we in the wrong studio? Would it be easier if we were somewhere more crowded with a larger diversity of skill levels?

I feel OK in group classes, but it seems to me our lessons are focused on figures and techniques without learning how to dance to a song on a dance floor.