Fred Astaire Dance Studios Reputation 2025

[DanceMentor]

I saw an interesting quote from Martin Chiang where he credited Jack Rothweiler with "rescuing FADS from bankruptcy to become one of the largest dance studios organizations and expanding overseas." (source) I had never heard of Jack, nor knew that Fred Astaire potentially was in dire straights in the early 2000s.

Thinking back now, it was in the 90s that multiple Fred Astaire Studios faced lawsuits for high pressure sales practices, often selling non-refundable packages approaching $100,000. There were segments on Dateline NBC and 60 minutes.

I don't know what happened internally, but I assume quite a few studios went out of business or at least. I remember at that time, many instructors had gone independent, which was rather novel at the time, as previously almost every ballroom instructor worked for either Fred Astaire or Arthur Murray.

As best as I can tell, Fred Astaire Studios, while generally more expensive than many other option, has a decent reputation now, perhaps did recover from the bad press they received. I looked at some Google Reviews for a few locations, and generally 4.8+. What do you think about the FADS reputation today?

Note: We did have a thread from back in 2023 where people were talking about negotiating prices with Fred Astaire, and some people spoke well of them.

 

[Warren J. Dew]

I don't know what happened internally, but I assume quite a few studios went out of business or at least.

The dance industry was also hit very hard by 9/11 - probably harder than by the pandemic.

What do you think about the FADS reputation today?

Seems fine, though I haven’t heard much about it recently. The independents in the area seem fine too, except one.

 

[Pryn]

Overall, I have had fairly positive experiences with the franchise.

While FADS does seem to still be more expensive than the local independent studios, I didn't feel the high pressure sales tactics when I went.

They offered a lot of pricey opportunities to dance in forms of mini-matches, showcases, balls, smooth/rhythm theme nights, comps, et al at every lesson, but I never felt pressured to buy large packages or that I had to participate in the events. I just had to hear about it all. I was free to say no.

They presented varied packages with discounts, small packages, and pay as you go options.

 

[AnyNameYouWish]

I currently go to FADS and really like it. The owner is a world rhythm champ. We actually see him come into the studio even days hes not doing coachings. He is friendly and will chat with you. I haven’t noticed the high pressure sales tactics everyone talks about but they also know when i say know im firm on it. They dont bring up the package again.

The competitions, mini matches, showcases are expensive but the whole time it’s pretty fun. People usually stick around instead of dancing and just dipping out. Plus i dont mind paying for my pro to compete and better themselves. We need more art in our world. The parties and group classes are fun. They can be small in my areal though. I think that’s mostly due to people not spending extra cash right now. I can also come to the studio and practice with no floor fees.

They are more expensive than independent studios (by like $15 or $20 a lesson) but i love the structure. Being former military i like they have a syllabus they stick too.

The instructors at my studio really love their job and students. I practice 2ish hours a day at the studio and i have never seen an instructor act inappropriate to students. It’s a great environment. I chat with other students while im practicing. I love going to lessons, and practice. It’s the highlight of my day honestly.

So it might still be it really depends on the owner. The studio i go to and the others in the area that we compete against are great too. Everyone is friendly I haven’t seen anyone get sour but im also only about 10 months in.

 

[5678]

I dance at a FADS studio in the NY area and am very happy with my experience. The lesson price is actually lower than our local independents and there is absolutely no hard selling of any of the extra curricular activities. However, each studio is independently owned and the pricing and the policies are largely set by the owner and can vary widely. In my experience, the syllabus is strictly controlled and adhered to but the studio vibe is mainly up to the owner.

 

[fiesta0618]

I can offer a total outsider's view. In brief, it is hard for me to have any opinion about FADS.

I compete Amateur and study at an independent studio, and I almost never see FADS couples in the competitive events I attend. I don't know if that is because the FADS business focuses on Pro-Am, or if the culture is an insular one so all the Amateur couples stay in-house. Either way, I cannot judge the quality of their competitive couples.

The FADS syllabus continues to be accepted at Collegiate contests, but as that syllabus does not seem to be free and public, I can't judge how it is different than ISTD/DVIDA.

On the sometimes occasion where I go someplace different for social dancing, the strangers I chat with tend to come from indie studios or Arthur Murray. This suggests to me that I don't encounter FADS folks due to cultural insularity. Well-knit communities that make people happy are a good thing, so I am not even wiling to consider this insularity a bad thing. Regardless, I cannot judge the quality of their social dance instruction.

Therefore...no opinion!

However, I hear some things through the grapevine, as a number of my coaching staff have been FADS instructors in the past and still have connections there. And they say that the average instructor quality has risen, because the old "8-week-wonder" teacher recruiting model is fading out. Instead, FADS studios are increasingly acquiring high-end talent from overseas. That can only be a good thing, in my view.

