Popularity of American Smooth Group Classes

brianl

brianl

Active Member
I've been dancing for about a year and a half and I feel like I've really found my niche with American Smooth. I take regular private lessons but I'd like to take more group classes to fill in the gaps between privates. Unfortunately, I've searched high and low and almost no one offers regular American Smooth Bronze level group classes in my metro area (Boston).

Has anyone else run into this? What do you do when you can't find group classes that fit you? Take beginner classes (which there are a plethora of)?


Brian
 
Brian, have you looked into whether you could join one of the collegiate teams in Boston? There are several, but I don't know what their policies are on accepting non-students. It could be worth looking into.
 
Welcome, brianl. Retaking beginner classes can often be very productive, assuming that you take the opportunity to work on the technique your private teacher is giving you. I'm in a somewhat similar situation myself, though I've been dancing longer -- I prefer international standard, and I'm in American style country. So I just take private lessons and practice with my partner (luckily, he's my husband, too, so we've got easy access to each other), and sometimes go out dancing socially. That approach could work for you, but better if you could find a practice partner, and group classes are good places to find practice partners, so it's somewhat circular. There are lots of Boston-area folks here on DF, so hopefully someone will know of good group class opportunities for you, so you won't need to make either of those choices.

ETA: Obviously there's a difference between brand-new-beginner and been-dancing-over-a-year, but I still tend to think of bronze level classes and beginner classes as the same thing. Especially in a place where yours is not the dominant style, you may not find really fine gradations in level for group classes. Rather than looking for a perfect fit, it may be more realistic to look for classes where your level is somewhere within the range of variation for the students in the class -- most will have significant variation.
 
I honestly don't find Smooth classes very helpful. They're also just a bigger logistics problem unless you either have a big floor or a studio/space where you don't need to have private lessons going at the same time. In Boston, I would think for bronze, rather than newcomer/social, your best bet is going to be the college teams. I know Harvard, MIT, and Brandeis among others all have teams--you could try contacting them and seeing if they allow non-students to join their group clases.
 
Thanks everyone, I'll definitely hit up the college teams and see if there are any options there!
 
Huh. My experience here in Chicago has been the opposite - many more Smooth classes offered than Standard. Perhaps we've not looked hard enough for Standard.

Std dancers are a rarity at the social venues that we frequent.
 
nucat78 said:
Huh. My experience here in Chicago has been the opposite - many more Smooth classes offered than Standard. Perhaps we've not looked hard enough for Standard.

Std dancers are a rarity at the social venues that we frequent.
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I doubt the alternative is Standard. I would bet it's Rhythm and Latin (and Salsa) classes. Those are a lot more small-space-friendly.
 
chicago is also my home, and agree, i think the whole region is american smooth country. there are great individual 10-dance/ mostly european trained teachers in and around the city, but social dancing is pretty much smooth, rhythm, salsa, swing, and argentine tango. wish there was social dancing of standard here, but...ain't much. funny how the regions are so different. i'd love to spend enough time in canada or the uk to go to some socials there, someday...just haven't had time since i started dancing ballroom (relatively recently). i've been in a progressive bronze/silver smooth group class for a while - it is really fun, especially as the class is comfortable with each other.
perhaps you could try to find a practice partner interested in american smooth, and also go to socials together?
 
Oddly enough, there is a fair bit of Standard in the Boston area. Out of the 14 dance studios I know of in metro-west-ish Boston, only 3 have American smooth classes, albeit in a spotty fashion. Three offer Standard, and four are Latin. The remaining offer classes on a rotating fashion or focus on beginners.
 
brianl said:
Oddly enough, there is a fair bit of Standard in the Boston area. Out of the 14 dance studios I know of in metro-west-ish Boston, only 3 have American smooth classes, albeit in a spotty fashion. Three offer Standard, and four are Latin. The remaining offer classes on a rotating fashion or focus on beginners.
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Lived in Boston, live in the Midwest now--you'll find much more Latin and Rhythm groups than Standard, and more Standard than Smooth. And at the comps out there they can't cram Standard and Latin on the same day while needing a full day each for Smooth and Rhythm.
 
brianl said:
Oddly enough, there is a fair bit of Standard in the Boston area. Out of the 14 dance studios I know of in metro-west-ish Boston, only 3 have American smooth classes, albeit in a spotty fashion. Three offer Standard, and four are Latin. The remaining offer classes on a rotating fashion or focus on beginners.
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Have you tried arthur murray? it's all about smooth. the group classes r free and there is at least 2 classes every night of the weekdays.
 
Funnily enough, I sent AM an email yesterday to see what their offerings are. I looked at their group classes and it seemed like a bunch of social/beginner classes, but we'll see what they say.
 
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