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Dance Instructor - Choosing your Dance Instructor |
| Finding the Right Dance Teacher |
| by: Shawn Trautman |
| Before jumping right in and taking dance lessons, you might want to take a few minutes and read this next section. Just as there is a wide variety of dances to learn, there are many different ways of learning and many different situations where it can take place. There are three main ways that people learn couples dancing |
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| Everyone is different, so it’s hard to say that any one way is better than the others. With that in mind, we’ll just break them down and talk a little bit about each one. |
| Private Lessons |
| Private lessons usually consist of one or two students and one instructor. The private setting allows you to get tailored instruction to fit your dance styles, habits, or shortcomings. You can learn to dance in a relatively short period of time with private lessons if your budget will allow it. Private lessons are common in ballroom dance studios and normally run anywhere from about $45 to $150 per hour. You can also find freelance instructors in your area who often have an hourly rate that is less expensive than a local ballroom. Most people take private lessons so they can learn at their own pace and not have to worry about dancing in front of others. Some people take private lessons strictly to have a partner to dance with in a social setting, while others do it for the health benefits, in the same way that people hire personal trainers at a gym to walk them through their daily workouts. Whatever the reason, private lessons can be extremely beneficial if you end up with the right instructor. |
| Group Lessons |
| Group lessons usually consist of one or two instructors and anywhere from about six to a hundred people. In group dance lessons there is no standard for minimum or maximum class size. The group setting differs from the private setting in that the information is general and not specifically tailored to your dancing as an individual. Even if you’re taking private lessons, group lessons can reinforce your learning without too much of a budget constraint. Group lessons are more affordable than private lessons and can run anywhere from about $3 per class to $25 per class, and usually there are no contracts involved. There are many social benefits of going to group classes, including meeting other people interested in social dancing, getting a chance to dance and practice with a number of partners throughout your evening, not being the center of attention or having an instructor watching every move you make, and having the ability to watch and learn from the others in the class. In addition to the social benefits, going to different group classes also gives you a chance to see, meet, and evaluate a few instructors in your area. |
| DIY (Do It Yourself) |
| A third and increasingly more common approach to learning to dance is through self-teaching through a program such as Shawn Trautman’s Dance Collection. Though some of the social benefits are not present with learning by a book, video, or DVD, there are many other benefits that can be derived. First and foremost, you’ll get structure and documentation when you do it on your own. Second, you’ll be able to learn on your own time and set your own schedule. Third, you’ll be able to visualize and conceptualize the dancing as you go by looking at pictures or video of what you’re learning. When you first start out in dancing, you’ll be creating what’s called muscle memory. |
| For learning or reinforcing the basics the right way to pave a road for future learning, it’s best to have some type of reference material to go back to that has the exact information you’ll need on it. Learning on your own is much more affordable and less time-constrained than learning in either group lessons or private lessons, but it is best to use it as one type of instruction and not the only one. Supplement either private or group lessons with the book-and-DVD combination, and you’ll be surprised at how quickly you feel confident in the dance world. |
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