Who takes private lessons?

[blue]

I do not want to hijack the private/group classes thread, so I start a new one instead.

In the studio/school/whatever where you take classes, are private classes offered? If so, who takes them? Is it only the "semi-pros" or also plain social dancers with just one or two years of dancing experience?

Is it expected that you need private lessons to get somewhere in your dancing, regardless of which your goal with it is, or not?

[andrew]

Hmm... I guess I want an answer that isn't a choice.

A) I've never taken a private.
B) I've taken a few privates (for personal improvement.)
C) I've taken lots of privates (for personal improvement.)
D) I've taken a private to prepair for a competition.

In that case I would say A. (soon to be B).

I don't know a lot of people who have taken privates. But, out of the one's I know, about 50% were for personal improvement, and 50% were for competition.

~andrew

[twnkltoz]

Most of the people I know who take privates do it in anticipation of an event...a competition, their wedding, etc. I know very few who take them just to be better dancers for the sake of it. I think it's a good idea for everyone, but it depends on your finances and talent how often you need to.

[normalized]

Or one more choice:

X)Some people have taken at least one private
(less than the "roughly half" and "almost everyone" choices)

That by far has been what' i've seen here in SF. Some people have done one or two and some (like myself) have done more than that. I personally don't know anybody who does privates on a weekly basis, more often it's once in a while.

And almost everyone I know who's done it is a social dancer. Everyone from 1 year of dancing to more advanced dancers.

Generally here, it's an accepted notion that privates are essential if you're serious. And that it is much more effective than group classes.

Why? Generally because of the custom factor. Classes are geared for the lowest common denominator, in privates you work on your specific issues, weaknesses. Lots of fine tuning. It's a considerably different experience. And something that dosen't quite hit you in impact till later.

For myself, I am planning to take more privates in the short term, there is a dance troup I'm thinking of auditioning for and I know I might be underqualified. So it's a good reason for me to work on some things I've also wanted to. ie: more technical, performance issues, faster dancing, etc. etc.

[GalacticDancer44M]

I started taking private lessons about 1 1/2 yrs ago (i've had about 80 privates) and it was just for the sake of trying to properly learn different dances. I had no ballroom experience before this, although I always did enjoy popular dancing (freestyle). I'm not sure how a person can get started ballroom dancing in a club without any training. Maybe thru groups or somebody willing to teach you. But, I'm performing in my first showcase this weekend and hope to compete sometime in the future. I'm planning on taking somewhat of a break from lessons to actually spend some time dancing in real environments. Although, I plan on taking some private lessons this Christmas when I vacation down in Florida. Rates are cheaper there!

[squirrel]

Here, in Bucharest, most people don't even think about privates... I took privates, for one month, when I started dancing. But (except for 2 girls who did it with me) nobody else that I know of took privates... I refer to Salsa...
In Ballroom - privates are a must!

[blue]

Comparing with other physical activities. If you ride a horse, if you do ice skating or anything else. Are you expected to take private lessons, if you are serious? Around here, for sure not! That would be pretty unheard of, unless you are elite. Sports are always taught for free here meaning that teachers/instructors/coaches do not get paid, except on very elite level, and dancing is to certain extent regarded as a sport.

My guess is that there exist different "cultures", so to speak, where privates are necessary or not. Group classes are probably taught differently if serious students are expected to take private lessons as a complement, than if they are supposed to teach all the students need to know. There are ways of teaching classes in other ways than to the lowest common denominator; every martial arts teacher I had did that! I doubt that dancing is that more advanced than martial arts... although I suppose it can be different in different kinds of dances; I do not know much about about ballroom but from what I have heard you need lots of technical correction so I guess maybe squirrel is right about privates being a must there.

For dancing, I think we have two kinds of places here - the non profit sports club, and the dance studios. Maybe some places are kind of inbetween. I decided to take classes at a place that functions pretty much as an average sports club, in that sense. Maybe someone thinks that this automatically means low standards, but I do not think so. A pretty impressive list of competition results say otherwise! I voted that privates are unheard of in my surroundings; at least I did not hear about it but possibly it exists among those who compete.

