Too Much Information?

[pygmalion]

Still More Shall We Dance stuff. (May God bless dollar theaters. :lol: :lol: )

How much information do you think is too much for a brand new student encountering ballroom dance for the first time? In the movie, JLo gave Richard Gere the lowdown before he took the first step -- price, drawbacks, recommendations. And, incidentally, she recommended the cheaper group lessons over the $45-an-hour private lessons.

"Mr. Clark's" experience was nothing like my first lesson at a couple different studios, where the focus seemed to be on getting me "hooked" on dancing before giving me the real scoop on price. Hmm. In all fairness, that may have been about letting me learn the joy of dancing before hitting me with the whammy of expense.

So where do you think the balance is? Should teachers tell the whole truth at the risk of losing potential students? If not, how much/what should they tell?

[ReneeJoan]

I vote for being up front. In my case, I was hooked from the moment the first words dropped out of my teacher's mouth (a $10 class with milonga), and by my first glimpse of a professional tango exhibition. After that, I really didn't care if it took the rest of my life and every penny I earned, I wanted to learn tango.

Sometimes, I wonder if I'd have known what I difficult task I had set myself to if I would have done it. I think I would have. I knew right from the get go that this was not going to be an easy road, and I was right. But nothing was going to stop me, either.

So, when "newbies" come to class, I always warn them -- tango is hard, and it is not something you are going to learn in three easy lessons, and that while classes are very beneficial, you'll learn about 20 times more in private lessons. And when people ask me how much I study to dance as well as I do, I'm honest with them about how much effort I pour into the tango.

I still see the vast majority of these people at that next class, so I guess I haven't managed to scare off that many people by being candid.

The dance itself kind of takes care of "hooking" people in.

Renee

[Rainbow]

Hi,
My teacher offer a new class with a much lower price for students who are interested in competition, but they have to commited to enter the competition when they are ready. So far, 6 pairs have enrolled and learning the basic techniques. By the way, most of these students are fairly new who wants to see what would be like to compete in a competition and were also attracted by such a lower price. Whether they will continue to dance after that, we don't know, but i think this is a good way of encourage more students to try out for competition.

Rainbow ^_^

[Twilight_Elena]

Good one, pygmalion.
Money is a very important factor in dancing. My story is very much connected with that expense. Here's what I mean.
Two years ago (August 2003) I felt an urge. It was no ordinary one, and yet not an unknown desire. I had always wanted to do something. That something was not anything in particular, but it concerned the body and generally non-schoolish activities. All kiddos, ever since I was 5, used to be dragged by their parents to ballet classes, French and English lessons, swimming or karate lessons.
Me? I always had a strong thing about reading books so my extra hours were full of them, and a natural inclination in learning foreign languages. Plus, whenever my parents tried to enroll me to swimming/karate/ballet classes, they realised that there was no one to drive me to the various schools, as they were both working till very late. Whoops.
Then, one day that August, I realised I had to take matters into my own hands. I grabbed the Yellow Pages catalogue and found the closest dance studio to home. Without telling anyone, I arranged a "First Hour Free!" lesson to see how it goes. And I liked it. Not madly at first (that happened gradually), but it was something I could finally DO with my body, something I'd never felt before. After lots of pleading and begging, I convinced my mother to pay for a 20 private-20 groups package as a Christmas+Birthday gift, and till December, when I ran out of lessons, I could dance.
Then I stopped, since my mother couldn't afford to pay any more of them and didn't really want to. Then, last August, my best friend decided to start taking lessons to fill her I.B. CAS hours. I went with her to her first lesson, and was reminded of the old times. I had grown a lot since the last time I had danced, and felt much more mature concerning dancing. So the idea of taking classes with Helen hit the table. It was half the price, after all (around 670 Euros each). Finally, I managed to convince my father to pay. I was delirious, and still am. It's a full program till June or so (40private- 40groups).
Still, the prospect of July haunts me. What will I do when I run out of classes again? I don't think my parents will be happy to pay yet again for it. I have been considering other sources of income, such as taking up a summer job.
The sacrifices we must do to dance...

Twilight Elena

[Sagitta]

Then I stopped, since my mother couldn't afford to pay any more of them and didn't really want to. Then, last August, my best friend decided to start taking lessons to fill her I.B. CAS hours.

A little detour... Do you do IB too? I graduated with an IB degree. Perhaps you can convince your parents to pay for it if it is part of your CAS hours as well?