 

[Pryn]

However, I hear some things through the grapevine, as a number of my coaching staff have been FADS instructors in the past and still have connections there. And they say that the average instructor quality has risen, because the old "8-week-wonder" teacher recruiting model is fading out. Instead, FADS studios are increasingly acquiring high-end talent from overseas. That can only be a good thing, in my view.

That seems to align with what I see in the FADS in my state and the FADS studios I've visit while traveling. They seem to have at least 1 high-end person from overseas (my local one has several though).

I know a couple of people (american trained) who have danced ballroom for just under 10yrs and are trying to get hired on at FADS - and the training process they describe appears to much longer than 8-weeks.

 

[raindance]

I can offer a total outsider's view. In brief, it is hard for me to have any opinion about FADS.

I compete Amateur and study at an independent studio, and I almost never see FADS couples in the competitive events I attend. I don't know if that is because the FADS business focuses on Pro-Am, or if the culture is an insular one so all the Amateur couples stay in-house. Either way, I cannot judge the quality of their competitive couples.

Years ago I was chatting with a local FADS pro at a local comp. The FADS studio had some married couples that were all competing pro/am with various pros, but not competing as am/am couples. I asked the FADS pro about that, wondering if the students had ever expressed interest in am/am (I was always hunting for more am/am couples to increase our small heat sizes!), and she said something along the lines of "sometimes we get couples coming in wanting to dance with each other, and it's actually kind of a shame we need to split them up."

Talking with her further, it seemed the studio really preferred and pushed to have two people taking private lessons separately, rather than a couple taking private lessons together. More money for the studio, and each half of the couple gets to dance with someone better than them, get trained to do pro/am, and compete if willing, etc. By the time the new students have done that for a bit, the couple is often no longer interested in dancing with each other (sometimes even socially!) because they are each used to dancing with a pro. Dancing with another beginner intermediate dancer (their spouse) is not easy and fun, it takes a different kind of work.

I don't know how widespread that attitude is/was at other FADS studios. But that one was certainly heavily focused on pro/am.

In my experience at small studios that let couples choose whatever path they want (rather than heavily steering them each to separate pros), some couples choose the double pro/am route anyway. Other couples really want to just dance with each other and do not want to dance with the pros. And a few want to do a bit of both. Not all pros are skilled at working with amateur couples (it really is a different skillset to get two beginners dancing increasingly well together over time, than to do pro/am), so that can also be a factor.

 

[AnyNameYouWish]

Years ago I was chatting with a local FADS pro at a local comp. The FADS studio had some married couples that were all competing pro/am with various pros, but not competing as am/am couples. I asked the FADS pro about that, wondering if the students had ever expressed interest in am/am (I was always hunting for more am/am couples to increase our small heat sizes!), and she said something along the lines of "sometimes we get couples coming in wanting to dance with each other, and it's actually kind of a shame we need to split them up."

Talking with her further, it seemed the studio really preferred and pushed to have two people taking private lessons separately, rather than a couple taking private lessons together. More money for the studio, and each half of the couple gets to dance with someone better than them, get trained to do pro/am, and compete if willing, etc. By the time the new students have done that for a bit, the couple is often no longer interested in dancing with each other (sometimes even socially!) because they are each used to dancing with a pro. Dancing with another beginner intermediate dancer (their spouse) is not easy and fun, it takes a different kind of work.

I don't know how widespread that attitude is/was at other FADS studios. But that one was certainly heavily focused on pro/am.

In my experience at small studios that let couples choose whatever path they want (rather than heavily steering them each to separate pros), some couples choose the double pro/am route anyway. Other couples really want to just dance with each other and do not want to dance with the pros. And a few want to do a bit of both. Not all pros are skilled at working with amateur couples (it really is a different skillset to get two beginners dancing increasingly well together over time, than to do pro/am), so that can also be a factor.

At the studio i go to there arent any AM/AM people competing its all PRO/AM but there are a lot of couples that take classes together for social dancing. One of the satellite studios in the area has a couple of am/am couples that compete. As far as i know my studio doesn’t encourage splitting up couples.

 

[DanceMentor]

That seems to align with what I see in the FADS in my state and the FADS studios I've visit while traveling. They seem to have at least 1 high-end person from overseas (my local one has several though).

I know a couple of people (american trained) who have danced ballroom for just under 10yrs and are trying to get hired on at FADS - and the training process they describe appears to much longer than 8-weeks.

I remember going back 20 or more years. A lot of the independence Studios, where bringing in people from overseas and helping them obtain their green cards and this was very lucrative for the smaller studios. It seems like the chain studios like Fred Astaire are getting in on that action too, and probably have formalized there Policy strategy for hiring.