[MacMoto]

I haven't voted since I don't know if any of other dancers around me have taken privates. Personally, I'm Andrew's option B -- I've taken some privates although I'm a social (salsa) dancer. I find them very useful.

I'd imagine experience must be very different between dancers who are based at ballroom studios and people who dance one of less structured ("street") dances, like salsa. Very few salsa dancers take part (or even have an opportunity to take part) in medal exams or competitions. Privates are NOT unheard of in salsa (I know most salsa teachers in my area are available for privates), but I think the take up is quite low, which is understandable where the only motivation is personal improvement.

[Sabor]

Here, in Bucharest, most people don't even think about privates

:lol: :lol:

[squirrel]

:) Sabor...

[Nic*star*]

Ive only ever known my friends to have done private singing lessons, which i would like to do as looking at my boyfriend who has done, he has vastly improved on both singing and his confidence.

I sometimes wonder though if some of the girls in my college class have had private training or just keep practicing at home a lot. They aren't particularly any good, but they suddenly know the syllabus well and seem to perform it with confidence.

When it comes to tap, I am terrible at it because for some reason I just have no confidence when doing so. I keep saying im frightened because I have an intermediate tap exam in november and i am a terrible exam taker- my boyfriend, friends and family say you'll do fine, but i never do as well in exams as expected.

Basically my tap group consists of about 6 of us, so it is almost one2one tutition, but i still feel i need private lessons to be concerntrated on.
There are only 2 of us taking our exam this term so it shouldn't be too bad in the lessons- but the trouble is I know my teacher will find so many mistakes I make and I'll only have about 8 weeks to sort them out and brush them up!!!

Nics xx

[Hamez]

Private lessons in my tango comunity seem to be reserved for either people who are to shy to jump in the deep end with group lessons (so to speak) or when we have a visiting instructor from out of town. Few of the people who I have talked to have taken lessons from our local instructors. Those that did usualy only showed up for 1 or two group lessons before droping off of the face of the earth.

[ShyDancer]

I take one private lesson a week (only because I cant afford anymore!), I have been for the last 8 or so months. But I also take at least 2 group classes (lately 4) a week.
I enjoy the privates because I feel I get more out of them technique wise than I do out of big group classes.

[sylvanna]

My partner and I take private lessons because while we enjoy group classes, the one2one tuition we get from a teacher keeps us on our toes - so to speak :wink: In class, you don't always get the constructive criticism and help you need because the teacher would have to have eyes in the back of their head to see everything that's going on!

[euroinny2004]

Most people that I have met in the dance community are associated with the franchise studio where I have been going for the last 5 years. We are just learning to be social dancers and not to compete(we have small studio or inter-studio comps with other studios of the same franchise). Primarily, everyone just wanted to stop being embarrased when the band started playing at weddings and cruises :D This franchise offers the "three-prong approach" to teaching dancing; one hour a week private, one hour a week group, and then the Friday night 2hr. social at the studio. This constitutes a learning unit. So, all the people I know that dance-are taking private classes, usually once a week. In Europe, these were free, usually offered as extra-curricular activities at the university. But, in the Us...once you are no longer of the age of a college student...we pay! On the other hand, the January NYC USBDA comp is always held the Columbia U. and many university teams are represented-Columbia, NYU, Harvard. Maybe here, too, it is the Ivy Leagues that have ballroom classes for their students?

[Swingolder]

Does everyone take lessons at a studio? How much can a person learn by signing up for the lessons at, say, a Community College. I know those usually have a beginners and maybe an intermediate class in a few dances. I have taken several of those. I also take a private lesson once a month - from one of the teachers who did a great job with one of the groups lessons I had signed up for. I don't ever want to compete, I just want to improve past a beginners level.