Cross-studio atmosphere of Los Angeles area studios?

[SDsalsaguy]

Hey all, I have a friend who may be relocating from the NY area to the LA area for business reasons and wanted to know if the various LA studios had the same sort of generally-friendly interchanges of staff/students that most of the NY studios typically do. My time in LA has been at comps, not studios, so I was hoping someone here might be able to comment.

 

[saludas]

Hey all, I have a friend who may be relocating from the NY area to the LA area for business reasons and wanted to know if the various LA studios had the same sort of generally-friendly interchanges of staff/students that most of the NY studios typically do. My time in LA has been at comps, not studios, so I was hoping someone here might be able to comment.

Hey, I'm in the NY area and know of NO studios that interchange staff and students on a friendly, or any, level.

There are, however, freelancers who teach at a number of stusios that show up in different studios throughout the tri-state area. Is this what you mean?

 

[alemana]

that's not my experience... all the teachers i've had 'belong' to more than one studio.

 

[tsb]

if it's about how studios relate to each other, independent instructors grab studio time where they can, so they may move about and their private students will move with them, but otherwise, it seems to be pretty territorial. once people find a place they like they tend to stay. still, everybody dances for a different reason, and if that reason changes, they may move on or look for a change of pace. some instructors/studios handle this well. other's don't.

 

[Chris Stratton]

Hey, I'm in the NY area and know of NO studios that interchange staff and students on a friendly, or any, level.

I can think of several cases in NY. Actually, dancing or working on more than one floor may even be slightly more common than not, at least for competitive ballroom folks. The more specialized the study, the wider territory it makes sense for the teacher to be set up to cover.

A lot depends on the nature of the teaching and the studio's role in it - usually what happens is whatever makes sense in the circumstances, at least for those doing the deciding. In different situations, that might be any of the studio owners, the individual teachers, or the individual students, or a combination of all three.

 

[SDsalsaguy]

some instructors/studios handle this well. other's don't.

Any insight into which studios seem to be the more and less territorial ones tsb?

 

[tsb]

some instructors/studios handle this well. other's don't.

Any insight into which studios seem to be the more and less territorial ones tsb?

depending on where your friend chooses to relocate, he'll(she?) have his choice of studios across 3-4 counties: LA, OC, Ventura & San Bernadino. If (s)he's serious about competition, the three studios I know of that seem to have the most ballroom competition oriented instructors are far enough apart that sheer logistics can be the deciding factor; one is in koreatown near downtown, one in OC, the last in the san gabriel valley.

in general, folks tend to stay local rather than drive more than 1/2 hour (one way) for lessons. studios recognize that so any place close by tends to be seen as competition. but they can survive if they target a certain slice of the pie and personality plays a part. i know of at least ten different instructors/studios that teach with a 15 minute drive from my home that offer ballroom instruction. there's probably very little overlap in terms of students. and there are probably 5-10 i don't even know about if you include the nearby colleges & universities that offer classes as adult education or the studios that target certain cultural groups like chinese & filipino studios that offer instruction in chinese, tagalog, etc. and then you've got the franchises that tend to indenture their students & swallow them up...