Group or Private lessons

Mr. Dance

Mr. Dance

New Member
Most of you that have read any of my posts so far know that I am a beginner to dancing. Ive taken a 5 week intro to ballroom class and now working on an 8 week edition of the same. Also now taking a WCS swing basics class too. My partner and I practice 3 days a week also for about an hour each day.

We both enjoy the group setting because we get a taste of alot of different styles of dance and we get to meet other couples and meet new friends. However at some point we'll need to start taking private lessons other than little bit of personal instruction we get from our teacher here and there. We seem to be picking it up very well and she is very pleased with our progress to date. Is it better to keep with the group thing for awhile and then do private lessons after a certain period of time? I know to get really accomplished and keep improving we'll need private lessons at some point but Im wondering if its better to just start them out right away or keep w/ the group class setting for a while ?

Thanks!!
 
You may want to do both for quite a while. You could start with one private a month in addition to your groups, and gradually increase.

One thing you will have to decide is if you want to have the same teacher for both. It can be an advantage, but so can getting a different perspective. Also, you have to decide if you want to use private lesson time to improve material from the group class - it can be helpfull, but you want to be carefull not to fall into a pattern of having the private lesson simply replace the help you were getting during the group class.
 
I would imagine we'd keep the same teacher for both. Her rates are fairly reasonable I guess, 50.00 an hour..atleast that's competitive with what the going rate is around here. She's a very positive and upbeat instructor and definately seems to have a good rapport with the class and her private students have nothing but good things to say about her.

I wouldnt know what to ask to work on in particular in private lessons, I would guess I'd leave it up to her based on how many we take each month, what style of dance we want to focus on, and let her decide. Im not knowledgeable enough yet to dictate what we should be working am I ? If I have a particular trouble then I can certainly bring it up to her so thats not a problem.
 
Looked at your post in the other thread. Seems you are currently taking a survey class, and have not yet taken classes in specific dances. If that's the case, you may want to concentrate on dances in that setting first, before covering them in private lessons.

However I don't think it's too early to try a private lesson, I would just suggest asking for help not on particular dances, but on the art of dancing itself. Look at things like posture, interaction with your partner, and how movement of body and feet relate to each other. Some of these things are the same for all the dances, others come in two or three varieties, each of which applies to a subgroup of dances. Of course in the process of this you will end up talking about specific dances - but they will be the examples rather than the subjects.

And the "examples not subjects" distinction applies even more to patterns than it does to dances. Patterns are not dancing, they are simply opportunities to dance. Try to make sure you aren't spending all your time on learning the patterns themselves, but instead using the patterns as a setting in which to study dancing. Your group lessons probably provide all the patterns you need (or even more than you need) - use the private lessons to learn the dancing hiding in the patterns.
 
You will probably start to feel after 2-3 years of intense group lessons that you are getting less and less out of them, and stop altogether.
 
Patterns are not dancing, they are simply opportunities to dance. Try to make sure you aren't spending all your time on learning the patterns themselves, but instead using the patterns as a setting in which to study dancing. Your group lessons probably provide all the patterns you need (or even more than you need) - use the private lessons to learn the dancing hiding in the patterns.
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Very well said, thanks ! Yes the group lessons and small instruction we get from the teacher at the classes do give us plenty of patterns to practice with and learn..Im just craving more and more of it, it seems. Which isnt a bad thing at all, but I do want to make sure I go about fulfilling this new found passion correctly and not jumping ahead of myself before its time.
 
if you can afford them and you are serious about getting better...there is no such thing as too early for pivates...IMO
 
fascination said:
if you can afford them and you are serious about getting better...there is no such thing as too early for pivates...IMO
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I agree. Especially if you already understand the distinction (as you do) between patterns and dancing.
 
One way in which it might sometimes be too early is if the student has a fixed amount they can afford to spend on dancing in their first year. Spending the the majority of the private lesson portion of that budget towards the end of the year when they have more experience is probably more beneficial than distributing it evenly throughout the year - early beginners won't get as much benefit from a lesson, and are not yet in a position to know if their teacher really knows the subject in depth.

But this is probably a pointless analysis, because most of the time the dancer's training budget grows with their experience. Few would readily write a check for the first year's expenditures right at the start - but as dancing becomes an extremely important part of life, and as the ability to judge value for money improves, it can make sense to spend a lot more than initially seemed reasonable.

And if money is really tight, chedule private lessons one at a time to get through specific difficulties - things that don't work, discouragement, subject of frequent argument between the partners, etc.
 
No argument Chris. Notice that what fascination said, and what I agreed with, starts out with "if you can afford them..." :wink:
 
Personally, I've found private lessons to be incredibly helpful.

I started out just taking one, because I was having a world of trouble with my first group class. In retrospect, it probably wasn't a good idea to take bronze international foxtrot as my first group class (argh! the heel turns!). I took private lessons so just so I could get through the group class.

Granted, I really got hooked with my first private lesson, and signed up for more.

I find them very useful for answering questions about technique that I don't necessarily understand (or think to ask) in group classes, and for delving deeper into technique and dances, and for advancing more rapidly. I can learn what correct technique REALLY feels like, and get individual feedback about my own problems. Because, realistically, no matter how much technique is covered in a group class, it won't be tailored to you.

I say, it's never too early if you can afford it. But I also won't stop group classes anytime soon.
 
The budget is a concern right now as well. Mainly because the group classes are so inexpensive, I mean we're talking 50.00 for 8 weeks, u just cant beat that to get atleast some training and experience and to make sure I know what Im getting myself into before I go full bore ahead with it. I cant see myself ever stopping dancing now Ive been bitten with it ;) . Ive been thinking about this now the last couple days especially and after this current 8 week course is up. I'd like to start atleast 1 or 2 private lessons a month mixed in with the next group class to keep my budget under control, my wife happy :rolleyes: , and continue to drive towards my goal of being able to dance in competition's at some point.
 
Sounds like a very resonable way to keep the ball rolling MrD. I'm looking forward to hearing about all of this as it progresses! :)
 
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