Pro-Am and Amateur

[JANATHOME]

I notice that there are many amatuar competitors that will dance pro-am and amatuar. We are just starting to test the waters, (husband and wife), seperating and doing both pro-am and am.

I am looking for feedback from any AM's that have done this and what are the pros and cons if any. I am espeically interesting in couples who have done this after years of just doing AM.

And to "testing" out pro's. I will do pro am with our main instructor while husband will take lessons with 2 pros and then make a decision who to work with. Have concerns that he will offend the pro he does not pick..both pros are at same studio... Feedback on this would also be great.


Thanks!

[ChaChaMama]

I am one such person. I definitely have done am for a lot longer than pro-am.

I'm not sure that I'm actually that interested in dancing pro-am in the abstract. But one of my favorite am dancers went pro, and I wanted to dance with him. The timing was right in a bunch of ways, so I went for it.

I started lessons with him a little over 2 years ago and we've done 8 competitions (Capital 08, Eastern 09, Philly 09, Millennium 09. Hotlanta 09. Eastern 10, Bahamas 10, Atlantic 10...not that anyone cares!)

PROS:
-A chance to focus on your own dance skills. 100% of the questions asked at the lesson will be yours. 100% of the corrections will be directed to you.
-The opportunity to learn skills at your own pace, and probably a faster pace. (Just like a couple learns faster in a private lesson than a group, you will probably learn faster in a private of 1 than a private of 2.)
-A chance to compete with a pro dancer! Hugely fun.
-A chance to "invest"--in a sense--in the career of an up-and-coming dancer (In some cases, anyway. I recognize not everyone dances with someone who is an active competitor.)

CONS:
-Expense, Part 1. Assuming that your dance budget is a fixed amount, it is now being split more ways. Even if that number is a pretty big number, you go through the money faster.
-Expense, Part 2. Pro-am is also more expensive than am.
-Expense, Part 3. My experience is that pro-am dancers AT ALL LEVELS get a lot more done up for competition than amateur dancers below the novice/pre-champ/champ rank. Costumes are definitely NOT optional in syllabus pro-am. Hair, make-up, tanning, nails--pro-am people seem to take the grooming more seriously.
-Your skills and your partner's skills may get out of sync.


I am VERY glad to be doing both!

[tanya_the_dancer]

I know several married couples who do both. They do more pro-am than am competitions (but that is also a reflection of where we are geographically - you have to fly to pretty much any USA Dance competition, except maybe the one in Chicago). Also, some of them seem to be unevenly competitive personality-wise. So one spouse would compete more while the other doesn't feel like competing.

[suburbaknght]

I agree with the above responses, but in particular I value the opportunity to compare videos of dancing with my pro and with my am partner. Since I'm a leader I do the same patterns and amalgamations (I can only do pro-am in hustle and WCS, which means full routines are out) with both partners; if I see the same mistakes in both dances, I can tell that I'm probably the one responsible.

[JANATHOME]

Hey, thanks for all the comments... Cha Cha, your post was really great and helpful to me.

So decided today with pro we will do my first pro-am in August at Capital. I am excited about it all....After this will decide if I love it or hate it!!

[danceronice]

Hey, thanks for all the comments... Cha Cha, your post was really great and helpful to me.

So decided today with pro we will do my first pro-am in August at Capital. I am excited about it all....After this will decide if I love it or hate it!!

Good luck! I know a few couples who do both, or who dance together socially and compete pro-am and they seem to enjoy it.

Another plus--one friend's husband injured his back and couldn't dance at all for a while. She was able to do comps with her pro in the meantime.

[ChaChaMama]

Hey, thanks for all the comments... Cha Cha, your post was really great and helpful to me.

So decided today with pro we will do my first pro-am in August at Capital. I am excited about it all....After this will decide if I love it or hate it!!

Oh yay. I'm glad to be helpful.

And I am also hoping to do Capital! So maybe I'll get lucky and see you there!

[Larinda McRaven]

:) I am looking forward to watching!!