It’s interesting that America still is failing to produce enough high-level people. That may actually be a symptom of the decline of ballroom dancing in America. There is no priority placed on teaching children how to dance and you don’t see too many children being taught at Fred Astaire. It’s completely focused on pro-am.

 

[Warren J. Dew]

I remember going back 20 or more years. A lot of the independence Studios, where bringing in people from overseas and helping them obtain their green cards and this was very lucrative for the smaller studios. It seems like the chain studios like Fred Astaire are getting in on that action too, and probably have formalized there Policy strategy for hiring.

It’s interesting that America still is failing to produce enough high-level people. That may actually be a symptom of the decline of ballroom dancing in America. There is no priority placed on teaching children how to dance and you don’t see too many children being taught at Fred Astaire. It’s completely focused on pro-am.

FADS Boston was actually one of the first to start bringing in Europeans as instructors en masse.

Children tend to be taught at independent studios specifically focused on children. We don’t hear much about it here because the Dance Forums community has traditionally tended to be extremely hostile to any discussion of children’s dancing - kind of like it used to be hostile to pro-am when it was dominated by collegiate amateur discussion around 2000.

 

[Dancelove]

Beware of FADS. They lure you in with smiles, hugs, and excessive compliments (part of their training) to offer you 40 minutes of mediocre lessons, every 45 min, (some teachers have had less lessons then you), in rooms packed with up to 4 couples and their teachers with all kinds of music playing and charge you top dollars ( over $3 a minute) for this (and you need to buy large lesson packages to save lets say 5%)

These types of low quality packed lessons work if you're a beginner starting out, or want to learn steps, or just there for fun and or the social aspect and have LOTS of money to spend. They are also bound to a certain way of teaching according to what level you're in and do not recognize students that come in with a dance background, maybe because you know more than your teacher

They encourage you to do competitions (which are more expensive at FA), but don't prepare you to do well in them, because its doesn't really matter to them how well you do, you're paying big bucks into FADS and their teachers just by competing, and they write it off as another learning experience or "red carpet experience" (lucky you). Again, works if you have lots of money to spend on your social life.

However, if you are a serious student, no matter what age, and want to do well in pro/am comps or just become a better dancer faster, you're better off to look to independent studios for quality lessons with experienced (often older) teachers who charge a much more reasonable rate and where you have a better chance of a more relaxed dance space to practice, learn and grow in.

I now have an excellent teacher in an independent studio who has taught me more in connection and technique in the past 4 months than my 7 years at FADS, and he charges $85 for a full hour vs $125 for 40 minutes.

 

[5678]

I’ve responded before in this thread, I’m not an employee of FADS, but have danced at a NYC area studio for 7 years now and have had a totally different experience than the person above. Each studio is operated independently and controls their own pricing and promotions. My studio has very experienced teachers that are fluent in all 4 styles and charge less than the independents in our area, both for lessons and for comps. Even though it’s a franchise, I’ve found the experience is very different from studio to studio and you really need just to check it out to see if it fits your needs

 

[Dancelove]

I’ve responded before in this thread, I’m not an employee of FADS, but have danced at a NYC area studio for 7 years now and have had a totally different experience than the person above. Each studio is operated independently and controls their own pricing and promotions. My studio has very experienced teachers that are fluent in all 4 styles and charge less than the independents in our area, both for lessons and for comps. Even though it’s a franchise, I’ve found the experience is very different from studio to studio and you really need just to check it out to see if it fits your needs

Just curious what they charge you at your FADS pro/am comps? At my past FADS studio, EVERY student had to pay $750 per day just for the TEACHER FEE to be at the comp (not to mention all the other fees, each heat fee, entry fee etc.etc, also high at FADS comps). That's per student per day to compete with your teacher. The independent teacher I have now, his actual expenses (hotel/travel fees) are split between all the students that participate, and are much less than $750 a day per student. And I'm curious, what do they charge at your studio per lesson? I have knowledge of 3 FADS dance studios in my area, and only the first one may have been more reasonable with prices, but that was 4 years ago, and I believe they have upped to FADS current higher prices by now. Talking solely pricing now, not teacher quality. That's another story. Most important though is that you do have a studio that meets your needs.

 

[5678]

So recall that I’m in the NYC area and I pay $110 per 45 mins for my instructor with 10 years teaching and 15 years competing experience. The two local independent pros who post their rates on their website charge $150. Comp fees are harder to compare because everyone seems to charge for different things in different ways. Luckily we have quite a variety of local comps within driving distance, so no air fares involved. Last comp I paid $1,500 for a total of 20 entries in one day, cost did not include my hotel room or food.
My main point is that all Fred Astaires set their own prices and many of their own policies and so experiences with one studio are not always indicative of all the studios. The only thing that I’ve found that is truly consistent is the syllabus that is taught, but even then, different studios have different policies as to how many patterns you need to learn and how fast you can complete a level